If anyone is on the fence re: attending, I'd recommend giving Cinevent a try. I attend almost every year...if you're looking for a knock-your-socks-off poster convention with everything available you could dream of, this is not it & you'll be disappointed, but if you come with a different frame of mind, you'll enjoy this convention. In addition to the collectors, there's many old film fans & the theater room is usually busy all day, all night.
The families who continue to run this event does so only as a labor of love & tradition. The time/effort to setup & staff this event nonstop all day for multiple days takes a small army and appears so with little reward. I don't know that for fact, but that's how it appears. Hope somehow it will continue, understandable if it doesn't.
The dealer room is a nice place to hang, walk around, see familiar faces & hope to find something that catches your attention. Auction can be hit-or-miss but usually you'll find there's always a few items that peak your interest.
I attend these days only because over the years you establish a group of close friends & it's nice to share your passion with others you can talk to face-to-face. Adrian Cowdry was one of those friends who always made the show better, had a wealth of knowledge of anything poster, film & especially Bond related. It's definitely different now without Adrian but he's still with us in spirit. I was never a fan of Joe's Crab Shack but we went every year as Adrian loved it & flew in from London where they don't exist.
Cinevent is also my weekend where I get away, my one weekend a year where I don't have to think about my job/career, the kids, the house, my aging parents & any other responsibility I have the other 362 days a year. I come back completely refreshed and ready to start over. With my wife passing away last year, it makes me appreciate having close friends from all over the place who come together for a common interest.
The change in venue from a rat hole Ramada Hotel outside of downtown Columbus to a midtown Renaissance Hotel & Conference Center has also changed the dynamics of attending. The hotel that hosted the event for 20+ years became so run down it should have been condemned 5-10 years prior, but it still was enjoyable to go to & many of the older attendee's liked it because it was cost-effective, easy to get to, had free parking & made the show much simpler. The area around the older hotel on Sinclair Dr. became so bad I felt I had to pull everything out of my vehicle & bring to the room expecting it would get broken into. Definitely a well-needed change to move the show.
If anyone is new this year who plans to attend, look me up once you're there & I'll introduce you to others. It's a weekend of overindulgence of eating (both bad food & great steak houses), excessive alcohol & film memorabilia, one I wouldn't trade for anything.
Anyone going this year? Richie? I wish I could squeeze it in this year. My wife and I are making plans to go next year. Okie
