The Ben E Keith Food and Equipment Expo

This morning we walked to the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center to attend the annual Ben E. Keith Food and Equipment Show. This is an annual show to familiarize their customers with the food service and equipment products they carry.

Inside the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center

Lots of food to try!

Outside of the convention center and the entrance to the Riverwalk

A Riverwalk cruise

Must be Modern Art!

Being a Tourist in San Antonio

We drove up to San Antonio from Corpus Christi last night and checked into the Fairfield Inn at Downtown Market Square. So we started today with breakfast at the hotel.  Lee went down and brought breakfast up to the room.  I had to take a picture of the Texas waffle (except it's upside down)!

Breakfast is served!

After breakfast, we checked out of the Fairfield and checked into the Emily Morgan Hotel where we stayed our second night compliments of Ben E. Keith Co. Foodservice Distributors. We were invited to attend their annual Food and Equipment Expo tomorrow.

 This is the Emily Morgan Hotel, right around the corner from the Alamo

The hotel lobby

And the bar

The Elevator Lobby

In San Antonio

Walking toward the Alamo

 The Cenotaph "Spirit of Sacrifice" by Pompeo Coppinni

This monument commemorates the Battle of the Alamo and bears the names of all who fought for Texas during the battle of the Alamo.  

Remember The Alamo!

Letter from Cmdt Wm Travis during the siege of the Alamo 
Immortalized in Bronze on the grounds of the Alamo

Shops and hotel near the Alamo

Lots of horses and carriages in the area

Plaza near the Alamo

Another look at the Alamo

The other side of the Centotaph

The Emily Morgan Hotel

Downtown San Antonio

Along the Riverwalk

 Lee at Paesanos Ristorante on the Riverwalk 
where we had lunch

More of the Riverwalk

The Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center where we'll be tomorrow for the Ben E. Kieth Food and Equipment Expo

Loved this Cinderella carriage

Sand Fest In Port Aransas After the Judging

Well, today the weather's better. We took a shuttle to the beach and began our tour of the finished products. The judging had also been completed and the results posted. This is a competitive event, the pros competing with other pros and the amateurs competing with each other. That's only fair, right?

There also came news of some over-night vandalism of some of the sculptures. The most affected were in the amateur category but everyone was disappointed that it happened at all. Anyway, here are some completed sculptures and some of the winners.

"On the Road Again" by Brian Wiggleworth won 2nd Place in the Masters Solo category

The back of Willie

"Blown Away" by Damon Langlois won 3rd Place in the Masters Solo Category

"Flourish"

"Night and Day" - This obviously was the "Day" side

Still didn't get the title of this one

"New Arrival" by Carl Jara won 1st Place in the Solo Category

And here's a close-up of the "New Arrival"

"Making Tracks" was an odd combination of a sand castle and monster trucks

"Cosmic Dance" by Abe Waterman and Morgan Rudluff won 1st Place in the Masters Duo Category

A close-up of the figures

Believe it or not, this one's titled "Did You See The Dragon?"

And there he is sleeping in one of those little caves

Bed Time Story" by Wilfred Stiger and Edith Van De Wetering won 2nd Place in the Master's Duo Category

"Cosmic Carousel" by Lucinea Wierenga and Emerson Schreiner won 3rd Place in the Master's Duo Category

Another side of the carousel

EZ-GO golf carts is one of the sponsors of the event and they presented this sculpture (non-competing)

"Up To My Neck"