ATLANTA, GA – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has taken interest in the challenges facing the International Woodworking Fair and the potential impact on the host city’s economy.

VIDEO: Readers react to exit of IWF exhibitors

The story published Tuesday, Jan. 26, “Will housing slump splinter woodworking convention?”, noted that the biennial industrial woodworking show generates approximately $40.5 million in convention revenue to Atlanta hotels, restaurants, etc. The article also observes that the prospect of a much smaller exhibitor base, including the individual announcements by five major woodworking machinery companies that they would not exhibit this August, has many stakeholders wondering how much Atlanta convention businesses will be affected, especially if  fewer woodworking professionals do not attend.

According to the paper, “Dwindling attendance expectations have so worried some IWF conventioneers that they want Gov. Sonny Perdue to step in and lower the cost of renting the state-operated Georgia World Congress Center, site of the show. The conventioneers argue that lowering rental fees is the only way to lure some of the lost exhibitors back.”

In addition with interviews with several wood industry professionals, the article cites Wood & Wood Products magazine and its coverage of the evolving IWF situation.

Read more.