This is sad. I have gone to about ten of the shows, some working the show as a vendor, some helping the club at the sign in tables, conference rooms, etc. and some as a spectator. It has always been a great show and the guys who put it together are one in a million. I don't think that the majority of people who go to the shows or read about the shows on the net have any idea of what it takes to actually put one on. They are never there when the hotel manager calls you at two in the morning about the folks in non-smoking room 203 setting of the smoke detector or twenty minutes before you are going to open the doors for vendor set-up you discover that your tables are not arranged to match the map. They don't see it when hotel staff come up and inform you that a "guest" is smoking their pipe in the main lobby even though it is posted no smoking. They don't see the prep work in making sure all of the name tags are set up and ready to go or that all of the "night before" dinners are taken care of before the banquet hall opens. They don't get to hear the complaint of a seller not getting the table set-up that they had hoped for and that's why their product isn't selling like it should. Please don't take this as all negative, just some examples of challenges that happen at every show "behind the scenes". For the folks putting on the Richmond show, it is truly a labor of love that coinsides with being a thankless job. For the folks at CORPS who put this together, it is a year round job. As soon as one show was over they are already on step twelve of the next years show. They have always put together a show that stands out among the rest.
However, over the last few years, I am sure that the challenges have grown. It is always hard to find a location that the majority of people will be happy with. Up until a couple of years ago, CORPS had managed to be able to do the next to impossible here in Richmond....they had a show at a hotel that was large enough to accommodate all of the vendors and folks coming into town for the show. They were also able to do it for an entire weekend, (the majority of the shows over the columbus day weekend to boot). Then,they had to relocate the event to the convention center. This took away from a big part of the show. One of the major attractions to any pipe show, (at least for me), is the pre-show fun. Usually the night before a show, the vendors will open their rooms. It is always a great time to meet with, talk with, and generally catch up with old aquaintances. When CORPS had to relocate the show, they were forced to book blocks of rooms at multiple hotels around the center. This in effect took away from the "pre-show" get together. This is not the fault of CORPS, but a direct reflection of how much the times have changed. It used to be that when a show was held, you could smoke anywhere you wanted. Over the years, that has vanished and it is a challenge just to get the hotel to allow smoking in the main showroom. Yet the folks at CORPS managed to get it put together and make it work. I'm sure that over the years, the guys have grown weary of the constant wear and tear putting the show together takes on you and now are taking a much deserved, (and needed), break.
I read in an earlier post that the person felt the show that they went to was lame. I have heard that from a few people over the years. I still don't understand how. I find it exhilarating to be able to go into a room and meet face to face with some of the top pipe makers in the industry. In one day at the Richmond show you can meet and talk in detail with the likes of Rad Davis, Erik Nording, Michael Parks, Michael Lindner, Jeffrey Burt-Gracik, Brad Pohlmann, Joe Skoda, Paul Bonacquisti, John Eells, Lee Erck, and Alberto Bonfiglioli just to name a few of the pipe makers that are usually there. Or maybe discuss a new blend with the Dark Lord himself, Greg Pease or the great folks at McClelland Tobacco. These are the top folks in the industry, the ones that we purchase from on the net with the click of a button or in our local B&M's. It is incredible when you actually get to meet the person that made the pipe you are smoking and they tell you the story behind the inspiration. Mix that with the vendors selling their wares and you have the luxury of being in the largest pipe store on the East Coast, (even if it is only for a couple of days). I usually find that I have "system overload", but man is it fun!!!
I'm going to miss this show and I hope that its absence is only temporary. And a very big thank you to the guys that made sure that this event was so spetacular for thirty years.
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