Great Lakes Promotions LLC, an event company dedicated to serving the gift industry, has announced several new shows for 2027, including the Ohio Gift Show, the Great Lakes Campground Show and the Upper Midwest Gift Show with dates to be determined.
Event Manager Eric Howard says he anticipates all three new shows will take place in the first quarter of 2027, with the Ohio Gift Show taking place near Columbus, Ohio, the Great Lakes Campground Show taking place in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and the Upper Midwest Gift Show taking place in Minneapolis.
Howard says he saw opportunities to launch these shows to bring wholesale gift opportunities to regional markets. All three new shows will feature carefully curated wholesale vendors and education opportunities.
He adds that Great Lakes Promotions plans to collaborate with Minneapolis Mart show organizers to ensure both the Upper Midwest Gift Show and Minneapolis Mart offer a great experience for buyers and exhibitors.
The show organizer is currently preparing for its second annual Great Lakes Gift Show, which takes place March 3-5 at the Kalamazoo Expo Center. Howard says the show will feature a sold-out and expanded exhibitor hall, with a range of categories from jewelry to home goods, holiday, seasonal, candles, artisan and gourmet.
“Anything you can find at a national gift show, you’ll see a lot of these at our show,” he says, adding that many exhibitors from 2025 will be at this year’s show. “We were also able to bring in a lot of new, unique exhibitors.”
The Great Lakes Gift Show will also include two 90-minute seminars, with Bob Negen of WhizBang Retail Training offering insights on increasing foot traffic, retail leadership and customer experience.
Great Lakes Promotions will also be launching its inaugural Wisconsin Gift Show March 22-24 at the Washington County Park & Conference Center in West Bend, Wisconsin. Howard says the show will feature almost 100 vendors as well as networking opportunities with rep groups.
“From my understanding, there hasn’t been a wholesale gift show in Wisconsin in over 10 years,” says Howard. “There has been a lot of interest from a lot of people in Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan that don’t always get to the national shows.”
