Since 1998, The Ontario Convention Center has been the home of Road to California.

Road to California is the convention center’s largest client, taking up not only the entire convention center footage, but additional tent space as well. This year’s show will feature

173 classes, lectures and special events taught by internationally recognized experts

Over 1,000 quilts on display

220 Retailers from 37 states and 7 foreign countries set up in over 700 merchant booths

[caption id="attachment_3709" align="aligncenter" width="525"] Photo courtesy of Gregory Case Photography[/caption] The Ontario Convention Center provides great service to the Reese family and their Road guests: Desiree has been a convention center assistant to the Reese family for three years. Her job is to provide hospitality items like meals, beverages, and water to the Reeses so that they have the nourishment and energy to run the second biggest quilt show in the United States. Desiree says of her experience, “I love working with the Reese family. Carolyn is a sweetheart and everyone is so kind.” Desiree loves watching the show come all together, especially with all the quilts. Tina is the Director of Event Services for the Ontario Convention Center. She oversees all event logistics, directing the many managers on staff. However, with Road to California, she personally oversees all aspects of this event because Road is the convention center’s biggest client. She has worked with the Reese family ever since they first came to the convention center in 1998. Tina works 14 hour days during the week of the show, supervising the convention center workers like greeters, janitorial, and security guards; serving as the direct contact to the police and fire departments; and troubleshooting situations that arise. For instance, last year during Road 2015, Ontario experienced extremely high winds. To accommodate for this hazard, Tina and her staff worked quickly and efficiently to change the bus drop off locations, block off dangerous entrances, reinforce the tent areas, maintain crowd management and hire additional staff to pick up items that were blowing away. Regarding the show, Tina admires “the extensive art work involved with the quilts.” It is a joy for her to see how the quilts have evolved over the years. Large crowds, over a hundred classes, and numerous vendors require extra safety precautions. For the past five years, the Reese family has hired special security detail to watch out for their guests. Their security personnel have extensive experience dealing with loss prevention with a big box retailer for over 20 years. They walk the show floor and hallways, scrutinizing body movements and behavior as they watch out for shoplifters and employees stealing from their employers. What advice do they have for our guests to help prevent possible losses?

• Keep bags and purses close and in front of you.
• Use Sack Sitters to manage your purchases.
• At night, leave the convention center in groups.

Road to California is always watching out for our guests, especially when it comes to service and security.  ]]>