I like trade shows. Trade shows offer you a place to see, feel, smell and experience new products, new ideas and allow you to meet many new people. Granted, some people would ask, “Why do you need a tradeshow when you can just go to the company’s website?” The experience a visitor gets on a company’s website pales in comparison to what they can experience when looking for new products at a trade show. Does a picture or video of a chicken on a website generate the same reaction as holding a live chick in your hand? Not at all. I know first…well…hand.
I attended a particular trade show as a visitor the last two years. At last year’s show, I looked around and thought our Murray McMurray Hatchery chickens just might go over well at the show. As a vendor this year, with about 35 newly hatched chicks on display, I was nestled in between several organic farm’s, Natural Health Expert Jordan Rubin, a State chief justice, several authors and many more wonderful vendors.
Right – You are employees. Can we see your badges please?
I have to admit, showing off our chicks at a trade show really does not feel like work at all. It is thrilling to put a newly hatched chick into the hands of a person for the first time – and I’m talking about adults and children. I usually get a great mix of experience levels that stop at our booth. I find it so amazing that there continues to be adults who have never held a newly hatched chick before. Even the toughest, strongest, hard looking individuals stop to see the chicks. When I ask them if they want to hold one I get a Tim the Tool Man type of arhgh, argh, argh, “No Thanks!”. Then I put one in their hand before they can leave. The transition that happens on their face is amazing. I do the same thing with the executive women who pass by and “take a quick picture for their nieces and nephews”. All of a sudden what was in their planner doesn’t matter and the ringing of their cell phone goes uninterrupted as they start a baby talk voice and slowly caress the heads and feathers of the chicks.
It is funny with adults – they have a first reaction, then they have the real reaction. As
adults, I wonder just how much we have let other influences condition us to the point that we don’t even remember how we are supposed to, or rather want to, react. I’m guilty of it. I’m sure you are to.
The kids that stop at the booth to see the chicks remind me of how far gone I have gotten on some things. Kids are awesome. They don’t care what they are doing, they just let their reaction to the chicks happen. Several will walk by having temper fits when they see the chicks and yell, “Oh mommy look!” They quickly forget what they were mad at and ask if they can hold a chick.
Duggar Children
One of the families that I recognized at this particular trade show was the Duggar Family from TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting show. The youngest Duggar children who were in attendance loved the chicks on display. They held them, named them, and watched the chicks for hours.
“What’s your name?” I heard one child ask one of the Duggar’s.
“Jackson”
“What’s your last name?”
“Duggar”, he said.
“hmm, I don’t know you. Want to be friends?”, asked the inquisitive child.
Does it really have to be more complicated than that? It seems like we make it so at times. The chicks I get to display have a magnetic affect on many. People of uncommon backgrounds, uncommon professions, and uncommon lifestyles are sharing in the joy of chickens. Some remember old times, some experience it for the first time.
I get to hear all kinds of wonderful chicken stories at the trade shows. One particular story shared with me was from a younger gentleman, probably 35 or so, who had a little hint of a southern draw to him. He told me he was helping an elderly widow with things and in one of their conversations she shared with him that she once owned chickens as a little girl. While her health was not in its prime, this widowed lady was surviving her days at best. This young gentleman said he wanted to help her spirit so he gave her several newly hatched chickens from Murray McMurray Hatchery. A year or two later, the widow commented to the young gentleman that his gift of the chicks added years to her life. She took on a new hope, a new excitement, a new, or re-newed spirit. This young gentleman remembers chicks at his grandparents house growing up and he, himself owned chicks now also.
You can see chicks on our website, you can even watch videos of them. These features, as I mentioned, don’t compare to holding them in your hand. If you have not owned chicks before, why not start today? We would love to get you started and experience the joy of chickens that so many others are today.
