Sep 7, 2010

Blueberry exposition coming to Grand Rapids

By Matt Milkovich, Managing Editor

The National Blueberry Exposition is coming back to Grand Rapids, Mich., this fall.

The trade show, breakfast, reception and concert will be held Oct. 12-13 at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel and the DeVos Place convention center. The exposition will run concurrently with the North American Blueberry Council (NABC) and U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) fall meetings at the Amway Grand.

MBG Marketing (also known as The Blueberry People) is organizing the exposition, the first since 2005. MBG is a producer-owned blueberry marketing cooperative based in Grand Junction, Mich. MBG will turn 75 next year, and the exposition is meant to kick off its anniversary celebration, said Lorrie Ford Merker, the cooperative’s director of grower and industry relations.

MBG’s annual meeting (for members only) will be held the morning of Oct. 12. The trade show’s two days will culminate in a reception on the show floor hosted by MBG and Naturipe Farms, along with a concert by the musician Billy Dean.

The NABC meetings and activities are scheduled for Oct. 13-14. A farm tour is included. The last Michigan tour group had about 200 participants, touring the northern parts of the state’s main production area. This time, the target is southwest Michigan. The tour is still in the planning process, but Merker anticipated one of the stops being a cranberry harvesting operation.

USHBC’s meetings will be held Oct. 15-16. Those meetings will be open to all growers and handlers, under USDA oversight. New scientific research will be explored, and a free media training event will be held for those in attendance, according to Merker.

Up to 500 people have attended previous expos. MBG would like to maintain that number, Merker said.

MBG Marketing (formerly the Michigan Blueberry Growers Association) started hosting its annual meeting in Grand Rapids in 1990, combined with a machinery show. That show evolved into the expo, and was held annually or biannually with the NABC fall meeting for many years, according to Merker.

NABC and USHBC hold their annual meetings in different parts of the country, to ensure adequate grower interaction in all growing areas. MBG can only align with those meetings on a periodic basis now – hence the five-year leap between this year’s exposition and the last one, Merker said.

“Also, as this industry has grown, there are often competing venues for the machinery and equipment makers to show their wares,” she said. “We did not want to have our show suffer from overexposure.”

For tickets, visit www.blueberries.com/expo. Early bird pricing (good through Sept. 10) for general admission is $15 for Tuesday only, $50 for Wednesday only and $60 for both days. MBG members get a better deal, according to Merker.