Find A Strange Trade Show

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trying to find a strange trade show

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Most of the trade shows that I have attended or exhibited at have been pretty run of the mill. It seems like at just about every show I'd meet someone who would say "did you ever go to such-and-such trade show" or "did you ever hear about the oh-my-god-I-can't-believe-they-have-a-trade-show-for-that" trade show. It seems that there is a show for just about everything, and there are many a strange trade show out there. Anyway, the other day someone asked me what I thought was the strangest trade show, and that got me to thinking. Actually, my memory isn't that good so I went online to Google and did a little searching. I thought I could just type in "strange trade shows" and get a list of strange trade shows, but what I found is that it's not only hard to find strange trade shows, it's kind of hard to find trade shows in general. Here's what I mean:

There are a couple of industry sites that allow you to look for trade shows based on the industry (very general), the organizer (who are they?), or the venue (I don't care where it is, I want to find a show about a specific product or service). I want to be able to say, "find me a trade show about iguanas" or "find me a trade show about accordions", but instead I'd have to sort through a list of trade shows in the animal(?) industry or the entertainment(?) industry. So I created a challenge for myself to see just how hard it is to find a strange trade show. My favorite musical instrument is the bagpipes (does that make me strange?), so I decided to find a trade show for bagpipes.

Well, the first thing I discovered on Google is that there are a lot of bagpipe performers that will perform at your trade show booth, such as:

Bagpipe Performances by Jori Chisholm
[update ~ Link no longer works and thus removed. :( Please search Google for the current link if you're interested.]
Google description ~ birthday party, anniversary party, graduation party, international trade show, Masonic Installation ceremony, St. Patrick's Day restaurant promotion, ...

I was also shocked to learn that bagpipes are made in Pakistan:

Greenland Scottish Pipe Band Musical Instruments
[update ~ Link no longer works and thus removed. :( Please search Google for the current link if you're interested.]
Google description ~ Product Description
* Cat-060/R. Full size, 40" x 20" Red Rose Wood bagpipe, Royal Stewart Bag cover with cord, with turned Plan nickel Sole and Knobs and a soft leather bag.
* Naturally Finished and Seasoned Red Rosewood Bagpipe
* Highest Quality Pipes with Professional-grade sound quality
* Includes one set of Pakistani drone reeds plus an English cane chanter reed is also fitted. ( translation - the bagpipe is ready to play! )

Well, I keep looking and looking, finding more bagpipe performers, bagpipe manufacturers, bagpipe stock photography, and even a blogger blaming Obama's trade policies (he isn't even in office yet) for hurting the poor (the poor bagpipe makers I presume).

Anyway, I was about to give up on finding a trade show about bagpipes when on page five of my Google results I finally found this:

Montreal Fringe Festival 2008: Burlesque and Bagpipes on Stage
[update ~ Link no longer works and thus removed. :( Please search Google for the current link if you're interested.]
Google description ~ Two of the best shows I saw this week contained elements of burlesque. include a bomb-making expert, his schoolgirl niece and her welder-by-trade mom.

I'm not even going to click through and disappoint myself. I'm just going to claim I found a trade show for semi-naked, bomb-making bagpipe players - which would have to qualify as the strangest trade show ever! :-)

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