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The Tucson Show
A Continuing Very Brief History, Part III
By Les Presmyk
Ah, the Desert Inn. For those of us fortunate enough to have participated in and lived through the history of this Tucson Show icon, it was a sad day when I drove to Tucson and discovered the place had been torn down. For those of you who have no idea of what I am talking about, the DI was located at the northwest corner of I-10 and Congress Street in Tucson. So, the next time you get off the freeway to go to the Tucson Show, look to your right at the vacant lot and spend two seconds reflecting on the transitory nature of man-made monuments. As an aside, the promoter of the Munich Show thought so much of the Desert Inn that he created a portion of it at a recent Munich Show. I am getting ahead of myself and am waxing nostalgic prematurely.
In the early years, the Tucson Show Committee was not at all pleased about the proliferation of the various shows cropping up in the hotels and motels. After all, these satellite shows were competition not only for dealers but also customers. What started as a core group of about four or five along the freeway, the DI, the Sands (now the Travelodge), the Holiday Inn (now the Discovery Inn), and the Sheraton, expanded to 15 by the end of the decade and the trend did not stop there. Some were there by tradition, such as the DI, where the dealers just made their reservations every year with hotel management. Others, like the Marriott became the site for a professional wholesale show of gem dealers and reservations were handled through a show promoter who in turn contracted with the motel or hotel for a block of rooms and exhibit hall space, where available.
So, the hotel shows that started out as just a few mineral dealers who could not get into the Tucson Show were now becoming legitimate shows unto themselves. The promoters offered advertising as part of their show fee since the shows were getting further away and no longer within walking distance
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