The Really Big Expo

I look forward to attending the annual Southeast Petro-Food Marketing Exposition in Myrtle Beach each year.  It's an opportunity to get a glance at new technology, spend sometime with some of our business partners and possibly meet some new friends.  The show also offers trade seminars,  a variety of food samples and an occasional celebrity sighting.


Back in the day we took a day to visit the show in Charlotte and run through the show floor glancing at vendors.   The show and missions have changed to include a golf tournament fundraiser, many meetings and a chance to take in a couple of beautiful Myrtle Beach sunrises.

About the show: 
The nation’s largest regional petroleum and c-store show continues the spring date started in 2001. Approximately 1500 buyers attended last year from throughout the southeast. Each year more than 400 exhibit companies offer equipment, products and services to petroleum marketers and convenience store owners and managers. Of course, the latest in products and services will be on display.

The twenty-ninth annual Southeast Petro-Food Marketing Exposition is sponsored by the following organizations:

North Carolina Petroleum & Convenience Marketers
South Carolina Association of Convenience Stores
South Carolina Petroleum Marketers Association
Virginia Petroleum, Convenience & Grocery Association

These four associations boast membership of over 1200 members operating over 10,000 convenience stores and service stations.

We had our cake and ate it too!

I was glad to be a part of the planning for Art's Richmond's 2012 fundraiser event themed Fire & Ice.  In addition to dinner,dancing and a silent auction, we decided to add a cake baking contest to the evenings events.  We out together some guidelines and invited local bakers, or cake artists as we like to call them, to participate.

In the guidelines the cakes had to represent the theme and offer a bite-sized sample for approximately 150 people.  Guest were encouraged to vote for Best in Theme and Best in Taste.  We opened the contest and encouraged people to vote at a $1.00 per vote.   The area around the cakes quickly became busy with guests taking a look and sampling the artwork.  We also provided a prize for Best Overall based on the total of the guests votes for Best in Theme and Best in Taste combined with sponsorship money that each cake artist collected on their own.  We had six cake artists participate and his proved to be a very large part of our fundraiser.

Special thanks to the cake artists:  Bambi Provensano, Wanda Bullard, Tracy McNair, Melissa Newton, Micheille Coggins and Jackie McAuley for their hard work.

Winners:

Best in Taste:  Michelle Coggins
Best in Theme: Tracie McNair

Best Overall: Tracie McNair


This could possibly be an event on it's own.  Planning for the Second Annual Cake Showcase will begin soon.

Ocean Isle Beach - Oysterfest Weekend

I am always happy to add beach weddings to my schedule.  I enjoy all outdoor weddings, but I am very fond of the beach locations.  When possible I take advantage of the opportunity to spend some time on the beach and enjoy a restaurant or two.


Sharkys is a must visit restaurant when I visit Ocean Isle.  I've been to Sharkys before or after every wedding that i have photographed at Ocean Isle.  In addition to Sharkys, I have another new favorite place just across the bridge called The Causeway Gourmet.   Following the wedding we arrive at The Causeway gourmet just before closing.   The staff was very accommodating and prepared some delicious sandwiches for us.  

This particular weekend was also the weekend of the NC Oyster Festival.  I was a bit concerned about making trip between several destinations during the day because of the expected crowd. I am happy to say the the traffic control was on top of things and the crowd never became an issue for us during the day.

We had a wonderful day of food and wedding photography and were happy to retire for a good nights sleep.  Beside discovering an new restaurant I was very pleased with the accommodations provided at the Winds Resort Beach club.  This will definitely be the place I crash after future wedding gigs at Ocean Isle Beach.

The following day was just as beautiful as the previous and we spent some time on the beach as well as visiting the festival grounds to see tons of crafts and sample some food. 

Copyright - Jimmy McDonald Photography

Ocean Isle Beach on Dwellable