Looking back…
This was the first time I organized London Fragfest. It was very overwhelming at times, but worth every minute. I would like to start out by thanking Glenn Burgess of Sutton Realty who has laid solid ground work with previous shows, helping pave the way for yet another amazing year. We brought a whole new group of vendors and companies to the show. It was great to see all the positive feedback and support from companies looking to grow the hobby in the area. One thing for sure, we will be looking at a larger venue next year. We had just over 300 people come this year which is the most we have ever had. After expenses (exact numbers are still being worked out) thanks to everyone supporting the event, I will be cutting a check for approximately $2000 to Ronald McDonald House.
Thank you to the volunteers who helped by selling admission bracelets and raffle tickets throughout the show. Also thank you to Lindsey for manning the donation tank for thefragtank.ca while I was otherwise occupied. All of them did an amazing job and I could not be more grateful for their help.
There was a huge amount of support from companies that we had not had in the past. I would like to start by thanking Betty Vinson of MAST Canada and Ian Bell of Sustainable Marine Canada. They really helped out by stepping up and opening doors to several companies. They provided the stepping stones to working with these companies even more in the future. We had the pleasure of having several special guests. Ryan Nash of Farm Boy Reef came for his first year and was blown away at the support this hobby has in Ontario. I personally have been following his 700 gallon Phoenix build on his YouTube channel. I also was introduced to Phil Gilbert of Polyp Labs. I recently have been using their products to feed my reef, Ryan Nash does as well. Anyone who knows me, knows that I only recommend things that I use on my own tanks.
We had some new companies present as well. Bashsea was there with some of their extremely high end aquarium equipment. They have an amazing line of sumps that left me drooling. Right now you can order their products through Ian at Sustainable Marine Canada. We also had some amazing support from Reef Wholesale who provided a ton of products for the raffle. They filled baskets full of Piscene Energetics Inc.. There was also an amazing pack of just about every Reef Nutrition product available on the market. It made me wish I could put raffle tickets in myself. For the first year we had additional support from Neptune Apex who provided an Apex Jr, Canada Corals who provided $200 in gift cards, Reef Supplies who provided $150 in gift cards, J&L Aquatics who provided a Glamorca Gyre Water Pump. Bigshow Frags really stepped up the raffle items by providing a Fauna Marin Balling Salts Starter Set and other items. Fluval even provided a AIO Evo aquarium this year. Sealife Central as well as Bulk Reef Supply each provided RO/DI units. The list goes on, several vendors also provided gift cards to their tables. I did make the mistake about not getting all the winners names. We did try and get photos of all the winners. They will be posted on the site in the coming week. If you did win, please send me an email to londonfragfest@thefragtank.ca so that I can post your name with the photo as they get posted. I have contacted the winners of the Apex Jr and the few other items where the winner was not present. So far I left voicemails and I am looking forward to hearing back from them soon. Stephen won the Fauna Marin Balling Salts, Trevor Rae won the Apex Jr (if anyone knows him, please have him contact me, his phone rings for a while with no voicemail) and Chris won the Glamorca Gyre Water Pump.
In closing, thank you to everyone who attended and supported the show. It is the support of not only the vendors and companies, but also the hobbiests who share their knowledge and experiences with each other, that make gatherings such as this an amazing experience. Next year we will be looking at bringing the show up to yet another level and I hope that all of you will be there again.
This was the first time I organized London Fragfest. It was very overwhelming at times, but worth every minute. I would like to start out by thanking Glenn Burgess of Sutton Realty who has laid solid ground work with previous shows, helping pave the way for yet another amazing year. We brought a whole new group of vendors and companies to the show. It was great to see all the positive feedback and support from companies looking to grow the hobby in the area. One thing for sure, we will be looking at a larger venue next year. We had just over 300 people come this year which is the most we have ever had. After expenses (exact numbers are still being worked out) thanks to everyone supporting the event, I will be cutting a check for approximately $2000 to Ronald McDonald House.
Thank you to the volunteers who helped by selling admission bracelets and raffle tickets throughout the show. Also thank you to Lindsey for manning the donation tank for thefragtank.ca while I was otherwise occupied. All of them did an amazing job and I could not be more grateful for their help.
There was a huge amount of support from companies that we had not had in the past. I would like to start by thanking Betty Vinson of MAST Canada and Ian Bell of Sustainable Marine Canada. They really helped out by stepping up and opening doors to several companies. They provided the stepping stones to working with these companies even more in the future. We had the pleasure of having several special guests. Ryan Nash of Farm Boy Reef came for his first year and was blown away at the support this hobby has in Ontario. I personally have been following his 700 gallon Phoenix build on his YouTube channel. I also was introduced to Phil Gilbert of Polyp Labs. I recently have been using their products to feed my reef, Ryan Nash does as well. Anyone who knows me, knows that I only recommend things that I use on my own tanks.
We had some new companies present as well. Bashsea was there with some of their extremely high end aquarium equipment. They have an amazing line of sumps that left me drooling. Right now you can order their products through Ian at Sustainable Marine Canada. We also had some amazing support from Reef Wholesale who provided a ton of products for the raffle. They filled baskets full of Piscene Energetics Inc.. There was also an amazing pack of just about every Reef Nutrition product available on the market. It made me wish I could put raffle tickets in myself. For the first year we had additional support from Neptune Apex who provided an Apex Jr, Canada Corals who provided $200 in gift cards, Reef Supplies who provided $150 in gift cards, J&L Aquatics who provided a Glamorca Gyre Water Pump. Bigshow Frags really stepped up the raffle items by providing a Fauna Marin Balling Salts Starter Set and other items. Fluval even provided a AIO Evo aquarium this year. Sealife Central as well as Bulk Reef Supply each provided RO/DI units. The list goes on, several vendors also provided gift cards to their tables. I did make the mistake about not getting all the winners names. We did try and get photos of all the winners. They will be posted on the site in the coming week. If you did win, please send me an email to londonfragfest@thefragtank.ca so that I can post your name with the photo as they get posted. I have contacted the winners of the Apex Jr and the few other items where the winner was not present. So far I left voicemails and I am looking forward to hearing back from them soon. Stephen won the Fauna Marin Balling Salts, Trevor Rae won the Apex Jr (if anyone knows him, please have him contact me, his phone rings for a while with no voicemail) and Chris won the Glamorca Gyre Water Pump.
In closing, thank you to everyone who attended and supported the show. It is the support of not only the vendors and companies, but also the hobbiests who share their knowledge and experiences with each other, that make gatherings such as this an amazing experience. Next year we will be looking at bringing the show up to yet another level and I hope that all of you will be there again.