SCA Conference 2017
Day 1
Welcome to Cincinnati
Day 2
Around Cincinnati
Day 3
Presentation Day
Day 4
Dixie Highway Day
Postlude - Oct 14, 2017
As noted, this was my first SCA conference. Aside from the fact that I
could stay at home and drive just a few miles each day, it was rather
similar to other conferences I've attended. There were bus tours to local
points of interest, a day of presentations, some group meals, and some
on-your-own meals. In those regards, it was very much like a Lincoln
Highway Association or Jefferson Highway Association conference. The fact
that there were some familiar faces from other conferences helped with the
feelings of similarity.
There were differences, of course. Two in particular registered with me. One came from the fact that the SCA does not own an axe that needs grinding. The group does project a general "old is better than new" attitude but there is no "A is better than B because it's on highway C rather than D". The second difference that struck me was the lack of commercialism. The Association itself had a few items, such as T-shirts and old Journals, for sale, but there was no book room or vendor row. There were certainly authors and artists in attendance, and items were indeed sold during the conference, but it was person-to-person and "on demand".
Since I didn't have to travel to the conference, I've used the path of our Dixie Highway bus tour as the basis for the locator map. The tours and presentations were entertaining and informative, so that even I, a long time area resident, learned a few new things. It was a class operation and I was impressed. I also think that most of the attendees were impressed with my city. I can't imagine doing much better than that.
October 7, 2017 (day 4)
Thirteen hours of Dixie Highway and I-75; Kewpee 'burgers and spaetzle.
October 6, 2017 (day 3)
A day of presentations with a 3-way in the middle.
October 5, 2017 (day 2)
After looking over Cincinnati from the top, we looked a little closer at
some of it by foot and by bus.
October 4, 2017 (day 1)
An evening meet and greet with a glimpse of Cincinnati underground.
Prelude - Sep 16, 2017
When I joined the Society for Commercial Archeology in 2012 I felt
guilty for not doing it sooner. I'm going to my first annual conference
this year and I'm feeling a little guilty for not doing that sooner, too.
There have been a couple of times when I was tempted but the SCA events
are somewhat pricey and I always talked myself out of going. Even now, for
the 2017 conference, you might say I'm not really going. I'm attending but
it's coming to me. This year the conference, which celebrates the
society's 40th anniversary, is being held in Cincinnati. That greatly
reduces my cost to attend which is very much a good thing. The fact that
I'm paying money to visit familiar things in my own backyard could be seen
as a negative but I think that will be more than offset by learning how
others see my backyard. The conference runs October 4 through October 7
and includes a couple of bus tours, a couple of dinners, and a day of
presentations. I guess I could feel guilty about counting the twenty mile
drive to the conference as a road trip but I won't.