Chicago Shapes Up To Be Good Venue For LIGHTFAIR, But BEST Venue For Parties!

One of the best parts of my job is to attend, and report, on the parties of our industry.  While Chicago is turning out to be a very good location for LIGHTFAIR, it seems to be the BEST location ever for parties.  Simply put, the entertainment in Chicago is the best we have seen in about a decade.

On Monday your humble editor attended a Phil Vassar party at City Winery sponsored by KSA Lighting.    KSA is the Acuity Brands Rep in Chicago and it is unusual for a rep to host 650 people at a LIGHTFAIR party, but this was an excellent party.
 
Tuesday,  There were many parties in the booths and we managed to find a little space at the Bill Brown/ALP party which was jam-packed. We had a quick word with Mr. B. who looks great.  As the show ended for the day, EdisonReport was invited to a dinner at Barrio Restaurant sponsored by Roth Capital. The ground rules do not allow me to report anything from that dinner, other than to say it was well attended and a great networking opportunity.
Next, we ubered to the Hubbell party at Revel Motor Row. This was an 80’s theme and all Hubbell associates dressed the part. We had a great talk with fellow reporter Ron Burgandy and we compared notes on the status of our industry.  Ron gave me several interview tips which I hope to use in the future.   This party was nothing but fun!

From there we hopped a taxi to Jack Zukerman’s party, LF Illumination which was co-hosted with  FC-SSL Lighting at the Chicago House of Blues.    This party featured lighting musicians. Over the night we found the following on stage:  Jim Benya, Jim Yorgey, Stefan Graf, and Leslie North.  After many, many drinks we found Jim O’Blaney on the stage.  The roster showed  2200 RSVP’s, and I think they all came.  This party was standing room only.

From there, we ended the night at DMF Lighting at the Willis Tower. This was the best venue, best view, and best food of the evening.  We don’t know much about DMF, but one of their reps claimed that they ship 99% of their orders, complete, within 24 hours.

Based on all of the alcohol consumed at these parties, my bet is that Wednesday will get off to a bit of  a slow start.