By Justin Smith
The weekend couldn’t get here soon enough. After months of waiting, counting down the days, the weekend of NRBE 2020 was here and I couldn’t get on the road fast enough. With the current pandemic having the world thrown into chaos, myself (and I’m sure damn near everyone else) wasn’t sure what to expect with the show going on. The comments section on the NRBE facebook page was on fire with outrage and excitement. How would one of the largest shows in the country be able to go on with that many attendees, vendors, and masks?
Well COVID be damned I packed for the weekend with plenty of clothes and cigars on hand. Thursday morning I drove down to Melrose, Florida to crash for the night at the Reptile Preservation Institute, owned and operated by Pia and Cody Bartolini. As usual their collection and caging were incredible; if you ever get the chance to check out their place I HIGHLY recommend it as their facility gives pretty much any zoo reptile house a run for its money. I spent most of Thursday hanging out, burning a few cigars and relaxing. Thursday night I was a spectator while Cody and an RPI intern (as well as friend) Giovanni Fuentes, cleaned and fed various species of Lanceheads, Mambas, and Cobras. I’ve seen Cody work with the mambas at the RPI in the past but it was the adults. This time Gio was working with the younger animals which made things much more interesting. After watching Gio do “the dance” with these younger animals you learn that mambas don’t move. They float.
I ended Thursday with a late night and started Friday with an early morning. Camping in your car, in Florida, in August, is great if you like sleeping hot (which I don’t) but hey it’s Daytona weekend. The show goes on! I spent the first half of Friday snapping some pictures of the RPI collection and then hit the road to Daytona. I arrived at the hotel a few hours early of check-in so I found my gang (Billy Hunt, Casey Cannon, Dominique DiFalco, and Carley Jones) and just killed time until I could get in my room. If there was one thing I learned about Daytona last year, it’s that the social side of hanging out with friends and meeting the faces we see on Facebook is really the most enjoyable part of the entire weekend. I can confidently say that after this years’ show, that is still very much the case.
Saturday morning comes quick. Day one of the show. Since I was helping the awesome guys at ReptileExpress with some live stream things they wanted to do, I was able to get a vendor badge to get in, set up, then make my rounds to get a sneak peek at what was for sale and also catch up with some folks. Virus or no virus, there was definitely no shortage of vendors in the building. Just as many tables filled the Ocean Center as they did the year before. One of the vendors I was fortunate to meet for the first time was Jennifer and Clint Martin with Jennifers’ brother Kevin at the BlackBox Reptile Cages Table. They’ve been a partner with the magazine for a few issues now. Without a bias I have to say, I’ve checked out a lot of cages and racks but I can say, without a doubt, that their racks have the smoothest action with the tubs that I’ve ever come across. They are definitely a caging company that you should be paying attention to!
Species diversity wise, there wasn’t much that really wowed me. Being a huge Baird’s Rat Snake nerd I was very excited to see a lot available at the show since they aren’t something you see at shows in large numbers. One thing I noticed this year and last year was the amount of corn snakes for sale. I think it is actually safe to say that there were more corns than balls this year! Maybe it’s a sign of changing times and a shift in the industry? You be the judge. Regardless, it was a decent show even if the selection was fairly run of the mill.
One thing that surprised me was how compliant everyone was with masks. I didn’t see anyone in the venue without a mask on, which is pretty impressive given the amount of people in the building. Given the amount of push back Wayne Hill and the NRBE staff got about the show going on as planned, I wasn’t sure how well things would go over in the venue on both days of the show. I think the excitement of the show happening was enough motivation for the vendors and attendees to do whatever they needed to for a weekend of normalcy.
All in all it was a great weekend. I quickly learned last year (my first time attending), that while the NRBE show is great, it’s getting to hang out with your best friends, catch up with old ones, and bring new ones into the fold that makes the weekend my favorite of the year. If you clear your calendar for anything herp related in a given year, NRBE Daytona should be it.
