By Kevin Foley – Central States Numismatic Society….
Patricia Foley, Bourse Chairman and Secretary for the Central States Numismatic Society (CSNS), has announced that the organization recently extended its contract with the Schaumburg Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center through 2021. The facility is located at 1551 North Thoreau Drive in the Northwest Chicago suburb roughly 10 miles from O’Hare Airport.
“Our event was first held at the Schaumburg Convention Center in 2012,” she said. “We received so much positive feedback from our dealer and collector attendees that our Board decided to make a multi-year commitment at that facility. Our next convention, our 77th Anniversary, will have bourse dates of April 27-30, 2016. We had an existing contract with the facility for April 26-29, 2017, as well as April 25-28, 2018. Our President, Bruce Perdue, has just signed additional contracts for April 24-27, 2019; April 22-25, 2020 and April 21-24, 2021. Having firm contract commitments so far in advance enables other numismatic conventions to make more secure plans for their own future events and be confident that they will not be conflicting with our much larger convention and its national following.”
Foley continued:
“The Schaumburg Renaissance Hotel is directly connected to the adjoining convention center, making it possible for our participants to enjoy the added safety of transiting from the convention events to the hotel’s dining outlets and their sleeping rooms without having to venture outside. The really abundant free parking and the close proximity of the parking lot to the hotel itself, as well as the coin show exhibit hall, has proven especially popular with our attendees. While I realize that no place can be everyone’s first choice, I just receive so many compliments about how attractive and convenient our site is that I’m especially glad we’ve been able to extend with them through 2021.”
Convention Chairman Kevin Foley added:
“What is especially gratifying to both the Bourse Chairman and myself is that fact that our bourse area has experienced a steady growth since we came to Schaumburg. We are now up to 306 booths, which is actually the practical capacity of our exhibit hall. No matter how much proselytizing a convention might do, in the final analysis the dealers who support our organization with their decisions to be part of our bourse or not, have clearly decided that Schaumburg deserves their vote of confidence.
“The Renaissance Hotel is simply a first rate facility and I’ve just lost count of how many of our booth holders come up to me and our Bourse Chairman at other shows and conventions to let us know how much they like Schaumburg. When I first saw the facility it was still under construction and I had to wear a hard hat during my first two visits. What makes it a particularly prime convention site is the fact that the Chicago market enjoys the presence of two major airports served by full-sized aircraft, Midway and O’Hare, and is only 85 miles from a third, Milwaukee’s General Mitchell International Airport. Since we’ve come here the Illinois Highway Department decided to add an exit to the I-90 freeway, which runs right past the hotel, so that auto visitors in the future will find the hotel parking lot less than 100 yards from the new exit.”
Bourse Chairman Patricia Foley also mentioned:
“Here we are a full eight months from our convention dates and we have only 29 booths still available. That really says something about how popular our event and the convention center are with our booth holders. It is just a really positive feeling being associated with a numismatic convention that is experiencing such growth and acceptance.”
CSNS President Bruce Perdue added his own perspective:
“Schaumburg is just an all around great place for a numismatic convention. The hotel staff is especially security conscious and provides 24 hour patrols in the parking lot during our event. The hotel has almost everything anyone coming to our convention could want, three different dining outlets in a wide range of prices from deli food to fine dining, a well equipped health club and an especially generous sized swimming pool. There are dozens of restaurants within a two-mile radius of the property and it is just across the freeway from the Woodfield Mall, a shopping destination that everyone in the Chicago area knows about.
“What I think is one of the greatest benefits for both our collectors and dealers, however, is the business friendly environment in Illinois. There is no sales tax on coins, bullion or currency in Illinois. This makes our attendees purchasing dollars stretch a bit further than if we were in a state with a sales tax. In addition, the Village of Schaumburg, which actually owns the hotel and convention center, understand that conventions give their community an economic boost and provide us with the ability to have our event and not have our booth holders burdened by complex or intrusive business regulations.”
Dealers interested in one of the few remaining booths at the 2016 convention can contact Bourse Chairman Patricia Foley at [email protected]. The sleeping room rate for the 2016 convention at the Renaissance hotel is $155. Reservations can be made by calling the hotel at (847) 303-4100 and mentioning “Central States Numismatic 2016”. Anyone experiencing difficulty making a reservation under the room block should call Convention Chairman Kevin Foley at (414) 807-0116 for assistance.
Complete convention details are available on the CSNS website, www.centralstates.info.
