Our World Underwater Show April 23-25 Chicago

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Juls:
You're killing me here!
I have tickets for the game against Houston here June 15..and in Chicago July 18th against the Brewers. And then again here in Houston, in August.
Have fun!
I can't wait.
 
Your killing me as well.

Being born down in Baytown, the first games I ever saw were the 'Stros in the Dome. It kills me that its not their home anymore. I loved the big bull thing with "Charge" on the scoreboard. When I get down to visit the family, I'd love to go check out the new field.

Another little tidbit - The first (and only) NFL game I ever saw was the Houston Oilers play the Baltimore Colts at the Dome.

Juls
 
I got my $1.00 off coupon f/ OW-U, so I'm all set! LOL

The whole gang (boyfriend & kids) will be going today, Sunday. We'll be there until about 12:30, then we are going to the Rush football game at the Allstate Arena. Looks like we'll be spending the whole day in Rosemont.
 
Yep, fun was definitely had. Seeing old faces and meeting a few new ones is always a good thing, plus I got a chance to play with some new toys. No purchases, yet, but I've definitely taken a shine to some of those LED lights. A couple of things to report:

Booth count seemed to be up a little bit this year and there were definitely more vendors sharing space than I've seen before. We were there on Saturday and the crowds walking the aisles were having a good time. I don't know what attendance figures were but it appears that there were quite a few more folks this year. Good news.

Next year the show will be held in conjunction with a more mainstream outdoor show. The combined show will run for five days in January which has many of the current exhibitors upset - the resorts are struggling to justify send people in the middle of their prime season and the small (innovative?) equipment guys are having a hard time popping for the cost for that much time in front of a crowd that, frankly, isn't in the market for a high intensity underwater LED light. For me, OWU has always meant the start of the dive season, I used to attend all three days, lately I've been down to about half a day since I'm mostly going to see old friends and check for any new toys. Oh, well, kind of a drag.

On a slightly different front, DEMA may be heading for interesting times. Big buzz amongst the vendors at OWU is the fact that ScubaPro is in a snit and has pulled out of the DEMA show and several other big-boy manufacturers are reportedly following suit.

Ow, well, the dive season is here and Chicago has a new dive boat to replace the recently lost Kohana, so it's time to dust off the gear, patch the holes and GET WET!
 
Oh, yeah, and I stopped by the Bonaire booth. Steve was able to dodge the bullet this year and is safely warm, Chris says he never heard of you...
 
Interesting report Steven. Where did you hear that about DEMA? Also, did you meet Chris?
 
We were posting at the same time..Steve came in again huh? Wow.. and Chris never heard of me huh? :winky:
 
The stuff about ScubaPro and DEMA was big fizz at the show and lotsa folks were talking about it, including the reps in the SP booth. Apparently SP is unhappy with some of the paths DEMA is choosing and is 'looking for other marketing opportunities', but I sure as heck wasn't in on the discussions and don't have any first hand knowledge of what they've got stuck under their saddle. Lotsa poop about who else might be bailing on the DEMA show (and why) but I don't know how much (if any) of it is reliable - Mares, Dacor, Cressi, Aqualung, maybe more? Some of the smaller vendors were trying to decide if the "problems" at DEMA constitute good news or bad (at least for them) and opinions are mixed. Things aren't all that happy amongst the vendors, but are they ever?

Steve wasn't at the show - dodging the bullet and staying warm was my way of saying he stayed home where sandals are year 'round wear. Chris was bubbling and happy until he found out that I won't be on your September trip. He was having a hard time relating to my previous commitment to a dive excursion to the North shore of Lake Superior. Instead, he joined forces with my wife and insisted that I must be nuts. The two of them spent the next few minutes chatting up a storm while I was left to ponder the error of my ways. ;)
 
reefraff:
The stuff about ScubaPro and DEMA was big fizz at the show and lotsa folks were talking about it, QUOTE]

DEMA is pretty well operated by PADI. Whatever Lola (the 900 pound Gorilla) wants, Lola gets. PADI (Cronin) had threatened DEMA previously that they would run their own commercial/wholesale travel-equipment show if DEMA didn't change the dates away from one of PADI's busiest training times of year. Hence, DEMA is no longer in January. Don't kid yourself.

OWU had approximately 12,000 visitors this year, obviously the bulk was on Saturday. The predicted rains mighta had something to do with that. Sunday far outran Pat's prediction of 2k. He did one hell of a job, once again.

The decision to move to January and a five day venue, altho the table prices are relatively similar will have an interesting effect. If I were a cert agency, local dive shop, or had somethintg to sell to the unwashed masses attending an "Outdoor Adventure" show with RV's and fishing tackle, I would want to be on the edge of the display area or in some mainline walkway.

If I were there selling a resort in the South Pacific, I would shudder at the number of non-dive related people I would be looking at... who to talk to? At least at OWU, you know who was there.

I won the auction for $20 of a sewn embroidered 3x5 US Flag, found a shop that sold me 250' of 1.5mm Perlon line for $9.95 and got me one of them fancy HydroOptix -4.5 wide view masks for one of my "kids". They sell them at Il Inst of Diving in Wheaton but I bought a demo unit from the mfgr on Sunday at 4:01 p.m.

The coolest thing was the photographer (from chgo) who shoots the artsy fartsy pix of the nekkid ladies underwater with the manatees, porpi, statuary, sting rays, eels, etc. The paperback was $40 and hardcover was $20 more. I dragged Ralph Erickson over, as he is the owner of the largest collection of u/w realted books known to man, and he had himself a copy. This was his first book on "mermaids".

I am waiting for the photog to sell his dvd that showed the productin process. He claims that no mermaids were drowned in the course of shooting- no air supply and all, etc. Musta been some close calls. See his stuff at www.essickphoto.com

Once again, OWU beats DEMA, pound for pound. On to SeaSpace in Houston! (I wish!)
 

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