Halloween, horror and haunt-themed podcast The Big Scary has covered the H&P Expo and HauntCon in its latest roundtable podcast.
The Roundtable of Terror segment features show experts Mike Carlucci (senior vice president of H&P Expo), Aneisha McMillan (marketing director for Halloween Industry Association) and Linda Camplese (owner of Scarecrow Vampire Fangs) giving their different perspectives of the upcoming show and what visitors can expect to expect to see there.
Drew Badger – the presenter of the show – spoke with the trio to find out more about the show.
“The show has been around for many years,” said Mike, giving a lowdown of the event. “We took it over in 2016 so this will be our third crack at the show. It’s a great show in a great city – The Big Easy (New Orleans) – so it really fits into that. It has everything that’s new to do with Halloween – every new trend, every new costume, make-up. Anything new to do with Halloween!”
Presenter Drew went to the show in 2014, describing it as ‘costume after costume after costume’. “I think most people think this is where Walmart and Target go to get their costumes,” he said. “Is that an accurate description?”
“That’s a big misconception,” said Mike, “the show is so much more than that. If you look at the seasonal buyers for Halloween, much of their buying is already done by the time it comes to our show so it’s a mop-up event for them. The bread and butter of our show is the independent retailers; they represent the majority of people you’ll see walking around.”
