Mum’s the word so far on the location of the North American Handmade Bicycle Show in 2010. Show organizer Don Walker says he is considering several potential venues and will announce the show location in April.
Olive the dog believes that discussions with Mellow Johnny’s point to a show in Austin. Walker apparently is investigating potential venues in the downtown Austin area.
I’ve also heard that officials in San Jose, CA are considering enticements to return NAHBS to Silicon Valley. The San Jose city council adopted “Green Vision“, a 15 year plan to transform Silicon Valley into a world center of Clean Technology innovation, promote cutting-edge sustainable practices, and demonstrate that the goals of economic growth, environmental stewardship and fiscal responsibility are inextricably linked. Leaders tasked to promote the Green Vision plan say they see bicycling as an essential part of that plan.
Some builders like the way the show has moved out of Silicon Valley over the past couple of years to become a roving consumer show. “We like the idea of NAHBS being in different markets each year,” said Tom Rodi of Parlee last year in Portland. “We have seen great growth in our business in the Bay Area and the Pacific Northwest so we like the moving format for a consumer show to open up whole swaths of the country to bikes that lots of riders have only maybe heard of and have maybe never seen in the flesh.”
Where do you think the next NAHBS should be? Should it return to Silicon Valley? Should it move south, perhaps to Austin? Does it need to move to the Northeast, perhaps to Boston, Philadelphia, or even New York City?
