When the summer daylight wanes and I start to see the transition from summer’s brutal heat to the pleasantly cool mornings of autumn, my mind feels a shift in focus.
Saturday mornings in the fall draw me outside with a light jacket to enjoy coffee as I watch the sun slowly rise, creating a million diamonds on the lawn as the morning dew reflects the sun’s rays back at me. As the leaves start to change from summer green to a palette of reds, yellows and oranges, I am reminded that change is inevitable. Bees buzz around the late fall flowers as they prepare their hives for winter. Hummingbirds dart from bloom to bloom, building up enough energy to join millions of other migratory birds on the long trek southward to winter grounds. The air is filled with the savory smells of tailgate grills, serving up the weekend chefs’ specialties for the homecoming crowd. Summer vacations are over. Kids are back in school, and we can finally start getting together with friends for fall festivals, football tailgates and, for me, new beer releases! My summer IPA’s lose a little space in the fridge to make way for porters, brown ales, and the great variety of Octoberfest beers!
Homecoming is in the air!
As my wife and I sit on our patio on a Friday evening, we hear the announcer as the local high school football team announce “it’s another Dutch Fork” and the crowd replies with “First down!” From a mile away through the woods, I can feel the excitement of the homecoming football game and the ensuing dance. Homecomings are magical events that warm our hearts as we gather with old friends we haven’t seen in a long time.
One homecoming I truly enjoy every October is the NASGW Expo. Yeah, it’s another show. But this one is special. We don’t have to fight the crowds of some busier shows. It allows time for business and just enough time on the show floor to catch up on summer activities where we commiserate over our golf game that really didn’t get any better, despite our commitment in May to make sure that happened! We have time to share photos of fishing trips or recent hunts. Our Expo dinner allows us to cross paths with many people we may not have on our meeting schedules. And the socializing after dinners for the next few nights is a homecoming we all look forward to!
Besides the socializing, show attendees will get updates on the many great strides that our NASGW is achieving to make 2-step distribution more important than ever before. SCOPE data gets stronger every year as our dealer feed grows. We are accomplishing programs that help protect our businesses from being canceled by banks, credit card processors, freight carriers and more. And we will be the center for product attributes that will be consistent across the industry and finally make web searches so much easier.
There will certainly be some celebrating this year as we all enjoy the homecoming we look forward to in October at the Expo. I’m looking forward to crossing paths with you soon!
Until next time,
Chris Means
NASGW Chairman