Bead Fest Philadelphia 2008

Be sure to join us for the largest bead show on the East Coast! Bead Fest Philadelphia will be held at the Valley Forge Convention Center in King of Prussia, PA from August 21-24 (just outside of Philadelphia).  Classes will begin on the 21st and the expo will open on the 22nd. For the list of classes being offered, along with vendors who will be displaying their beads and jewelry, please visit www.beadfest.com.

 I plan to be there - I'm just a little concerned about the parking.  Last year there weren't nearly enough handicapped parking spaces.  There many more disabled beading enthusiasts than there are disabled people in the general public.  And not everyone who is disabled is in a wheelchair - and we actually have it worse than the people who are, because we have to try to walk from the back of beyond and then walk through Beadfest.  Last time it took me about a week to recover from all the walking, and I'm not sure my nerve-damaged legs can handle all that walking.  Maybe something can be done to extend the handicapped parking for Beadfest so the closest spaces are all handicapped spaces.

 We are working with the Valley Forge Convention Center to secure as many handicapped spots as they will allow. We are so happy that you plan to attend Bead Fest Philadelphia again this year and want to make this an enjoyable experience for you. If you have any other suggestions or comments, please feel free to let me know. Thank you!

Karo,

      I  sympathise with you. I fractured my ankle and leg earlier in the year. I had the walking cast on but wanted to go to the show in March. I was luck enough to get a handicap parking spot at the time so I was able to go in for an hour. I do have a couple of suggestions to maybe help you. They are:

         1. You may want to just get a room at the hotel for even 1 day so if you wanted to go up and rest if your legs started to bother you or if you wanted go to the show for more than 1 day. I understand some of the hotel do have schutte buses to the bead show, which would drop you off at the front door.

        2. What I did back in March is I printed out the vendor list and the floor plan. I research each vendor to see who I wanted to look at again in person or purchase from. I found their location on the floor plan and highlited it with a yellow high-liter marker. Then I plan a route to the booth so I could do it in the shortest circle to cover all of the booths.

       3. Do you have a friend or family member going with you that could maybe push you in a wheelchair for maybe part of the time to give you a chance go get the items you want.You can check, but I think they have wheelchairs there you can rent. If not, you can rent one from a durable medical equipment company. They have some named Ultra-lites that weigh only 19 pounds, which makes it easily lifted from a car trunk by most people. The rental is very inexpensive. The Ultra-lites are chairs without the large wheels only about 10" diameter wheels, therefore you would need someone to push you, but it makes it extra lite for lifting.

    I hope some of these will help you. What ever you decide, have fun at the show. It is a show to look forward to every year. Good luck and I hope you enjoy the show. See you there.

I am hoping to attent Beadfest Philadelphia for the first time.  I have the step by step bead magazine from July-August of 2007 which showcases the classes that were held then  I am particularly interested in the African Circle Delight bracelet (instructor Riana Olckers) is it possible to obtain a kit with instructions for this or a contact e-mail address for the instructor.  Any help would be appreciated.

margaretjardine@hotmail.com

Canadian 

 Hello!

I'm Holly Gage. I sell handcarved silver focal pieces and rainbow sculpture Titanium. I will be a vendor at Bead Fest. I have to tell you that I have been to this show several times, both as a consumer and then as a vendor. It is a ball! So much to see and the classes are great. It is so big this year that they will be utilizing the upstairs and the downstairs of the convention center. I will be down stairs at booth 1241. I was hoping people get down to see me as I was concerned about being off the main floor.

Please visit my website for a preview of my artwork and download a coupon for my when you visit my booth at  Bead Fest event: http://hollygage.com/pages/hollygagecoupon.html

Hope to see you there.

~ Holly

http://www.HollyGage.com

The Bead Star Bead Slam competition

Don’t miss the Bead Star Bead Slam event on Friday from 1:00 p.m. – 5 p.m. All Bead Fest attendees and students are invited to battle it out by creating a beading project on site.  Fire Mountain Gems will give each contestant a spool of beading wire, BeadingDaily.com will offer each contestant a beading box and Beadalon will be providing the tools. The contestants will provide the beads they purchased at the show and the inspiration. A panel of expert judges will select the 20 finalists and then on Saturday all of the show attendees will be invited to vote for their favorite project. The winners will be announced on Sunday at noon.

Great prizes! Plus the Grand Prize Winner will even get their project published in the inaugural issue of Bead Star magazine.

This is going to be a very cool and exciting event!