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National Fiery Foods & Barbecue Show 2000:
We’re Going to Reno, the Land of Plenty

by Dave DeWitt

The National Bowling Congress is headquartered in Reno. The National Fiery Foods Show’s home is Albuquerque. Why then, in 2000, will the National Bowling Congress be in Albuquerque and the National Fiery Foods Show be in Reno? Good question.

Bowling for Dollars

Every few years, the National Bowling Congress leaves its Reno home and invades another city, bringing in tens of thousands of bowlers for a six-month tournament. This wreaks havoc with local show producers, who are forced out of their convention center venues by this huge, long, city-wide convention. In 1993, the National Bowling Congress selected Albuquerque as its 2000 site after it was pursued by the Albuquerque Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. Shortly after the decision, the director of the National Bowling Congress resigned and was selected to be the new director of–dramatic drum roll, please–the Albuquerque Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. Go figure. Of course, he resigned from that position well before the flak of the 2000 National Bowling Congress. You see, Albuquerque is just realizing that bowlers do not fly into Albuquerque in their Lear Jets, fill up expensive downtown hotel rooms, and dine at fancy restaurants. They are far more likely to drive to Albuquerque, sleep in their motorhomes, and eat at McDonald’s. In addition to a plunging downtown hotel occupancy rate, Albuquerque has also lost one of its most important consumer shows: The National Fiery Foods Show.

The announcement that our show was leaving for Reno was big news in Albuquerque. It made front page of the Albuquerque Journal, was lead story on the six o’clock news of the local NBC-TV affiliate, and top-rated local shock jock T.J. Trout of 94-ROCK ranted about the loss of his favorite show for days. (Disclosure: he is a close friend of mine.) The mood of the city was bowlers, no–chileheads, yes! All this hoopla was a nice gesture, of course, but it had no bearing on the fact that we were moving to Reno.

Selecting a New Venue

But why Reno–and why the Reno Hilton? We began the search for a new venue in 1997. It was important to keep the show out west because we were already contemplating a second show with a venue in the east–what became the Florida Fiery Foods Show. There were many considerations for a new western venue: location, accessibility by air and highway, the hall itself, nearby lodging, and the fact that we wanted a destination city that would draw trade buyers. For that reason we ruled out Boise, Idaho. Some venues were simply too expensive: Las Vegas, San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, to name a few. Some venues were good, but they weren’t in destination cities: San Jose, Salt Lake City, and Sacramento are examples. I was leaning toward Tucson or Phoenix but then I happened to visit the Reno Hilton to consult with the management on festivals.

I was immediately impressed because the hotel was literally a five-minute cab ride from the airport--convenient for exhibitors, buyers, and consumers from the Bay Area, I contemplated.. I couldn’t help but notice the size of the hotel–twenty-seven stories with 2,000 rooms, and a huge, free parking lot. I checked in at the desk, walked through a casino as large as one and a half football fields, took the express elevator, and let myself into a nicely appointed suite. I quickly set out to explore the hotel and went directly to the Hilton Pavilion, the large show hall, conveniently located next to–another dramatic drum roll, please–the forty-lane Hilton Bowling Center. I felt like I was on The X Files.

But the Pavilion was nicely appointed, completely carpeted, and was just about the size of the Southeast Hall in Albuquerque. Hmmm, I thought. I checked out technical issues like electricity, load-in access, and the kitchens and discovered that the Reno Hilton was an excellent possible venue for the National Fiery Foods Show–if we could work a deal with management.

That turned out to be easier than I ever expected. The Hilton management team was a dream to work with and soon we had negotiated a reasonable arrangement pending our final decision on the new location for the show.

The Decision

Of course, the Hilton management had no idea that we were not as yet considering any other venues. My question was whether or not to continue the search or opt immediately for what looked like the perfect venue. So I decided to do some additional research and then add up the pros and cons. I asked if the airport had ever been closed by snow in March. Not in recent memory. Did Reno live up to its slogan, "The Biggest Little City in the World?" I discovered that Reno is very much a destination city because of gambling, casino shows, other trade shows held at their convention center, and the gambling and skiing attractions of nearby Lake Tahoe. Reno is extremely accessible from all of California directly, and by hubs from all other major American cities. Although it has only about half the population of Albuquerque, there are tens and tens of thousands of visitors a week. I concluded that there would be no problem in attracting trade buyers to Reno, but we had a big challenge in attracting consumers. After all, we had been advertising the show for more than ten years in Albuquerque, but it would be virtually unknown in Reno. But that would be true for any other city than Albuquerque, and Reno was particularly affordable for advertising.

So I didn’t look for any other venues. I signed a contract with the Reno Hilton and we’ll be there in March. And the bowlers will be in our hall in Albuquerque.

The Reno Hilton

The Reno Hilton Restaurants

The Reno Hilton Entertainment

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