Pizza Today - May 2017 - 3

commentary

with JEREMY WHITE

Home Run!

s I write this column, I'm on a red-eye flight

to experience a little bit of both. Just like rainy days make

Pizza Expo. And, boy, was this one a doozy.

I've seen both sides of the coin I feel pretty well qualified

home after witnessing my 17th International

The 2001 Pizza Expo sticks out vividly in my mind

because it was my first. It happened to be the largest one
at the time, by far, and I'll never forget the eye-opening,
electric-filled atmosphere. There were others along the

you appreciate the sunny ones even more, I guess because

and confident when I speak about how remarkable Inter-

national Pizza Expo 2017 happened to be. To summarize
it in just one word: amazing.

I had a blast from opening to close, and it became

way that I'll remember for different reasons. For example,

apparent that I'm not the only one. Every time I spoke

pointments, if I'm being perfectly honest. It's not that we

friends of mine over the years, the sentiment was the

the next two Pizza Expos after my first were real disap-

didn't try hard to make the show bigger and better. There
were circumstances - serious ones at that - that were

to attendees and exhibitors, many of whom have become
same: "Holy cow, this is a GREAT show!"

The excitement, the buzz, the crowds, the competi-

beyond our control.

tions, the party ... I could go on and on and on. This was,

due to a longstanding scheduling quirk at the Las Vegas

part in helping make that so!

The 2002 Expo, for example, was held unusually early

Convention Center. It was in mid-February. Oh, and that
just happened to be five months after the terrorist attacks
of September 11, 2001. People were understandably

depressed, paranoid and not ready to get on airplanes.

simply put, the best Pizza Expo ever. Thank you for your
For those of you who couldn't make it, don't miss next

year. Because, believe me, you missed one heck of a time
this year.

Those who ventured to the show that year helped us make
the most of it, but it sure felt deflated after the previous

installment. Then 2003 wasn't much better. Just five days

Best,

before the Expo, our U.S. armed forces invaded Iraq. All
those travel fears came bubbling back to the surface.

All this is to say that I've seen some real highs and

some lows at International Pizza Expo. I suppose if you
stick around in any one place long enough you're going

JEREMY WHITE
EDITOR IN CHIEF

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Pizza Today - May 2017

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