Well, I made it back alive and "crud free" from my first trip to St. Louis and the Transworld Halloween & Attractions Show. The Halloween tradeshow was everything I had heard it was, plus way more. I'm completely and utterly drained, but I couldn't be any happier.
I arrived Thursday night, ready to hit the show bright and early the following morning. A huge thanks to Dave Shonk of Closed Casket Studios for allowing me the chance to tag along and work his booth for the show. Hopefully my adept skill at passing out flyers didn't go unnoticed!
Upon arriving at the show Friday morning, I was blown away at the size of the tradeshow floor and the number of popular, big-name vendors and the amount of incredible props on display in their booths. My only comparison would be the Midwest Haunters Convention times 20. The aisles of vendors stretched on and on. I had a quick chance to tour the entire show floor before returning for flyer duty.
After the show, we opted to hit up the City Museum. An artful, amazing building full of insane passageways, tunnels, steps, ladders and slides. It wasn't so much a museum as a giant playland for kids and adults. After a few hours of climbing, burrowing and sliding, we called it a night. Do yourself a favor and check out the images to see how wonderfully crazy this place really is!
The following morning, I made time to get a full tour of the tradeshow floor with my camera, as it was my last day at the show. I took pictures at every step and in every direction. There was so much to see and admire! I didn't buy anything, but I did get a lot of ideas for this year's haunt display. After taking the last photo, I headed back to the booth to finish my flyer duty. It was cool to see some old friends as well as making some new ones, as they passed through the booth. And it was nice to meet some of the big names in the haunter community, all of whom couldn't have been nicer. Even in the setting of the biggest tradeshow of the year, it still felt like a big group of people hanging out, and that is part of what makes the haunter community so much fun.
After the show's end on Saturday, we opted to drag our tired bodies over to check out Phobius Haunted House. They had opened for Saturday night only, specifically for the Transworld tradeshow. It was a bit of a drive, but it was well worth it. Lush scenery and detail in each room, a great array of actors and an incredible use of lighting and fog throughout that ended in a truly disorienting room bathed in dull light and dense fog. This haunt is HIGHLY recommended and is another that I get to check off the Haunt Bucket List.
On Sunday, I got up early and hit the long, dusty trail back to the Cemetery, my head buzzing with the events of the previous few days, completely energized to start planning the yard display for this Halloween.
Transworld was an amazing experience and I can't wait to suck up to Dave again next year for another chance to take it all in again!
Now sit back and enjoy a huge collection of photos from Transworld, 2017...
9 comments:
Wow! Just wow.
Nice to meet you finally my friend! Wish I could have spent more time walking the floor but it was still amazing as usual. Closed Casket Studios stuff rocks! Hope that had a good show.
Mark, it was great meeting you, too! I could have walked the show floor for days!! Closed Casket did really well on Sunday, so he had a good show. Now it's on to MHC in June!
Wow. Great inspiration. Thanks for sharing.
love these pics--thanks for sharing
Thank you for sharing those great photos! Did you happen to see anyone that made a crow/raven mask or headpiece?
Thanks, Evil Vines (and everyone else)! The only thing I remember was a mask from Shattered FX, but it was more of a plague doctor mask that was in the shape of a bird skull. Still cool in its own right!
Thanks, I'll check out Shattered FX! Got to catch up on some of the Haunters Hangout episodes I missed yesterday and saw yours. Love the new front porch crypt you added last year! Really beautiful detail - well done!
Thank you Evil Vines! The crypt turned out to be a massive project that somehow all came together at the last minute. I hope to add some new details and some lighting and fog adjustments this year to make it even better! Full tutorial coming some day... :)
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