California’s energy crisis causes metalworking show to move

The National Ornamental Metals Association announced April 14 that it will move its 2003 convention from Sacramento because exhibitors worry brownouts or blackouts would harm their ability to show off their heavy duty metalworking equipment.

“Exhibitors might spend 24 straight hours calibrating equipment,” says Martha Pennington, the Forest Park, GA-based association’s Exposition Manager. “If the power goes down or surges, they’ll have to go through the process all over again.” The group would have brought about 1,400 exhibitors and attendees booking 1,500 hotel rooms and spending $500,000 to Sacramento.

Steve Hammond, Sacramento Convention Center spokesperson, says power concerns about Sacramento are unfounded because the community gets power from its own municipal district and hasn’t experienced the rolling blackouts happening in communities that depend on power corporations. “For convention clients, it's even better,” says Hammond. “The downtown grid, where the convention center and our main hotels sit, is protected. We’re not experiencing any problems.”

Contacts: Martha Pennington, (404) 363-4009, Steve Hammond, (916) 264-7777

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), April 20, 2001

Answers

Response to CaliforniaÂ’s energy crisis causes metalworking show to move

Note that this convention is scheduled for 2003. Not much confidence that the California mess will be cleared up soon.

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), April 20, 2001.