Sparta company holding show at Meadowlands
SPARTA Anyone who has ever offered constructive criticism has probably heard the reply, If you think you can do it better, then you can (fill in the blank here with task of choice).
Thats exactly what the Carhart siblings heard a few years ago when they attended a mineral and gem trade show and suggested the promoter might want to include a lunch truck and 12 helium balloons at future shows. They took the suggestion of doing it themselves and in 2009, Sparta-based Eons Expositions was formed.
As exhibitors ourselves, we were thrown out of a competing trade show for the innocent crime of suggesting improvement ideas, said Lowell Carhart, principal.
While tossing us out, the promoter mockingly suggested that we start our own show if we thought we could do better. We thought we could, and we did. And it is. We are growing so quickly because other exhibitors agree.
Siblings Lowell Carhart, Christine Coyle-Pernerand and Russell Carhart, the equal-share partners of Eons Expos, are bringing the show to New Jersey with the 2012 New York City Metropolitan Area Gem Show from May 10 to 13 at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus. Featuring minerals, fossils, dinosaurs, crystals, gems, jewelry and meteorites, the NYC Metro Show will include featured speakers on topics that are related to the shows Mexican Minerals theme.
This show is one of three that Eons Expos planned for this year, with one already held in Arizona at the end of January and one still to come this September in Colorado. The plan is to add a fourth show in 2013 and by 2014, Eons Expos expects to be organizing five shows for the year.
Each is a massive undertaking to recruit exhibitors, sign up speakers, arrange logistics, buy billboards and other advertising, curry favor with museums for them to exhibit, etc., said Lowell Carhart. Four of us work full-time and travel extensively. The company is made up of the three partners and two additional employees. For each show, Eons Expos also collaborates with a team of specialized workers to ensure all the details are implemented.
According to Carhart, the hope for Eons Expos is to be the nations largest and most prestigious mineral and gem show circuit achieved by providing undisputed best-in-class service to our exhibitors and to their customers. Other than fossil fuels, if it comes out of the ground or the sea or the sky, then our exhibitors will have it.
For more information about the 2012 NYC Metro Show, visit www.nycmetroshow.com.