Despite a slow start, the Pinellas Expo Center now reaps the benefits of scheduling consumer and trade shows.
By ANNE LINDBERG
Published March 3, 2004
PINELLAS PARK - For more and more people, this city has become a destination for weekend entertainment.
That's what Pinellas Expo Center officials planned in late 2001 when they converted the old Sam's Club into an event complex.
At first, with a scanty calendar, it appeared that was an unrealistic goal. "We knew there would be a battle for the first couple of years," said Rui Farias, Expo Center spokesman.
Many of the consumer and trade shows book years in advance, so that year the venue was scheduling events for 2003-04. Now, the Expo Center is reaping the benefits of those bookings.
"For the most part, October, November through April, we're pretty jampacked," Farias said. "We've been picking up some major, major shows."
The center has filled the weekdays and intervening months with a variety of events: John Davidson and Great White concerts, Latin dances, pro wrestling, volleyball tournaments.
St. Petersburg's International Folk Fair Society has decided to try the venue this year for its festival. Scheduled for March 17-21, it will be the same weekend as the city's venerable Country in the Park and the Pinellas Park firefighters' Chili Blaze cookoff.
"I don't think it's really a conflict," city spokesman Tim Caddell said. "They may actually even complement each other."
The city plans to advertise the folk festival at its events and the SPIFFS people plan to return the favor, he said. The main problem is shuttling the City Council from one to the other so they can open both events.
Some of the Expo Center's shows have been attracting crowds as large as 20,000.
Crowds are not the only measure of success, Farias said.
The woodworking trade show had about 5,000 attendees, but they were from all over the Southeast. That helped local hotels, motels and restaurants, who benefited from the influx of people.
"It's a win-win for everybody," Farias said. The show plans to return year after next, he said.
"We basically took that show from the Orange County Convention Center," Farias said.
Sometimes the beneficiaries of success are neither businesses nor human.
Take the Pet Expo, which took over the center Feb. 21-22. About 12,400 people came, accompanied by 4,000 four-footed companions and at least one snake.
As a press release said, "The Dog Pile Patrol never had a moment's rest."
That was much more than the 5,000-7,000 the Expo Center expected.
But the real success came with animal adoptions, Farias said. More than 200 homeless animals from local shelters and rescue groups found homes. During the weekend, the animal shelters had to make repeated trips back to their agencies to pick up more animals.
"They ran out in an hour. They had to go back and get all the ones they had. It was incredible," Farias said.
Joan Marzi, executive director of the Pinellas Animal Foundation, agreed the event was a huge success that began Friday night at a dog fashion show where the homeless canines served as runway models.
The models were a hit and "people were standing outside at 8 a.m. to adopt these animals," Marzi said.
Another plus was the number of volunteers - 158 - who helped the Animal Foundation.
The event, Marzi said, turned into a "friend raiser....We were pleased all the way around, with the volunteers (and) with the Expo Center."
Farias said the Expo Center would like to hold the event, the first it's ever produced, again next year.
He also touted the upcoming Weekend Warrior Expo, which will basically highlight all sports activities. "It's going to be wild," Farias said. "They're building a pool in the (center), so there's going to be kayak exhibitions," as well as scuba demonstrations and skateboard and BMX shows.
Pinellas Expo Center
Address: 10601 U.S. 19 N
Run by: Global Spectrum, a Philadelphia-based management company
Date opened: Oct. 1, 2002
Size: 105,000 square feet
Typical Events: Gun shows, crafts fair, antiques shows, trade shows, sports and games
Quirky events: Night Moves adult film awards, Nite-Dreams exotic male dancers
Top Events: World Discount Club closeout sale, 20,000 attendees; Flower show, 13,000; Pet Expo, 12,400 humans; 4,000 four-legged critters
Future events: Weekend Warrior Expo, March 12-14, which will include kayak demonstrations in a pool being built for the occasion; St. Petersburg International Folk Festival, March 17-21; Great American Antiques and Collectibles Show; Spring Gathering Crafts Show, March 28.
