SBN Marks its 21st Year
Daytona Beach, Florida, SBN, “The World’s Most Famous Soundoff”, the 21st annual edition of SBN is set for March 23 – 25th at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida. “The construction of the 100,000 square foot addition to the Ocean Center is well underway” said SBN president Paul Papadeas “and while it may not be ready for this year’s event, the future of SBN and Tuner Jam will be housed in magnificent quarters”. SBN & the Tuner Jam are held in and around the grounds of the Ocean Center and on the Bandshell directly on Daytona Beach’s Boardwalk. The new surface lot at the Ocean Center affords plenty of space for all of the SPL competitions including IASCA IdBL and Bass Boxing qualifiers; MECA SPL / Drive By SPL formats and dB Drags and Bass Race. IASCA and MECA Sound Quality competitions will be held again on Grandview Ave. adjacent to the center.
“I can’t wait until the Ocean Center Expansion is opened” says Papadeas, “Our event outgrew this facility years ago, but it is still the largest venue strategically located on the main strip where everyone cruises. The area around the center still gives us plenty of space but I feel that when we contain the Expo and competitions within the building, it will prove beneficial and provide even better exposure and foot traffic for all participants”. The manufacturer’s expo and the activities inside the center include the traditional SBN Bikini contests, sponsored by Audiobahn and Audiovox respectively. Papa John’s Pizza Eating contest will be sponsored by Alphasonik.
As a Trade Show, SBN hosts leading Florida distributors Audio America, LESCO Distributing, RNL Distributors, DJ Sound, Kustomized Boom and Cole’s Distributing in breakout rooms where they will be entertaining their Dealers showing them new products and offering SBN show specials. “It’s important to seize advantage of the trade draw at SBN” says Larry Milboer of Florida’s LESCO Distributing, “numerous trade attendees from all over the Eastern region may attend SBN for the fun and sun but it has become a great place to check out the things they missed simply because some can’t afford to travel to CES. You may say that I’m a bit prejudiced because I’ve been the SBN emcee for 19 years. While that may have some truth to it, the fact is that SBN’s event strength is twofold; SBN allows us to sell to our dealers while it promotes the industry to consumers all in one event”. Papadeas adds, “I’m proud to have been the first produce an event that serves two purposes trade and consumer exposure. Twenty years ago, I produced the Soundoff to promote my retail business. As it grew, SBN sent a great marketing message to consumers in attendance and only a few short years later (after spending a lot of money to attend CES) we introduced the trade show at SBN based on the PRO competitors who were in attendance. Audio America, Florida’s most aggressive distributor was the first to participate and be very successful offering their dealers a show within the show. The rest is history and the Spring Break Nationals virtues speak for themselves. Many of the brands and all of the distributors in attendance understand how to use SBN to their advantage and prepare themselves well in advance”.
On the hot competition front, Everblast Bass Boxing, the IASCA competition format that has packed the house for the past few years at SBN’s Saturday Night Beach Party in the Bandshell, will take on a new look this year placing finalist’s vehicles inside a real boxing ring where they will Duke it Out for a $2000 purse. Accompanying the EBB contest at the Bandshell will be IASCA’s Niteglow contest and the 3rd Annual SBN Hawaiian Tropic Beauty Pageant.
SBN has kicked of the competition season every spring for 20 years and the industry institution that it is continues and promises to be the best event of the season. To register for any of the competitions please visit www.springbreaknationals.com and click on the registration link on the home page.