Schaumburg Show: "Option exists for expansion"

For a few minutes Sunday afternoon, I pulled Tod Alberto, show manager for the Chicagoland Fishing, Travel & Outdoor Expo, from doing double duty at helping take tickets as the crowds kept streaming in.

There were logical questions to ask him after a weekend where thousands descended upon the show. It was not just the size of the crowds, but that the people were engaged in the experience.

So I had a couple questions, “Could the show expand at the Schaumburg Convention Center and is it being considered?”

The answer to both is yes. But nothing is finalized.

“An option exists for expansion and it is being considered,’’ Alberto said.

In fact, he took me on an off-the-record tour of that possibility.

“Additional space is out there and I have a plan,” he said. “Essentially we have to work on planning. We seriously considered this last year, even more seriously considered it this year. We didn’t want to expand just to expand, but for a demand.’’

I would say the demand is there.

This was weekend where the crowds had the older guys naturally drawn to reminiscing about the old show days and pulling up memories, even back to the Amphitheater.