Actually, while there may not be quite the frequency of shows in California that there seems to be on the east coast, the
NARBC (Anaheim),
The Reptile Super Show (San Diego) and the
IRBA shows seem to be very worthwhile to attend. Last year my wife and I flew down for both the Reptile Super Show and the NARBC show and had a great time at each one and also picked up some snakes at both shows. We didn't make any of the IRBA shows which I heard are also good and occur several times out of the year other than the other two shows which only happen once a year.
As far as Medford (
West Coast Captive Breeders) goes, and I apologize again to Jen
, we also flew down for that show and were sadly disappointed. I'm not disparaging that show for necessarily it's lack of size, and it was very small, but that it was disorganized amongst many vendors including the shows organizer (who was also a vendor), which unfortunately made the whole show seem very amateurish. This was sad because there were several vendors like Jen who did have their act together and were prepared by time the doors opened. The biggest problem I have with this organizer and the shows he does is the lack of putting out an actual vendors list. The list on the web site states "past & present" vendors which misleads people into thinking that there will be more vendors than might actually be there. When we went to the Medford show, about half of the vendors were still setting up their tables (including the show organizer) and several didn't even have prices on their animals (and we were interested in a few of the animals). For the $10 or $12 admission for the both of us, it was a disappointing 5 minute walk around the tables and back to the airport we went. Having said all of that, that was our experience and no way reflects in those (like Jen) that actually had their tables all setup and were organized by the time the doors opened. I do hope in time these shows will mature and attract more vendors, Medford did after all seem like an interesting town to visit if we had had more time to cruise around. All I'm saying is that if you do plan to go out of your way for this show, keep an open mind and don't have too high of expectations like we did. And there is also the Eugene show which is put on by the same guy coming up in March I believe.
As far as the other shows in Oregon & Washington(
Unique Animal Expo,
Portland Metro Reptile Expo and the
Northwest Captive Breeders Show, while all are decent shows (we go to all of them), they all collectively do not even remotely compare to the NARBC show in Anaheim. The NARBC is really the king of shows!
So really, while we might have more quantity up here in Oregon & Washington (let's just forget about the east coast :nyah: ), in California, they got quality! :dancer:
