AQS Paducah’26: the Recap
So... rather than giving you the usual play by play of the AQS Paducah'26 show... I thought that this year I'd give you some idea of how we got to where we are at this show, and why the AQS show in Paducah, KY is still the show I enjoy and value the most!
Truth is, for the 1st four years that we were in business, we didnt venture away from the studio. Why? Because I just didnt know what to do or what to expect!
So in 2007, I volunteered to help one of my distributors in her booth. It gave me a risk-free chance to check out the International Market (in Houston), to see what what was involved in setting up a booth display, and gave me some great ideas as to how I could best display my bag samples & patterns!
So in 2008 we started vending at both the Spring & Fall Quilt Markets every year & that was the only place we vended until 2013. WHY? Because the very idea of retail scared me half to death!
But all we kept hearing from our vending friends was... "You NEED to stay in Houston for the International Quilt Festival (which was the week AFTER the Quilt Market), but let's face it.... The International Quilt Festival is literally the LARGEST retail quilting & sewing show on the planet! So... rather than just jump in cold & possibly unprepared... we decided to first test our "retail chops" in a far less intimidating venue... in our own backyard!
the "Original Sewing & Quilt Expo '13"
in Raleigh, NC
And you know what? We learned a lot at this little show... mostly how much we still had to figure out! Nonetheless, when we headed to Houston in the Fall, it was with the intention of staying & vending at the International Quilt Festival, which turned out to be an amazing show for us! Did everything go smoothly... NO it did not! But I came away determined to figure out how to incorporate a barcode scanner into our checkout experience!
But you know what? As successful a show as Houston has always been for us, it has NEVER been a stressfree, easy show for us. It's a HUGE city that I we've never wanted to navigate with a car & the downtown area is a little scary, particularly after dark. What few restaurants that are open after dark are VERY expensive... too expensive to be eating at every night for 2 weeks anyway, & we always seemed to be hungry, tired or BOTH the whole time we're there!
All of which only served to make Paducah, KY a totally refreshing venue when we first arrived in April of 2015! We were first assigned to the 2nd floor & made some long-lasting friendships up there! (Here's how our booth looked back then!)
And Paducah is such a welcoming place! The whole city seems to turn out for this show! There's LOTS of cool restaurants & the show has ALWAYS been good for us, which became all the better when we were moved to the elite Expo Center in 2018!
But here's some things that maybe you didn't know about our booth location in Paducah, (which is way easier to notice in this less-busy picture)!
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- They kinda "made room" for us in the Expo Room! Look closely & you'll see that our booth had to be squeezed into a corner of the room. First off there's an "alley on the left side of our booth to maintain access if necessary to a fire extinsuisher!
- The booth "foot print" blocks ~1/2 of the roll-up access door! This is the very door that literally EVERY Expo vendor loads their supplies in & out thru! Which means we're kinda in everyone's way on the 1st and the last day of the show! And to make things even MORE interesting, it's perpetually windly in Paducah, which means at times there's gale force winds whipping thru our booth when the roll-door is open when we're setting up or loading out... enough to make our curtains (AND THE STEEL RODS) sometimes fall down.
- But here's the deal... we love our spot in the "hot" corner (& actually, it's never hot, because of the breeze when the door is open). Firstly, our spot REALLY IS a hot corner. because as people turn this corner, the natural inclination is to look to the right... at US! And Secondly- we've got GREAT neighbors- Havel's Sewing to our left, and corkandcloth to our right. And lastly, we have a picture perfect view for the opening day Parade, which I LOVE!"
So... is it any wonder that we LOVE going to Paducah, KY?
And now.... it's YOUR turn!
Is there a place in this world that YOU just love going to? If so, I'd love to hear about it, because we might just enjoy going there as well! And remember, we love reading your comments and answering your questions too, so please feel free to leave either or both in the space provided below.
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