Details, details. A lot of details have gone into staging the Chicago Auto Show. And this time around, because of the new and much larger venue, the details are more staggering than in previous years.
A look at some of the facts and figures surrounding the show help demonstrates its scope.
This year’s site at McCormick Place South makes the extravaganza the world’s largest auto show on one floor, said Jack Gallagher, director of dealer relations for the Chicago Automobile Trade Association, which sponsors the show.
That one floor’s 840,000 square feet of space is 40 percent larger than the 600,000 square feet at earlier McCormick Place shows.
The space is roughly an area three football fields long by three football fields wide. Spread across the expanse are more than 1,000 cars and 40 to 50 motorcycles.
Some 35 exhibitors are showing off their wares, with Ford and Chevrolet heading the list of major exhibitors at 37,950 square feet apiece. Rounding out the Top 5 exhibitors are Dodge, with 34,900 square feet; Toyota, with 31,900 square feet; and Nissan, with 29,750 square feet. (Exhibit size is predetermined with automakers picking their location based on sales.)
For comfort and sound insulation, the show requires about 120,000 square yards of carpeting, up from 20,000 in McCormick Place East. Among the suppliers for the show is Exhibitors Carpet Service, which was responsible for laying 30,000 square yards of carpeting and padding, said owner Norm Glicksberg.
If it’s hard to imagine that much carpeting, just conjure up a one-yard-wide swath of carpet 17 miles long and you’ve got a pretty accurate picture.
As it has at past auto shows, Chicago’s Freeman Decorating Co. has been entrusted with providing many of this year’s decorations, including directional signs and graphics. Ken Buffo, national sales manager, said Freeman Decorating is again providing for the three huge electric signs announcing the show. Each weighs approximately 5,000 pounds, measures 90 feet long by 12 feet high and are suspended 24 feet off the show’s floor.
“The predominant colors (of directional signs and graphics) are vibrant magentas, teals and yellows on black backgrounds,” said Buffo. “They’re on clear Plexiglas covered with black vinyl, with translucent vinyl lettering, and are back-lit for added pizazz.”
Buffo, who enjoys reeling off the numbers that go into staging the event, added that this year’s show includes “upwards of 4 million pounds of exhibit material (compared with 3 million in McCormick East), not including the vehicles themselves. That’s the equivalent of 320 fully loaded 40-foot semi-trailer trucks.”
To power the lighting and the myriad displays requires at least 2 million watts of electricity, said Ed Mangan, superintendent of show electricians for the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, which operates McCormick Place.
“We could use up to 2,000 specialty lights (up from 1,100 last year),” said Mangan.
He added that, while other shows require lights to be lit to only 75 percent of their brightness, the glitziness of the auto show mandates that lights be illuminated at 100 percent.
Almost as big an attraction as the cars is Ryba’s Fudge, an auto show favorite. The confection is made on the premises by Vic Callewaert, owner of Ryba’s Fudge Shop of Mackinac Island, Mich.
Callewaert, who also peddles his fudge at the Detroit and Cleveland auto shows, keeps his raw materials, including sugar, corn syrup, cream, nuts and chocolate, in a semi parked behind the convention hall.
“With the new building, I look to do better this year,” said Callewaert. While he’ll make no solid predictions, he anticipates a sweet sales tally surpassing last year’s total of 16,000 pieces. That’s the equivalent of 8,000 pounds, or four tons, of fudge.
In past years, Callewaert also has operated two ice cream stands at the show. With larger quarters, he hopes to have three or four.
“If I have four, I’ll double what I did last year,” he said. “Last year, we went through 3,000 gallons of vanilla ice cream, dipped in chocolate and fudge, rolled in nuts and served on cones.”
In the show’s nine-day run last year, visitors stopping by his ice cream stands snapped up the equivalent of about 10 percent of the ice cream Callewaert typically sells in a summer at Mackinac Island.
There will be plenty of other appetizing treats for hungry attendees. So says Don Riccardi, general manager of food and beverage for Levy Restaurants at McCormick Place.
Last year, reported Riccardi, Levy sold 370,000 cans of soda, 70,000 pizzas, two tons of hot dogs, 70,000 orders of French fries and 55,000 burgers.
Similar or even greater volumes of food will be purchased this year, with more upscale entrees and side dishes in addition to the usual hot dog, hamburger and pizza fare.
“We’re real excited because of the new facilities,” said Riccardi. “We’ll have a food court with themed menus on the main entrance, adjacent to McCormick Square. There will be an Asian-Oriental station, an All-American Grill station, a Southwestern station and a deli station.” The food court can accommodate 450 diners, Riccardi added. Levy plans to have a staff of 300 workers at the show on weekdays, and almost 600 on weekends.
A lot of details go into creating the displays and exhibits. One of the most visited exhibits each year is a “mini-driver’s license facility” operated by the Illinois Secretary of State’s office, said press secretary Dave Urbanek. The booth offers show attendees applications for driver’s licenses and special license plates, information on organ donation and drunken-driving prevention programs, auto theft prevention literature and maps. Last year, the booth processed 3,275 driver’s license applications and sold 177 vehicle stickers.
Also worth noting is the Hummer exhibit, created by Hummer of Naperville, part of Naperville Jeep Eagle on Ogden Avenue in Lisle. The exhibit, which also made appearances at Chicago Auto Shows from 1993 through 1995, will feature three Hummers, the commercial version of the military’s High-Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle, or Humvee, that served in Desert Storm. A four-door pickup and two four-passenger wagons retailing at $57,661 and $66,321 will be featured, said dealership product manager Tom Scolan. “The Hummer’s like a magnet at the show,” he said.
“And though some people express reservations about the vehicle’s width, it’s actually eight inches shorter than a Cadillac, 30 inches shorter than a (Chevrolet) Suburban and has a shorter turning radius than a Jeep Cherokee. It’s very agile and has a towing capacity of 9,000 pounds.”
BY THE NUMBERS.
Little things add up to an auto show.
– The exhibition hall at McCormick Place South is 840,000 square feet, which is roughly three football fields long by three football fields wide.
– The two largest exhibitors are Ford and Chevrolet with 37, 950 – It takes about 120,000 square yards of carpeting–imagine a one-yard-wide swath of carpet 17 miles long–to cover the hall.
– There are 4 million pounds of exhibit material not counting the vehicles.
– Two million watts of electricity power 2,000 specialty lights and other display needs.
– More than 8,000 pounds, or four tons, of fudge will be consumed in the show’s nine-day run.
