World Record Tallest Cut Christmas Tree by Rowan NW Decorators/GES

This month’s Tradeshow history moment is something dear to my heart.  It is an amazing Christmas decorating feat done by Rowan Northwestern Decorators in 1950.  (RNW who I worked for was acquired by GES in 1990).

What they accomplished is still registered in the Guinness World Records Book.  They erected the tallest cut Christmas Tree at Northgate Mall in 1950.  Here is a picture I have of the tree in my archive.

What an adventure this job turned out to be for RNW.  I have Bill Brado’s Rowan Story and here is what he says about it:

Now to an interesting job we did back in 1950. It was the outstanding one of the world’s tallest Christmas tree for the opening of the Northgate Shopping Center. Donna Ames was advertising manager at the Bon Marche and she decided to do something big, and get real publicity out of it. This is what she did. 

We also did a Santa Center a lot of other work there, but the tree was the main event. First how do you get a 221 foot tree moved from the forest to a shopping center? All Donna Ames said was “do it”. 

No one could bid a firm price on such a job. Harold McLaron was display manager at the Bon Marche and he managed to get things put together so we all could work it out.  We worked on cost plus in parts of the deal we could not fix a price on. 

Now the only way to move a tree that tall was to cut all the limbs off and put them back on at site. Worse than that a tree that tall has no limbs for the first 50 to 70 feet from the ground so we used limbs from 6 to 8 trees to finish the job. We hired high riggers working in bosun chairs to nail and wire the limbs back on. They also put the lights on… all 3,000 of them. 

We were working against a deadline and we could not let these men come down every 5 minutes so in order to take care of the necessary we sent a bucket up to them. This was ok except for the fact that we had a lot of shoppers walking around and I can’t say much for the way these rough neck riggers called out for that bucket. Anyway, Donna Ames spent about three times the amount in the budget, but the tallest Christmas tree in the world made Life Magazine so she was saved and all was well.

 

 

 

If you want to read more about this giant tree here are two links: 

Northgate Beginnings – History Link.org 

Life Magazine 12.11.50 – Tallest Xmas Tree

 Plus here is a photo of it in daylight.  Pretty impressive even 70 years later!!

 

I hope this bit of historical Christmas makes you proud to be at GES. Our teams will do amazing things to make the show open on time!!  Over and over, day after day, year after year!!

 

Georgia World Congress Center Birth Story

Continuing on our roll about Convention Center History, here is a bit about the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.

GWCC opened on September 14, 1976 in Atlanta, GA.  The Mayor said it was “the most magnificent show convention facility in the world”.  The Governor of Georgia described it as “a benchmark in the economic life of the city” and added about Atlanta that it is “a city of national stature. Starting today it is a city of international significance.”

What a big set of shoes the convention center had to live up to.  And it did!  Today it encompasses some 3,900,000 square feet of exhibition space.  To think it started at only 350,000 square feet.

From the GWCC webside

This was the first state owned center in the United States when it was built.  The Georgia World Congress Center Authority also developed the Georgia Dome (now demolished), Centennial Olympic Park, and Mercedes Benz Stadium.  Thus creating a hub for conventions, meetings and other events in Atlanta.

Since it was built it has had additional phases opened in 1985, 1992, 2002 and is currently in another expansion construction phase.

Some famous events (besides great exhibitions) was the 1996 Summer Olympics and a famous President George W Bush speech shortly after 9/11.

Oddly, this convention center just like Los Angeles Convention Center experienced a tornado.  This 2008 weather event caused enough damage both from the wind and water that it had to cancel events and have extensive repairs completed. It was back open in an extraordinary 42 days!

GWCC after tornado in 2008

If you would like to read through the history time line on the Center and surrounding buildings here is a link that GWCCA hosts.  https://www.gwcca.org/about-the-gwcca/about-gwcc/

Photos and information on GWCC came from; Georgia World Congress Center Webpage & Wikipedia.

Los Angeles Convention Center – How it all began!

The Los Angeles Convention Center broke ground in 1969 and opened in 1971, two sites used for convention and trade shows were the Shrine Auditorium and the Pan-Pacific Auditorium.  The business community wanted a convention center in order to compete with other major U.S. cities, and various sites were considered. Back in 1954 a Civic Auditorium was proposed at Third and Fifth Streets near Flower Street and then there was in 1966 a serious frontrunner,  the Elysian Park Convention Center.  Public protests negated the Elysian Park site, and the Pico/Figueroa site became the strong choice, due to availability of land for future expansion (which happened).

Here is a postcard of unknown date showing the Harbor Freeway going around the original Convention Center.  The second photo is from the LACC web site. This will give you a good idea of what it looked like in her first form.  In those days it was all about covering the space. That made for big box type convention centers.

LACC Postcard – before remodel

Close up of LACC original look

Then in March of 1983 a F2 tornado ripped the front off of the center.  It took $3 million to repair the damage done.

LACC after 1983 tornado

Are you ready to see what she looks like now?  Below are some current photos of how several remodels have changed the big box to a modern convention center.  Look at how much it grew in size and took over more of the available area.

Current LACC

Current aerial view of LACC – compare to old box aerial

Photos and information on LACC came from; Los Angeles Convention Center Webpage, Wikipedia & a BlogSpot called Los Angeles Revisited.

Las Vegas Convention Center – How it all began

Our subject is another Convention Center’s history –  Las Vegas Convention Center!

Today it is one of the largest in the world. However, it had more humble beginnings.  In the 1950s the city and county community leaders decided they needed a convention center. Their goal was to increase hotel occupancy in the off tourist season.  How could they know it would grow to what it is today?

Here it is under construction.

The story goes that they decided to build it one block east of the Strip on the site of the Las Vegas Park Speedway.  This was a failed horse and auto race track from the early 1950s. Check out the next photo of what the old track looked like next to the Convention Center over 60 years ago.

They built a 6,300 seat silver domed rotunda with 90,000 square feet exhibition hall.  Told you it was humble.

LVCC opened in April 1959. Today according to Wiki LVCC is 1,940,631 square feet. Talk about growth.  I leave you with an old stylized postcard that shows how it sat on the outskirts of town.  See the old race track is still behind the silver dome and expo hall.  Things sure have changed on that side of town!

McCormick Place Birth

We have talked about how World’s Fairs were the first Tradeshows.  Next I want to share how in Chicago the need for a Convention Center grew out of the 1933 Century of Progress World’s Fair.

The following information is courtesy of the McCormick Place website.  This is only a portion of it, so if you are interested in more here is the link: McCormick Place History

McCormick Place is named in honor of Colonel Robert R. McCormick, a controversial and charismatic visionary who served as editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune. It was Colonel McCormick who spearheaded the drive to build a world-class convention center in the city of Chicago.

1933
Century of Progress Exposition (World’s Fair) on the lakefront draws 1,500 conventions and 1.5 million visitors. Unsuccessful attempts are made to build a permanent exposition center.

1948
The city successfully hosts a large railroad exposition, leading Col. McCormick to realize the need for a permanent exhibition hall in Chicago.

1951
With Col. McCormick’s leadership, the State imposed a 1% horse racing tax to finance industrial, scientific, educational and cultural fairs and expositions and created the Chicago Park Fair non-profit corporation. After deciding that a permanent hall was needed, the State endorsed the construction of a facility in Burnham Park.

1955
The state approves construction of a 360,000-square-foot exhibition hall and creates the Metropolitan Fair and Exposition Authority, the forerunner to the present Authority, to operate the facility.

1958
The State issued $41.8 million in bonds. Construction started the following year on McCormick Place, to be named in honor of Col. McCormick who died in 1955.

1960
McCormick Place opens. The facility is financed with $41.8 million in revenue bonds. The building features a main exhibit area of 320,000 square feet, 23 meeting rooms and a 5,000-seat theater.

When was the First Tradeshow?

I want to take you back to what a lot consider the birth of the tradeshow/exhibition.  Actually the “French Industrial Exposition of 1844” and in London “The Great Exhibition of 1851” vie for the honors of who was first. I favor The Great Exhibition due to the building that was erected specifically for its exhibits – The Crystal Palace. 

It was erected as a temporary structure that could be moved. It was relocated and lasted until 1936 when it was consumed in a fire. The design of it was revolutionary and looked like a huge greenhouse. This provided natural light on the exhibition floor which had both industrial products and educational information on display.  Similar to today’ exhibitions in many ways.  Check out these renderings and you will be amazed.        

The French Industrial Exposition of 1844 was the 10^th exposition of this series that started in 1798 as a festival vs a true exhibition.  It was exclusive to French products for many years and celebrated the French Revolution and the new republic. It was held at famous venues in Paris; Champ de Mars, Place de la Concorde, Champs-Elysees and Louvre Palace.  Here is a rendering of it at the Louvre in 1819.

This long history of exhibiting products and ideas shows how there is a lasting demand for Exhibitions and Events.  This is despite many interruptions in our history from war, change in industry and social concepts.  Be proud how we are a strong survivor.

GES – What does it Stand For?

Here it is 2018 at GES and at our last town hall this question came up.  For those that love our company’s history here is a series of name change events that will give you some light on this subject.  Hope you enjoy!!

GES was originally called Manncraft – founded in Kansas City around 1939

Greyhound Corp bought Manncraft in apx 1969.  Name changed to Greyhound Exhibition Services.  = GES

Logo from 70s & 80s was this – you might actually see this tag on some of our equipment.  Tradeshow equipment just never dies.

In the mid 90s we purchased Andrews Bartlett & Associates & United Exposition Services – expanded back into the East & Central USA.

1993 – name changed to GES Exposition Services – this was to reflect the new GES.  I often thought it was so the folks from United & AB felt part of a company & not all about Greyhound.  We joked that they “shot the Dog”

or this later one with new style –

2010  – we changed the name to “Global Experience Specialists” to reflect our new global team after we merged with our sister company Exhibitgroup/Glitspur.  That was where the Spirograph logo came from.

Then in the last year or so we seem to have just gone back to our roots of “GES”

 

Hope this all made you smile.  Check out the posts of the timelines of GES and EG (Corp Accts).  We are a bunch of acquisitions for sure.  I came from Rowan Northwestern Decorators and started in 1983, bought by Greyhound in 1990.

GES Acquisitions Timeline

Over the years I have accumulated what I think is a fairly complete list of how GES grew into the premier company it is today.  As in any modern organization we are a group of many smaller companies acquired and assimilated into a greater entity.  This can be painful at times but we are strong from all the diversity of people and skills.

Here it is through today in 2017:

Year	GES Time line
1939	Manncraft founded in Kansas City – signs, window & small exhibits
1950s	Manncraft created Exhibitor Service Division – expanded to Omaha, Miami, Tampa, Atlanta & New Orleans
1956	Ed Stewart (former GES VP Production) joined Manncraft
1957	Nort Rittmaster (former GES CEO joined company
1969	The Greyhound Corporation (Dial) purchased Manncraft
1971	Nort opened Los Angeles Office.  Bill Whitesell (former RVP Nevada) and Ed Stewart joined him there.
1973	Purchased Las Vegas Convention Service Company
1974	Purchased Stuart-Sauter Company in San Francisco
1975	Purchased Wernecke Studios in Chicago
1976	Opened an office in San Diego
1979	Manncraft changed name to Greyhound Exposition Services
1981	Nort Rittmaster promoted to President and CEO – consolidated operations to Western US
1983	Partnered with Puliz Moving and Storage and added a Reno office
1987	Electrical Division serviced companywide both Show Organizer and Exhibitors
1990	Purchased Rowan Northwestern Decorators and Northwest Exhibit Drayage Company (NEDCO) in Seattle
1990	Purchased Decorators West, Classic Decorating and Pacific Exposition Drayage Company (PEDCO) in Portland
1992	Headquarters moved to Las Vegas – offices in LA,SD, SF, SJ, Seattle, Portland, Reno, Palm Springs – over 500 full time staff
May 1993	Purchased United Exposition Service Company to expand company nationwide.  See United time line below
1993	Changed name from Greyhound Exposition Services to GES Exposition Services to reflect the “new GES”.  Also upgraded equipment across the company.
Aug 1993	Nort was promoted to Chairman and CEO.  Jerry Zwick from Dial Corp became GES President and COO
Oct 1993	Purchased Andrews, Bartlett & Associates a major contractor based in Hudson Ohio.  See AB time line below.
Nov 1993	Purchased Gelco Convention Services based in Miami with offices also in Orlando
1994	Enhanced electrical services by acquiring Expo-Tech Electrical and Plumbing.  Renamed division Tradeshow Electrical (TSE)
Jan 1995	Expanded into Canada with purchase of Panex Show Services and Stampede Display and Convention Services – offices in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton
Mid-1995	Purchased Concept Convention Services with offices in Phoenix, Tucson and Albuquerque
1996	Purchased in Canada Exposervice and Clarkson-Conway in Montreal.
1998	Purchased in Canada Ainsworth’s Show Services Electrical – now known as SHOWTECH Power & Lighting
1998	Purchased ESR in New York/New Jersey
1999	Purchased Tradeshow and Convention Services in Seattle
2004	Added to Canada Divisions Pro Show Services in Alberta & Saskatchewan
2007	The Canadian team expanded by purchasing Poitras Exposition Services in Quebec City
Feb 2007	Viad acquired in United Kingdom – Melville Exhibitions and Event Services Limited
Dec 2006	Melville expanded to Abu Dhabi Nat’l Exhibitions Centre (ADNEC)
Jan 2008	Viad acquires Becker Group Ltd. – an Experiential Marketing Company
Oct 2008	Melville became full service provider in Abu Dhabi
Feb 2010	Merged Exhibitgroup/Giltspur (EG), Becker Group and GES Exposition Services
Feb 2010	Changed name from GES Exposition Services Inc. to Global Specialists Inc. to reflect new united global team.
Sept 2014	Blitz Communications  – Audio Visual Services United Kingdom
Oct 2014	onPeak and Travel Planners – United States Accommodations provider for events
Nov 2014	N200 – European leader in event registration and data services
Aug 2016	On Events Services – US Event & AV provider – new name On Services – a GES company
Mar 2017	Poken – Europe based company that provides  cloud-based visitor engagement and measurement platform.
Year	United Expositions Service Company Time line
1945	United Exposition Service Company founded in Atlantic City, New Jersey and several other East coast cities.
1950s	Entered convention and tradeshow industry
1962	United teamed up with Stuart-Sauter Company and trucking company Young and Rue to form Las Vegas Convention Services – each 1/3 owner
Mid – 1960s	United Expo went public on the American Stock Exchange and the Katz family (owners of United) decided to sell their interest in Las Vegas Convention Services to the other partners.
1970s	Expanded into St Louis, California and Nevada
1978	Purchased by Jack O’Connell former CEO of Houston Astrodome/Astrohall
1978	After purchase added office in Austin, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, New Orleans, Orlando, San Antonio and San Diego
May 1993	Purchased by GES
Year	Andrews,  Bartlett & Associates Time line
1935	Founded as American Flag and Decorating Company
1940	Alfred S Andrews purchased American Flag and was joined by Harold E Bartlett.
1968	Harold Bartlett became president
1977	Harold’s son Butch Bartlett became president and CEO
1990s	AB had offices in Chicago, Cleveland, Orlando, New Orleans, Washington DC and Atlanta.  They were known for innovation and creativity.
Oct 1993	Purchased by GES – Butch became Sr Exec VP of GES and sister Bonnie Aaron became our first VP of Exhibitor/Customer Service

Our Corporate Account team has a long history too.  Here is EG’s timeline:

 

Year	Exhibitgroup/Giltspur Time line
1950	GRS&W Opens in Pittsburg
1955	Awards Exhibits opens – major account Motorola
	3 Dimensions opens in Chicago
1957	Displaymasters
1962	New York based Consultants & Designers (C&D) acquires Award Exhibits
1964	IVEL (EGNY added to C&D roster
1965	GR&W has VW exhibit in Detroit Auto Show
1966	3 Dimensions joins C&D
1968	Industrial Displays (EGLA) and Exhibitcraft (NY) acquired by C&D
	Company christened Exhibitgroup (EG)
1971	EG built for Kodak the largest US based exhibit.
	Giltspur Limited (named for a street in England) acquires Marler Hailey & Exposystems
1975	Giltspur Limited acquires
	GRS&W (Pittsburgh, Rocheser & Chicago)
	Jones-Bause group of companies (LA & SF)
	Firks (Chicago)
1979	EG – Design and build King Tut exhibit in Berlin Museum
	EG Design, Fabricated & logistics arranged for Shakespeare traveling exhibition (on road in US & Europe 4 years)
1982	EG (Chicago, Cinncinati, New York)  – built Knoxville World’s Fair pavilions for Saudi Arabia, China, Egypt and Austrailia.
1983	Unigate PLC acquires Giltspur
1987	EG completed 2 year project for GTE’s Dallas Infomart
1995	Giltspur acquired by Exhibitgroup – new company called Exhibitgroup/Giltspur
	EG also acquired Allwest (major client – Nike) and Displaymasters & Deaton Museum Displays
	EMAX  launched – wins IDEA Award and Best New Product Award
1996	Acquired Color & Design
1998	TL Horton design (mall fixture design firm) joined family
	imension Works acquired
	Voblo Innenaausbau (major European builder) acquired
1999	SDD Exhibitions (England) acquired
	Exhibitgroup/Giltspur releases new logo and vision “Build Your Inspiration”

Displaymasters Kodak exhibit – New York Worlds Fair 1964

While reading up on World’s Fairs I found a model of the Kodak Exhibit for the New York World’s Fair.  This was held in 1964 – 65 and perhaps is one of the most well-known U.S. World’s Fair.

This model was being discussed because it was for sale.  The online offering was for $7,750.  I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw who built this model.  It was Displaymasters.

You ask who was Displaymasters? They are one of the original companies that ended up becoming Exhibitgroup/Giltspur.  Our Corporate Accounts Team is from the merger of EG and GES. In a prior Newsletter I published that timeline of companies and a photo of a Corn display done by them.

Our company has such a rich history.  It is no wonder we are the leaders in creative ideas for all sorts of events.

If you want to read more on this model and the Kodak exhibit there is a good article posted by the New Queen’s Museum. They own another copy of this model.  That can be found at this link:

New Queens Museum – Kodak Exhibit by Displaymasters 1964 World’s Fair

One final note, I wonder if there is another sample of this model in any of the historical company vaults?  Perhaps in Phoenix?   And what other treasure is to be found that GES designed?

 

Live Event Support Systems History

GES is a Live Event provider and it is interesting how the tools/systems we use were developed over the years. Hope you enjoy this brief history lesson.

Live performance events have a long history of visual scenery, lighting, costume amplification and a shorter history of visual projection and sound amplification reinforcement.

• Live Event Visual Amplification – This began when films were projected onto a stage to add background information to the production.
  • 35 mm motion picture projectors began around 1910.
  • In 1935, the 16 mm equipment widened the use of this tool to smaller production groups and school theaters.
  • In 1970, closed circuit video cameras and videocassette machines were developed and Live Event Visual Amplification came of age. For the first time live close-ups of the presenters or performers were shown in real time.
  • Touring systems were developed by TJ McHose in 1975. The first use was for the Tubes where black and white television monitors were used.
  • Then in 1978 he designed a touring color video system that enlarged the players for the Kool Jazz Festivals. These were used produced in Sports stadiums across the US.

Touring color system Kool Jazz Festival 1978

• Live Event Visual Reinforcement – These are additional lighting and effects along with the Visual amplification of images.
  • These began more than 2000 years ago in the Han Dynasty of China. The Emperor Wu was entertained by shadow puppetry which brought back to life his favorite concubine.
  • This shadow play spread to Asia and the Middle East by the Mongolian Troops in the 13^th It reached Taiwan in 1650 and France in 1767.
  • Adolf Linnebach in 1910 invented the Linnebach lantern, a lensless wide angle glass slide projector.
  • In 1933 the Gobo Metal shadow pattern for ellipsoidal spotlight allowed images to appear and disappear by dimmer control.
  • Kodak brought us 16mm Kodachrome film projectors in 1935 that were the first to fully animate visual reinforcement for live events.

Magic Lantern Image Projector

• Live Event Sound Reinforcement – This came about in 1927 when he first ever talking picture was released called “The Jazz Singer”.
  • The Shearer Horn system debuted in 1937 and greatly improved the quality.
  • One of the first large scale outdoor public address systems was at the 1939 NY World’s Fair.
  • In 1960, Bill Graham at the Fillmore created a quickly chargeable sound system for his rock and roll concerts. Then in early 1970s he founded FM Productions to provide touring sound and light systems.

(Info & photos courtesy of Wikipedia)