Trade Show Offers Swag, Samples

Umbrellas, travel mugs, t-shirts, chair massages, and samples of ice cream and hors d'oeuvres attracted over 600 people to the South Lake Union Trade Show held in September. Presented by the SLU Chamber of Commerce, this year's trade show doubled the number of attendees from last year, and also doubled the number of vendors at the sold-out event from 16 to 30 booths."Each year it grows," said exhibitor Dawn Oliver with the Morningside School. "The event showed good community spirit and the number of attendees was evidence of growth in the neighborhood and the foot traffic on the street."

The SLU Community Council was represented with a booth which presented information on the area plan and the mobility study.  Council members were on hand to answer questions, encourage community participation in the Council, and to let people know that the Council can serve as a conduit for advancing community issues/agenda.

The trade show was produced with sponsorships from Spring Hill Suites, UW Medicine, Pacific Medical Center, 415 Westlake and Athletic Awards.

The SLU Chamber continues working on ways to help local businesses and they are about to introduce a new app that will highlight special offers from retailers participating in the SLU Card program, neighborhood twitter feeds, events  and navigation tools. Part of the inspiration for the app came from business leaders who want to remind people that businesses are open during Mercer Construction. With so many innovative and tech-forward companies in the neighborhood, an app seemed like the perfect way to do this and showcase the neighborhood at the same time.