Reefapalooza made its first ever stop in Chicago this year after blessin’ the good reefers of SoCal, Orlando and the New York area for many, many years. We traveled down to the windy city to participate in the inaugural Reefapalooza Chicago event and it was great to see so many old friendly faces and businesses.
One of the very first of the ‘modern’ reef shows we ever attended was Rockford Frag Fest, for those of you kickin’ it old school, and coming back to the midwest reminded us just how much each region of the country is unique. From the West Coast to the East, Southeast to the midwest, the taste for corals and preferences for certain ways of reefing and reef gear is quite particular, which is why it was so enriching to return for the largest reef aquarium conference that chi-town has ever seen.
For the last Reefapalooza video coverage of the year we took a little extra time not only to show you what was at the show, but also to discuss certain topics a little more in depth. Reef folk are very quick to complain (loudly) about the rising cost of corals, ourselves included, but no one makes any kind of noise about the dozens of vendors specializing in $10 to $50 frags.
YES torches and shrooms are still out of control in pricing, but there’s loads of productive coral farmers willing to deal four or five nice coral frags for a benjamin – that’s $100 for the non-native english speakers. In any case, like the Worldwide Corals flagship store grand opening, Reefapalooza Chicago didn’t disappoint and truly lived up to the Reefapalooza image of having more corals than you could reasonably take home.
