Get your man on at the Guy Expo

Matt Griesmyer

The Signal Staff

Houston has seen its fair share of conferences and expositions running the gamut of all interests from all walks of life: the bridal expo, home and garden show, the Nutcracker Market, etc.

For the first time ever, guys will have a place to go and do what they do best: be guys.

The Guy Expo came to the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston Nov. 6 – Nov. 9.

So what all does a “Guy Expo” involve?

“There is a lot of excitement and a lot of fun at the George R. Brown center,” said Sara Vanderbilt, director of operations for the Guy Expo.  “We have cars galore, women galore, definitely beer and the college sports are having games being played.”

Booths at the expo included multiple beer taps, with several varieties from Houston’s own St. Arnold brewery.  Also included were booths from the U. S. Army, the Houston Aeros, laser tag and robot fighting simulators (a simulator that puts users virtually in the cockpit of a 10-story tall robot and pits them against fellow pilots in a virtual battlefield).

Along with beer, sports, and various explosion and combat simulations, the Guy Expo would not be complete without the addition of food, and there was plenty to go around.

Vendors from local restaurants and purveyors of salty, sweet and spicy foods were aplenty at the convention center.

Trevi Biles, big daddy of Big Daddy’s Hot Sauce was selling his wares for the weekend at the convention.

“We have been making hot sauce for four years and St. Arnold beer is in all of our sauces, so [the conference] contacted us and let us in the hot sauce area and we wanted to be a part of it,” Biles said.  “It has been a great time — we have been having guys come around and try our sauces, and it has been great checking out the various booths.  We needed something for us — something about drinking beer and eating food and just being generally lazy.”

There would be no exposition of testosterone complete without having contests to test manly mettle.  Contests included were the “eat more heat” competition, a competition to see how long contestants could stand to have the world’s hottest lollipop (made with ghost chili extract, the hottest pepper in the world) in their mouth; a Hooters wing eating contest (contestants had to dress in Elvis Presley-esque jumpsuits with gold aviator glasses); the almost Darwin awards (contestants had to compare near-death experiences); a beer can stacking contest (no explanation needed) and the Miss Guy Expo 2009 contest.

One of the taglines on The Guy Expo’s Web page explained the event in the best way: “What a way to enjoy the weekend.  No other event has this much stuff for guys.”

Should the event come through Houston again next year, join mankind, raise a tall, frosty pint of your favorite barley and hopped beverage, eat great food and spend some time being all that is man.