NFA Expo

Sunday morning, the 76 crew returned to Columbia, MO. This year's Expo was amazing! Billings is a great city, small and easy to get around, with some great restaurants. The demos were at a great location, and the trade show location was terrific as well. The turn-out was fantastic, and everyone seemed to be getting a lot of business taken care of.

The expo was my first chance to catch a show by Aaron Mayfield in person. One of the best in the business, A.M. Pyrotechnics (http://www.ampyro.com) has a reputation for going above and beyond. Saturday night's show was no exception! It was a great way to end an astounding week of fireworks.

If you are a member of the NFA, thank the board members for putting together such a great conference. If you are not a member, you should be. You can join for as little as $30 and help support the fireworks industry. Click here to join the NFA. Next year's expo will be in WI, which should have an even better turn out than this year. I'm looking forward to it.

Conferences

This Sunday will be the beginning of the 2008 fireworks conference season. Our owner and sales staff will be making the trip to PGI in Gillette, WY this weekend. For those of you not familiar with PGI, it is a convention focused on the end consumer of fireworks, the people who truly enjoy lighting (or e-firing) the fuse. There will classes, competitions, vending, and open shoots all week. Our graphic designer and photographer Michael Richards will be there snapping THOUSANDS of pictures, and we will also have a couple guys there writing articles for '76 Pyro.

The next convention will be the NFA in Billings, MT. The NFA Expo is focused mainly on the business end of fireworks, with product demos for three nights and a great trade convention. However, there are unfortunately no fireworks for sale at the event. It is a great event though, in that it allows wholesalers a chance to meet with most of their suppliers, as well as give prospective suppliers a chance to show their products and meet with buyers. It is also when we will start seeing all the 2009 products, receiving 2009 catalogs, and hearing all the news and events effecting fireworks for 2009.

I believe the last event will be the APA in Orlando, FL. I have volunteered to go down and play lots of golf meet with suppliers, but I don't think our company will be making the trip this year.