Birth of a Fetish Tradeshow
http://www.fetishcon.com/history.html website Updated: 2001 |
The Birth of a Fetish Tradeshow
Our original show may have started out somewhat small with only about 500 attendees in total that consisted of models, producers, fans, and exhibitors back in October of 2001. But FETISH CON (see our complete history below for the full story and information about our recent name change) has steadily grown and expanded to be an internationally recognized and hugely anticipated event within the fetish community.
Our first show was located in Queens, New York and we remained there for three years... growing and expanding until 2004 when the original organizers, Vesta and Genesis Lynn, moved the show to sunny Tampa, Florida.
To give a small history, in March of 2000, Vesta promoted and hosted one of the very first fan-orientated conventions then known as - DIVA CON in Tampa, Florida. The 2000 convention then grew into an idea - how can we try to bring more members (fans, models, and producers) of the fetish community closer and how can we begin to network within the industry as a whole.
The initial dream of the show then gave birth to a full-fledged four-day fetish trade show, which we first held in 2001 in New York. Early in 2001 Vesta, and not long after Genesis Lynn moved to Connecticut and formed a partnership that has to this day stood the test of friendship and the tradeshow.
We then began work on what became the biggest East coast fetish trade show of the year. The October 2001 convention, which took place in Queens, NY, was host to over 500 people from all aspects of the community and from all over the world. Amidst constant questions of when the next convention would happen, it was decided - June of 2002, remaining where it all began in New York. Not long after the close of the first show and again with months of planning, the 2002 convention was born and began to take shape.
The Second Annual trade show which started on June 21st of 2002, brought together a new alliance. Vesta and Genesis remained a constant in the original idea of the first convention that took place in 2001 - to bring together people from all corners of the world who simply enjoy all aspects of fetish. The 2002 convention saw almost 1000 people through its doors over the course of the four-day event. It also brought the community to the mainstream with several journalists from all over the world sent to cover the show.
Again constant questions began almost immediately on the heels of the 2002 convention - When is the next con!? That was actually easy to answer, when we left New York in June we announced on the very last day that the Third Annual Trade Show was already scheduled to kick off on March 20th of 2003 again in New York. It immediately took on a life of its own as it grew at a phenomenal rate. The 2003 convention was expanded upon greatly from the humble beginnings when the doors first opened in 2001, as we grow and learn with each show we have had the privilege to be a part of.
The 2003 convention was our biggest to date in New York, it was simply AMAZING! The 2003 convention welcomed people again from all over the world, fans, producers, photographers, and a slew of models (over 100 attended!) all descended on the Crowne Plaza La Guardia for a four-day event that would be hard to top. Our 2003 show was covered by several film and media crews such as, Telemundo and Playboy TV's SEXCETERA who filmed a book signing by John Santerineross, which was just great to be a part of. In addition, a multitude of print reporters covered the show for adult and fetish magazines from all over the US and the world. The 2003 show also hit the papers in Italy when we were interviewed for "D Magazine" which is a magazine included in the Sunday issue of La Repubblica in Rome, Italy. What made the 2003 show so amazing was everyone who was a part of it... the fans, our sponsors, our Guests of Honor, attending models, Dominate Radio - who was our official radio station for the 2003 show, exhibitors, vendors, demonstrators, workshop teachers, RainbowRope.com for supplying the rope for all of the workshops, Persephone and the show performers and of course our official Mistress of Ceremonies, Stacy Burke, the press (most of which have been coming since 2001 and are just fantastic), and last but not least the incredible hotel staff... all of you MADE this convention for us and we are so very honored that you were all a part of it.
In September of 2004, Fetish Con moved to sunny Tampa, Florida where it has found a new home. Tampa has been simply fantastic, even amidst hurricanes the show has gone on! In 2004, we hosted the Fourth Annual show and we were simply blown away... not by Hurricane Jeanne though, the 2004 show saw over 2000 people through the doors over the course of the four-day event. The biggest trade show to date! Even in the dark on Sunday night, everyone was there to celebrate with us on the last day of the event and took advantage of the generators as well as the fun atmosphere as another fun year came to an end. And as the winds whipped and howled outside, we partied into the early hours of the dawn!
In August of 2005, Fetish Con once again returned to the Double Tree Hotel in Tampa. We knew the show would be huge going into it... but we had no idea just how huge until on the last day, exhausted and cleaning up, our badge guy Dave told us the tally through the door. We had just under 2600 people through the doors! The 2005 show was truly the event to be at... every day seemed to get bigger and better as the show took on a life of its own (as the show usually does). Thursday night's Meet & Greet Cocktail Party sponsored by RopExpert.com was PACKED! The Trade Show exhibitor floor was a non-stop buzz of excitement and the weekend was truly a blast!
In August 2006, Fetish Con found a new home... the Hyatt Regency Tampa! The venue space and hotel are truly four-star. The hotel was plush, lush, and the staff was top-notch! The bigger venue allowed us room to grow which we did by leaps and bounds. To date... and yes we say this each year... the 2006 show was the biggest yet! We were honored with having a Premiere Event Sponsor this year as well, CLIPS4SALE.COM and to Neil, we say thank you from our hearts for allowing us that honor. In September 2006 Genesis Lynn stepped out of the spotlight of the tradeshow to become the Tradeshow Consultant, thus handing over the "torch" of the tradeshow fully to Vesta and Mike. ( Click Here For More On This [1])
So what's with the spiffy new name for the show?
First, to be fair, the old name that we have been using for the past three years was legally trademarked in 2003. So, what does that mean? Not a damn thing to us!
We've been "gifted" with a brand new name (thanks to [[Stacy Burke]]! - see a note from her below) and instead of further confusing everyone and having people wondering who was who, who was hosting what event, what show was happening where and when, and did we have anything to do with James Bond (yes, I'm talking about 007), Vesta and I agreed that a change was indeed needed and it came at the perfect time!
We had been talking about the decision we made back in June of 2003 to put plans for our Fourth Annual show that was due to take place sometime in 2004 on hold... and what we finally decided is that taking a year off from the show due to any reason just wasn't going happen! We jumped at the offer of using the FetishCon.com name, we just couldn't refuse. We said THANK YOU, Stacy! Yes, we'd love to name our show that! ... and the rest is history!
So, presto we have a brand new name - FETISH CON for an event that is something both Vesta and I love to do and have watched grow for the past five years. We can't wait to see where this year takes us with so many new doors opened and so much unbelievable support. It's so amazing how much the show has grown in just five years (seeing as the cons have taken place within 6 - 8 months of each other, the years REALLY are short for us). It's gone far beyond any of our original ideas and dreams of simply getting fans, models, website owners, photographers, videographers, and just about anyone else who wanted to come together and hang out for a weekend of kinky fun and cool events.
If you've followed the growth of the show from our first and the original bondage show we held in Queens, New York back in 2001, then you know that this show has become "The Event" of the year!
Now we're going into year number SEVEN - so don't forget to take a moment to join the mailing list and we'll keep you up to date with the latest news and announcements!
Please let us know if you have any questions, and we look forward to seeing you all once again in 2007!
- Vesta
- Promoter of Fetish Con
- mailto:staff@fetishcon.com
- Mike
- Promoter of Fetish Con
- mailto:mike@fetishcon.com
- Stacy Burke
- Spokes Model for Fetish Con
- Flyer for Fetish Con 2004
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