48th Annual LCCA Convention Announcement - Chicago, IL
Here are the first Details of the upcoming 48th LCCA Convention in Chicago (Lombard, IL). This initial draft is from the December issue of TLR. The actual article with pictures can be found on this link
48th LCCA Convention Pictures
It’s been 10 years since the LCCA has been to Chicago. While some things have stayed the same, some have changed and we will be taking a look at those new venues as well as some of the golden oldies. So, just because you have been to the “Windy City” maybe once or twice before, we have some special tours that have not been on any train club’s previous list.
How can you have a convention in Chicago and not take in the iconic sights of the Illinois Railway Museum or even the Museum of Science and Industry with its gigantic HO layout depicting the US from Chicago to Seattle, the WWII German U-boat, a trip down a replica Illinois coal mine, or control a 40 foot tornado? OK, so I’m hearing “I’ve done that a’ready,” but have you been to the Wandering Tree Estate or the Sanfilippo Estate in Barrington? No? Ok then, these are new and certainly two venues you will never forget. Trust me when I say these are two tours that will leave you in awe and provide you with talking points for years to come. Be sure to bring your camera with plenty of storage space. Also, be prepared to turn your flash off when asked to, but photos are almost required for these tours. We will have more information in later editions of The Lion Roars.
Our host hotel will be the 500-room Westin Yorktown in Lombard, Ill., with a Harry Caray’s Holy Cow and Holy Mackerel Restaurant attached and the famous Yorktown Shopping Center just across the parking lot. The hotel normally does not provide transportation between the airport and the hotel but will provide us two complimentary (FREE) airport vans – one to O’Hare and one to Midway on a continuous loop on peak arrival dates of July 21 and 22 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. This is a special service provided only to the LCCA. These two complimentary 10-12 passenger vans will transport guests back to the airport on the main departure date of July 29, from the hours of 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. NOTE: Arrivals and departures outside of these dates and times will be at the member’s expense.
Details on the schedule and where to catch the vans will be forthcoming in future issues of The Lion Roars. Lombard, Ill., a western suburb of Chicago, puts us centrally located for all the top tour spots. When this is being written, all the tours and specifics have not been finalized, but they are shaping up quite nicely. If you have never attended an LCCA convention before, or if this is your 48th, you will want to start making plans to join us July 23-28, 2018, for our 48th annual convention. We hear that President Ken Kelley is one of the “lost” Blues Brothers, so let’s see what he comes up with.
If you have trains to sell, be sure to take advantage of our famous LCCA Trading Hall. This magnificent hotel will be providing us Ballrooms E&F, which offer 72 feet x 129 feet of no posts or pillars or any other obstacles which might distract from your sight lines or cause problems with your set up. There is plenty of lighting for your products, and we can easily get 100 tables in the room for your selling, buying and walking-around pleasure. This facility has the largest ballrooms we have experienced in the last four conventions. So, come take advantage of the space we have and sell or buy to your heart’s content.
OK, I’m off my soapbox for now, so mark your calendar for July 23-28, 2018, at the Westin Lombard Yorktown for what promises to be a convention you will not forget.
Bob Carter
LCCA Convention Manager