MN Sportsmen's Show 2012 Recap

Jane and I just wrapped up our first sport show of the winter in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was a busy weekend, but not just for the sport show. On Saturday the expected attendance for the sport show was 10,000, followed by 15,000 for the Brad Paisley concert, and a whopping 80,000 for the Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship. All of these events occurred in a five block area. I took the photo above walking out of the River Centre (where the sport show was held) looking up at Cathedral of St. Paul with the Crashed Ice course in the foreground.Here's another shot of the quarter mile course.

Finally, a shot of the poster advertising the event. As you can see, the Crashed Ice event is a combination of motocross racing and downhill skiing done on hockey skates. This is the first time this event has been held in the United States. Kind of appropriate since Minnesota calls itself "the State of Hockey".

Doing this sport show is always fun. We get to meet people interested in Alaska and we get to visit with a lot of old friends. It was great to have our annual lunch with Peter and we're always thankful for his help at the booth. Also, the last couple of years we've made it a point to go out after the show with Dave, Lory, Al and Fred. We find it more enjoyable to visit with these guys at a restaurant than at our booth. So, Dave and Lory, as if they don't have enough hobbies already, decided to become wine makers and be the next Ernest and Julio of Dayton, Minnesota. We are the lucky recipient of their product (photo above).

The booth has been stored temporarily until our next show in February. Looking forward to seeing more friends at that show as well. Until then....