Don’t bring a gun to the tradeshow.

Don’t bring a gun to the tradeshow.


Nope, don’t try it, SIA doesn’t want them (this will make sense if you check the rest of the post, I promise). Just got back from the SIA show now in Denver. Lots changed, lots the same.

The SIA show went down this last week in Denver. It had been in Vegas for as long as anyone could remember but in all their infinite wisdom, SIA decided to move the show to Denver – apparently multiple foot snowstorms, bad parking, expensive hotels and being a pain to get to doesn’t matter to them.


First things first. Leave your guns & knives at home. They don’t want you smoking, but they really, really don’t want you to bring guns and / or knives. This sign was a highlight of the show for me.


Burton took it upon themselves to bring Vegas to Denver. Craps, blackjack, slot machines and cheesy outfits were the norm at their booth.


They didn’t leave it at the glitzy side of Vegas though, they didn’t forget the dirty trailer park side, they brought it along as well.


the North Face had an interesting wall. They had back to back riders (we’ll say that) which were corrugated cutouts. Nice touch.


This was a favorite feature of mine at the show. The Bond booth had an excellent wall system with super cool textured cardboard. Very nice.


The million dollar booths were all gone (remember Fila’s helicopter hanging out in the show?), the do it yourself vibe was definitely present. Lots of wheat paste was used at the show this year.


The best and worst of the show for me. The wood pedestals at the Salomon booth were amazing. Loved them. Then there’s the entire “Bitch Boards” booth. Seriously? I mean I know snowboarding’s in the Olympics and all but has it really got to this level? It made me sad inside to see this garbage although, I will say, they had a miniscule amount more people than the Ed Hardy outerwear did last year. Bluebird wax had the best stickers at the show (which I didn’t photograph) which read “You don’t snowboard, you only work here”. ’nuff said, thanks Willie.


I haven’t seen live artwork this good at a show since the legendary Phil Frost painted at the Original Sin booth way back when. Skullcandy had people painting live all weekend.


The show organizers actually commissioned a good sculpture. Looking at it, you can feel yourself doing the yeah guy soul carve.


Oh, you wanted to see some boards? Burton’s were on point (like that’s any surprise). The silver method on the right retails for a cool $1500 and picking it up you can tell why, it’s light as a feather!


Nitro’s boards were on point as well. Nice to see that they were able to get their manufacturer to pull off the board 3rd from the left.


I’m sure these will be the next big hit at the lodge. I wonder if any will actually make it on the snow?


Ahhh man, it looks like the big blue bear ate a swede at some point!

No Comments

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.