Boston Gift Show

I went to the Boston Gift Show yesterday. Twenty years ago it was a thriving show, but it has been shrinking every year until now, it's only a shadow of what it once was. A show that used to take me a day to walk through - I can easily do in three hours. And that's stopping to chat with people I know but don't need to order from because I've already seen them at the big New York Show. Paradoxically, just as the show was really struggling, it moved to the gigantic new Boston Convention Center, where it takes up an infinitesimal sliver of the spacious modern building. So, I wasn't sure if I should even bother going - I had a lot of other things to do. I was sure it would be a waste of time. BUT - I went, and I found a few little vendors, people who would never do a big show - and thus found a few items that I never would have found. And reminded myself that you never know what you will find anywhere. Just one new thing can make a whole show worthwhile - though if I had had to pay for travel and a hotel and food . . . a whole different story.