What, to you, makes a show a Destination Live Show, a show that you will travel to or otherwise make room in your life to attend, whether in time or budget?

This discussion has come up from time to time, and the Mares In Black podcast did a good episode talking about it, but I think this is a shifting and evergreen discussion, where the answers change.

Some things that can make a show a Destination for me include:

  • Especially interesting, experienced judges
  • Unusual classlist or challenge class that either grabs me creatively or that I think will especially line up with my skills or collection
  • Someone I want to see (or meet for the first time) will be there (this can include being in a city where I can stay with a friend)
  • Workshops where I could learn a new skill
  • Some place I’d really like to visit
  • After (or before) show special events or tours
  • Great awards that I think I have a chance to win (note that great awards that I DON’T think I can win do not tempt me at all :-) ). An in-person attendee drawing/door prize for something great can fit this category too.
  • A strong chance to socialize with at least a few people I enjoy if not the whole show - facilitated when we are all staying at the same place, when there’s not a lot of driving between the hall and lodging, when everyone can share meals.
  • Do I think I’ll have a good time and remember this particular show for years to come?

For me, these issues get tempered against, can I make the time to get there, what is my total cost including hotel, car, airfare. (Interestingly, airfare is often much less of a problem than the car these days.) If it’s a situation where I can stay with someone and not have to drive, or where at most I have to take a shuttle between the airport and the hotel, that helps a lot with the cost.

What does your list look like?

  • elaineOPMAEnglish
    1·
    3 months ago

    The part about “someone I want to talk to will be there” is hard for a showholder to control for, and after all that person may be different for each potential entrant! But realistically, it is a huge reason that will put me over the line to go to a show. Sometimes it will be someone there to judge, but it can also be the people who have chimed in publicly to say they are coming.

    Of course, when someone is judging, they may not have a lot of downtime to talk to me or anyone.

  • elaineOPMAEnglish
    1·
    3 months ago

    One of my all time favorite events, in terms of destination fun, was the Bring Out Your Chinas Convention in 2011 in the San Diego area. (Yes! I still think about it!)

    Elaine holding a freshly demolded greenware Limerick

    It also is the only model horse show I’ve ever traveled to by train, which was also fun.

    What made it wonderful?

    • The workshops. That picture of me demolding a Limerick I poured is something I treasure. Yes she went right back in the slip bucket after. But getting that hands on experience was utterly priceless.
    • More about the workshops. People tried china painting and sculpted medallions and learned to make plaster molds, and we all did it together. So much fun!
    • Joanie showed us a plaster Stormwatch mold and gave us a significant show and tell about what it took to make that mold and make castings from it
    • There were neat lectures about manufacturers and horse color and other stuff
    • It was set up so we had catered meals for the whole group, so we had the opportunity to all eat together for every meal and mix and match our meal companions easily.
    • The event drew people from all over the US and two artists from the UK.
    • There was also a show, and while that wasn’t the most important memory for me personally, people really Brought Out Their Chinas. I was able to see pieces in person that I had never seen before, all kinds of really old and interesting pieces, fantastic custom glazes, all kinds of niche pieces that would not usually come out at a standard show.

    But, I think what really made it a great event was the people and the communal atmosphere. We were all together most of the time and well able to really interact and socialize. I made many new friends that weekend, people who maybe I kind of knew in the hobby but hadn’t really talked to much. To me, that is the thing that makes a show really great - when I go home with new friends. And these are lasting friendships, to this day, with people I met that weekend.

    Thanks so much to Joan Berkwitz and Kristina Lucas Francis and Adalee Hude and all the others who masterminded and ring-circused and cat-herded the whole event, which was just fabulous. I’m so glad I was able to make the time to be there.

    • elaineOPMAEnglish
      1·
      3 months ago

      Adding some more pictures of this Limerick that I dug out:

      Limerick with the mold opened, but still against one piece of plaster

      Closeup of the demolded Limerick with the pour sprue removed but all the seams still present

      Then we cut them in half to check our work (I had poured mine too thick FWIW) and we returned them to the mud:

      A bucket of clay slip, with various pony parts melting and disappearing into it.

      We used old, retired molds that no longer had the requisite detail for production; this was just practice so we could understand the process.