I spent the afternoon at the Women’s Expo inside the convention center. The convention center is so much nicer than the old Holiday Inn basement that just the change of location makes it superior to past Women’s Expo events. I still think that downtown parking is a pita. This year, the food tasting has been separated into its’ own show. The result is a ten dollar fee to go shopping. There are still exhibitors with freebies that made the show popular, but primarily there are vendors. We’ll ignore the fact that I am not in the casual shopper income bracket and address this from the perspective of those who are. First, the infomercial vendors need to go. They are not owned by women and they feel like old door-to-door salesmen who prey on ignorant housewives to buy their gimmicks. Second, I can walk in Belk’s and buy their merchandise without the ten dollar admission fee. More unique vendors and less “mall” would make the show more interesting.

The temperature in the center was somewhere just above freezing. That would probably be great if their target audience was the hot-flash crowd, but the majority of the visitors were seriously post menopausal. In fact, Knoxville’s gang task force should be alerted that the red hat gang has claimed this as their territory. They travel in packs, riding their wheeled shopping bags and armed with sharp credit cards. You know what they didn’t like at the show? The men’s bathrooms have all been converted to women’s rooms for the weekend. This transformation requires only a photocopied sign taped over the “man” symbol and plastic flowers in the urinals. The red hats would open the door, peek into the reassigned bathrooms and slam the door to the find someplace more traditional to wash their hands.

I’m curious how the food show will stand the separation, but the Women’s Expo is certainly going to thrive on its’ own. I’m looking forward to watching it grow and change, like a woman. BTW – If I was in charge of the door prizes, they would be a lot more of a gift for the women you are and less of a “woman you could be with surgery” procedure discount.