Fresh Summit draws record East Coast attendance in Orlando
Fresh Summit draws record East Coast attendance in Orlando
ORLANDO, FL -- Produce Marketing Association's Fresh Summit International Convention & Exposition drew an East Coast record number of produce sellers and buyers -- and every link in the produce supply chain in between -- when it convened here Oct. 24-27. The event drew 17,502 attendees from 61 countries to the Orange County Convention Center.
This year's Fresh Summit broke the previous East Coast attendance record of 16,300, set the last time it was convened here, in 2003. Last year's Fresh Summit -- in the first-time location of Houston -- drew 15,849. This year's buyer attendance exceeded PMA's expectations, with 3,842 identified buyers registering. The record Fresh Summit attendance of 18,670 was set in San Diego, CA, in 2006.
"This was the best Fresh Summit show I can remember in recent history, and I've been coming for 15 years," Loren Queen, marketing and communications manager with exhibitor Domex Superfresh Growers in Yakima, WA, said in an Oct. 27 PMA press release. "Everyone we needed to talk to was on the floor. We had the right people and the right flow of traffic."
"Even -- or perhaps more accurately, especially -- in times like these of economic hardship and uncertainty, gatherings like Fresh Summit become even more important," PMA President Bryan Silbermann said in the release. "Our attendees come home to the community that is Fresh Summit to recharge, refresh and renew."
Next year's convention and exposition will be held Oct. 2-5, 2009, in Anaheim, CA. That expo was already more than 90 percent booked by the end of the 2008 show.
This year's Fresh Summit broke the previous East Coast attendance record of 16,300, set the last time it was convened here, in 2003. Last year's Fresh Summit -- in the first-time location of Houston -- drew 15,849. This year's buyer attendance exceeded PMA's expectations, with 3,842 identified buyers registering. The record Fresh Summit attendance of 18,670 was set in San Diego, CA, in 2006.
"This was the best Fresh Summit show I can remember in recent history, and I've been coming for 15 years," Loren Queen, marketing and communications manager with exhibitor Domex Superfresh Growers in Yakima, WA, said in an Oct. 27 PMA press release. "Everyone we needed to talk to was on the floor. We had the right people and the right flow of traffic."
"Even -- or perhaps more accurately, especially -- in times like these of economic hardship and uncertainty, gatherings like Fresh Summit become even more important," PMA President Bryan Silbermann said in the release. "Our attendees come home to the community that is Fresh Summit to recharge, refresh and renew."
Next year's convention and exposition will be held Oct. 2-5, 2009, in Anaheim, CA. That expo was already more than 90 percent booked by the end of the 2008 show.
