2011 ACC St Paul Show Review
Last Edited 2011-04-21
Load-In
Getting to the entry of the “ tunnel ” was the most stressful part of the entire show.
The tunnel is on the left side halfway down the hill on Eagle Street which can be
found off the South East corner of the intersection of 7TH St W and Kellogg Blvd W.
There is a steak joint on that corner. Stay to the left so as not to block the street
to civilian traffic. The tunnel leads to the loading docks deep under Kellog Street
in front of the RiverCenter and down underground. My GPS took me to a place just 100
feet from the tunnels entrance at which time the road becomes one-way the wrong way!!
So simply once you figure it out. I arrived at 10:00AM Thursday morning to wait an
additional hour and a half before I was allowed to enter the tunnel. Once in the
tunnel I was positioned on a ramp to unload. Yup, unload with the van pointed down hill
nose first. And right in front of another van that was unloading. I wondered who would
finish first. The slope made using my cart difficult. Lucky my spouse was along. The
rest of the setup went as usual and I was never pressured to move my van until the van
behind me announced they were ready to leave. Luckily I was done with the ramp also.
Show Observations
Setup went easily. I have never before seen such complete and
accurate booth markings. There was absolutely no question as to the limits of
the booth space. Makes me wonder how so many exhibitors ended up with their displays spilling out into the aisles. Perhaps once the line was covered by carpeting or inventory, its significance was no longer relevant!
The electrical box that provides each group of booths with electricity is the usual large metal
affair that I have seen before at inside shows. It gets positioned in the closest empty
booth space leaving the last exhibitor to set up the honor to absorb it. Some booths
can accommodate it, some can’t.
Once I was all set up I had a cart full of padding to take back to the van. The van
was parked on one of the many levels of the parking structure across the street from
the RiverCenter. The show floor is below ground level so I had to use the elevator
to get to the bridge to get over to the parking structure and then down another
elevator to my level. The entire trek is protected from weather. The hallway
leading to the elevator is narrow so my 32 inch wide load just barely made it.
As you travel through the bridge take note of the pigeons nesting in the girders
just outside the glass along the ledge.
I found the parking in the structure across Kellogg Street to be the most convenient
accommodation but it came at a price of $10 each day with no exit/return privileges.
So I paid twice on setup day because I wanted to hit the motel to get checked in,
cleaned up and changed for the Thursday reception event. There were ground lots nearby
for $5/day that I will check out if I get back there next year.
Customer-Pickup
A customer expressed interest in a larger piece. The question of how they would
get the piece to their car was brought up. Because this hall was below street level there were no exits straight out
to the street. I had never had this situation before. I told the customer I would find out how we
could do this and they said they would be back. I went to the ACC desk and learned that the customer
could bring their car through the tunnel and use the same ramp I did to unload. The customer first had
to give the staff person certain information and then the staff person would speak into a walkie talkie. The
hard part was to show the customer how to get to the tunnel. I found a map that I had printed off
the Artist Info page that sort of showed how to get there.
The customer returned and we proceeded with the process. The customer gave the staff person the
information and the call was made. The customer took the map and left to move their car to the ramp.
In about 15 miutes the customer returned and we loaded the item without any trouble. If I get to go back
next year I will have a better map.
Tear Down