Regional Furniture Market Producer Celebrates 50 Years of Success

Furniture World Magazine

From antiques to art deco, the traditional to the downright tacky, Larry Karel has seen every trend in the furniture business come and go - and even seen some come back again. After 50 years in the business and more than 1,000 trade shows spanning from the East to the West coast, Karel Expo has hosted it all - and they are still going strong. When Karel was starting out in the furniture exposition management business back in the 1960s, he had his father to teach him the ropes. Now in his 41st year in the business, Karel works the convention center like a Hollywood director overseeing his finest production. "Many things have changed since the 1960s," Karel says, "but it still takes round-the-clock planning and attention to detail to host a successful trade show. My biggest thrill is seeing a huge empty hall littered with tons of trunks, boxes, display equipment and furniture transformed overnight into a dazzling show-biz style trade show production." As a boy, Larry Karel traveled the trade show circuit with his father, Jules, one of the most popular promoters in the industry. When Jules Karel died in 1972, Larry carried on with the shows, which usually featured an average of 50 exhibitor spaces. He focused his energies on expanding family-owned Karel Exhibition Management and earned the unofficial title, "King of the Regional Furniture Markets."