Posted by Wendy Purser on November 22, 2008 at 9:30am
As the Pool and Spa show comes to an end it reminds me of the first shows and conventions I attended. I believe the first convention type I attend was for Spartan Pools and was held at the Playboy Club in Great Gorge NJ. At that time my sister was still in a stroller and I was around 11 years old. Can you believe my parents took us!! It was fun as we received a lot of attention from all the Bunnies. A cute baby does it everytime. All the guys wanted to hang out with me... Before that was a Spartan Pools meeting at the Concord Club in New York. It was great, they had an ice skating rink there and you go at night. They did not serve any meat there nor salted the butter. Pat Hussey a dealer from Burlington NC was my best friend that week. She went to McDonalds. I also met a very nice man by the name of Herb Grimwood (I think that's correct) from Alabama. He came to our room and sat with us for a long time and taught me card tricks. He was great. The last Spartan Pools meeting I went to was just to meet Mark Spitz. He had just won 7 gold medals. I watched him on the TV while on vacation at the beach, everyone thought I was crazy not going on the beach by staying inside but I knew he was going to be historic. I still cherish the picture of Mark Spitz and me at Spartan Pools. I also got to see him swim in the display pool and met his new wife. I was around 14 then. My first NSPI show was at New York city. I went alone as I was 19 at the time, I remember Polaris had a remote control model on the floor as it chased me down the aisle. Also Jane Rutledge of Rock Hill SC made her daughter dress in the big green fuzzy ball outfit and stick little ones on people as they passed by...I don't think the daughter (Hope??) was too happy in the suit. I learned so much valuable information about pools from going to all these shows especially as I got older. I also learned how to catch a taxi, find transportation to and from hotels, find my way around an airport and have been to some of the best eating establishments on the east coast. But the real experience in my life was the social network that even remains and grows today. But now I have rules as some of you know...no discussing pools during dinner. Usually my social compadres need to remind me of that (thanks Carvin, thanks Jane) as everything in my life has a part of pool in it.
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