SEMA 2021
Finally!
For the very first time since this miserable pandemic shut everything down (for much longer than it needed to in my mind, but that’s a whole other story) I took a little break from “makin” to jump a plane and head west to the 2021 SEMA show. And with the news of a fourth exhibit hall being added, 1.4 million square feet in itself, I was prepared to take in everything that this show has to offer and then some. So with a new found enthusiasm for all things automotive related (and sensible footwear on board) I set off on my week long adventure.
Exhibitors and attendance was down I thought. Proving again that the pandemic not only has people still terrified to be in direct contact with one another, but from talking to my suppliers, it made the cost to do this show astronomical. From absurd shipping charges to get your exhibit and your products to the convention center, to the absolute robbery that the unions charge to fork lift your crate from the dock to your spot on the floor. But with that it brought some welcomed breathing room to the floors. Gone were the asses to elbows traffic jams of swag and candy junkies who just peruse the halls to get what they can for free. And even more irritating, the lines of people waiting to get a picture with a model or an autograph from one of the dozens of TV show hosts that some booths hire.
No, this year was business only. My autobahn of automotive delight. Quick in and quick out. It was a bit disappointing though to find some vendors like Miller Electric and Lincoln Welding showing up with a downsized version of their otherwise gargantuan displays. But in the name of a quicker, more efficient show, I’ll let them slide this year. Notable mention has to be given to Miller Electric and their Multimatic 220 machine. Sign me up for that thing! Now all I gotta do is figure out how I’m going to pay for it. Ford had some interesting green vehicles that are coming around the bend and the fuel alternative that Porsche is working on is worth a look. All in all it was a good show and it was good to get back to something a bit closer to normalcy for me and this other industry that I share with my Scrape’s Garage gig. I’m still pondering the thought of building a bike, car or truck so this is really all intertwined and absolutely needed if I plan on going off on that trajectory.
Vegas has begun to grow on me. I never really cared for it at first but I’ve been going there for a long time to attend this show and I kinda dig the city a little more now. Mind you I do not gamble. I prefer a small corner bar in Milwaukee to anything on the strip in the hotels or casinos, and I’ve seen just about every show they’ve ran there in the past twenty years and can honestly say I haven’t been blown away by any of them. But Vegas in November has always meant SEMA and with it, a chance to catch up on everything automotive related, check out new shop tools, and just get away from the 9 to 5 grind that becomes mind numbing during the year. If they could just clean the place up a little bit and get a handle on the amount of weed that you smell 24 hours a day (I had a contact high from the minute I landed there) it could become that classy little city that the Rat Pack so adored.