Thanks to everyone who helped or participated in making the third Southwestern Coral Farmers MarketSM event on February 24th 2008 our greatest Coral Farmers MarketSM event to date ! We ended up with a total official attendance of 378 ! This was the largest Coral Farmers MarketSM sanctioned event that we had ever operated. The selection of captive grown corals was by far the best selection ever offered for sale within a single day event. The vendor system display images below actually illustrate just how incredible the coral selection was, especially considering that we did not get images of every single display. Our attendees were very happy with the incredible corals they were able to acquire. We did however start the event 1/2 hour later then the scheduled start time. This was due to a variety of complications which included: bad weather; improper configuration of the ballroom space; and the sheer size and scope of the event. We are already coming up with operational and infrastructure improvements which will allow us to improve the events operation next year. We have been getting some great feedback from the attendees and vendors. The SW-CFM would also like to thank the Inland Empire Marine Aquarium Society for assisting our overwhelmed staff during setup, operation and teardown. We plan on doubling our staff for the 2009 SW-CFM event which has been scheduled to occur on March 1st 2009. From a financial point of view almost all of the vendors that participated in the 2008 event did very well. In fact some set their best single day performance marks. A couple of vendors underperformed, but this seemed to be due to improperly judging just what the crowd that attends a Coral Farmers MarketSM event expects. The majority expect to find captive grown corals with rare or distinctive qualities which are rarely available for sale. They also typically expect to find hardware that is not easily available through mail order outlets. The attendance for this 2008 SW-CFM event was 24 % higher then our second 2007 event and 44 % higher then our 2006 event. The 2009 SW-CFM event will occur within the same Hotel Ballroom and this venue has room for some expansion beyond the size of the 2008 event.

SW-CFM and CFM Staff

2008 SouthWestern Coral Farmers MarketSM Images
(Images copyright of SouthWestern Coral Farmers MarketSM unless otherwise noted.)

Silvia and Art at the Front Desk.
Art is the person just to the left of the fire extinguisher.
The good news is he is not going bald yet.



Garretts Acropolis upgraded their Vendor Display system and everyone seemed to like it.
Click on image for closeup coral view (use browser back arrow to return).




Just one of the display systems within the Fantasy Coral and Reef Supply
vendors booth. System was installed by Coral Farmers MarketSM.
Click on image for closeup coral view (use browser back arrow to return).




YourReef once again made the long trip down from their retail store in Sacramento.



A first for a Coral Farmers MarketSM sanctioned event !
A vendor fish display from the Seahorse Aquatics Marine Fish Hatchery.
This captive bred fish system appeared to work very well.



AWExotics filling up their vendor display system. The coral selling vendors
all have to be setup and ready because once the door to this
event is opened there will be 2 hours of non-stop hectic madness.
Click on image for closeup coral view (use browser back arrow to return).




Golden Sponsor Reef Nutrition/Reed Mariculture
setting up their very colorful exhibit booth.



A second vendor display system within the Fantasy Coral and Reef Supply
vendors booth. System was installed by Coral Farmers MarketSM.
Click on image for closeup coral view (use browser back arrow to return).




Exhibitor Brightwell Aquatics setup an information packed vendor display.
Now that the SW-CFM event has established a strong core group of coral
farming vendors, we are also adding more exhibitors and hard goods sellers.



An Eye Candy vendor setup for some Jendub Eye Candy corals. Jen appears to
be waiting for her water to warm up before she places her corals within the system.



FraggleReef fought the rain and traffic to make the very long trip all the way from
Redondo Beach. System was installed by Coral Farmers MarketSM.
Click on image for closeup coral view (use browser back arrow to return).




Socal Tropical Fish setup a hard goods reseller vendor booth. They appear
to have brought a good mix of products targeting the SW-CFM attendee niche.



On the left is the Wishing 2B Outside display, while on the right is the Pookstreet display.
Click on image for closeup coral view (use browser back arrow to return).




PFO aquatics was exhibiting their Solaris LED reef and fish lighting system.



Fragfarmers on the right and Reef Tec Designs on the left.
The double halide lighting system made for one bright display.



ReefReady came all the way from the Bay Area. Judging by the corals floating
in this display system they came to sell and buy.
System was installed by Coral Farmers MarketSM.
Click on image for closeup coral view (use browser back arrow to return).




The Raffle lineup kept growing as the day went on.



Coral Obsession vendor display tanks.
Click on image for closeup coral view (use browser back arrow to return).




West Coast Reefer shows how poster boarded computer printouts can make an illustrative display.



Hugo Zuniga (sniperSPS) was looking very stressed after he lost a 2x400 watt SE
ballast which was plugged into a Hotel Power Drop Box incorrectly wired to 220 volts.
He was able to install a temporary setup before the event started. The SW-CFM
will now test all hotel power drop boxes before vendors hook up to them.
Hugo is less stressed now that the SW-CFM has informed
him that we are ordering a replacement ballast the Teusday after the event.
Click on image for closeup coral view (use browser back arrow to return).

These are the best images that Steve Tyree was able to take during a quick walk through just prior to opening the event to the attendees. If anyone has additional images of vendors or tanks not shown here or better images then those shown here, please send them to styree@aceweb.com .

We would like to thank the following companies or individuals who have donated either products or services to the 2008 Southwestern Coral Farmers MarketSM event. These companies and individuals help to make this event a success !

		Art Petit	Steve Tyree