Two weeks ago, Jeff Morey, IGC Show co-founder, announced details about the new home and new name of the former IGC East Show in Baltimore, Md.
“After carefully considering the post-show surveys from our 2015 Baltimore IGC Show this past summer, we determined there was a sufficient level of concern among both attendees and exhibitors about the location,” Morey had said in a press release, citing safety concerns about potential violence in the city as the chief concern.
Originally, the hub of the show -- now called the Eastern Show for IGCs -- was going to be at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pa. But Morey announced Nov. 2 that plans have changed again.
The Valley Forge Casino Resort in King of Prussia, Pa., 20 miles outside of the greater Philadelphia area, will host the event instead.
"Valley Forge Casino Resort combines the amenities of a top-notch gaming resort with exhibit space, plus ballrooms and classrooms for EIGC’s three keynotes and 30 hours of educational sessions," the latest press release noted.
The dates will remain the same -- Aug. 2 through Aug. 4, 2016.
“We had an amazing opportunity to move from a run-of-the-mill expo center to the Valley Forge Casino Resort, and we jumped on it,” Morey said in the news release. “We expect to win big with a full house of attendees and exhibitors, who will enjoy everything EIGC offers in one central hot spot -- order-writing at the trade show, regionally relevant retail education conference sessions and an all-star concert Tuesday evening.”
We caught up with Morey and asked him for more details about the switch.
"Let’s face it, a lot of people are attracted to the whole casino thing. Personally I don’t gamble. I don’t need to because I gamble every day of the year," Morey said, laughing and noting his role as a publisher and trade show organizer. "We were going to use Valley Forge Casino Resort, which is just down the road from the [Greater Philadelphia] Expo Center, as one of our hotel show blocks, so we were already talking with them."
Morey joked that he received "an offer we couldn't refuse."
"One thing led to another. It’s really a nice facilitiy and frankly, I don’t want to diss the place ... but the expo center ain't anything fancy. It’s in a sea of big box stores," Morey says. "[The casino] in comparison ... is really nice, and it’s a destination."
Some of the amenities noted in articles about the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center will remain, such as free parking, free shuttles to and from the airport and room rates that start at about $100 a night.
"We didn’t really know the casino was available, and we hadn’t really considered it," he said. "They gave us very attractive pricing on it. During the middle of the week, they’re dead, so come to find out they really are looking for business in the middle of summer, so it was a good match. We have a three-year deal with them with options to continue on after that."
Master Nursery Garden Centers will hold its Eastern Regional Member Meeting at EIGC as well.
The IGC Show in Chicago celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, and will take place Aug. 16-18, 2016 at Navy Pier.
"I like a good project, and we’re going to work hard on making East work. Once we get that fully established, the West Coast show is very much on my agenda. I want to do it before it’s all over with," Morey said, adding that the goal would be to host it in San Diego. "That would probably be in February of some year. I can’t name the year. It all depends on the timeline and on when East establishes itself."
