August 26, 2004 will mark the 19th Business Expo hosted by the San Marcos Area Chamber. Eighteen years ago the Chamber, armed with the desire to create an atmosphere in which area businesses could effectively promote their products and/or services to the community, organized the first Business Expo - originally called a Business Showcase. They secured the floor of Strahan Coliseum, arranged for a guest speaker for the kick-off luncheon, recruited exhibitors, and Business Expo was off and running.

During its early years, the Expo was held on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. After a few years, the Expo was moved to Thursday and the hours were adjusted to 1-7 p.m., with a luncheon from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and an After-Hours Mixer from 5-7 p.m. The luncheons have attracted a wide variety of business and motivational speakers and serve as a kick-off to the show. In the past, Expo visitors were charged $2 to $3 for admission and in some years this was offset by bringing canned goods that were donated to the San Marcos Area Food Bank.

In 1997, Business Expo was moved to the San Marcos Activity Center and, for the first time, admission to the Expo floor was free to the public. This generated new interest in the Expo and provided better community wide exposure for the exhibitors.

This year, Expo will continue to feature 76 exhibitors, keynote speech luncheon, an After-Hours Mixer, numerous door prizes, and a Grand Prize cash give-away of $1000.

The goal of the Chamber is to conduct a successful Business Expo, which will showcase to the community the wide variety of products and/or services available in our community. Over 2000 people attend the Expo annually.