5.11 Roadshow BBQ

A long week, ended with a day of fun at Seaglass Logowear which wound down around 10:30 Friday night. Our 5.11 Roadshow BBQ went off without a hitch! The prep was done throughout the week, with Thursday being a late night. Christina and Mike (our 5.11 rep) came in to assist with weeding the promotional Hook & Ladder tees. Mike had never weeded before and found the process a bit tedious (and doesn't feel the word "weed" represents the process... although the best he could come up with was "picking" which we all agreed was unrepresentative. Any ideas?) Because the letters had some small pieces that were to remain on the print, he was pleased (as were the rest of us) when he completed the weeding of a single design, without losing a single "little extra piece". He was kind enough to show it off in the picture below. It's amazing how morale and productivity can improve with pizza and beer as a motivator! (Although, as you can see, it didn't work with Charlie!)

Friday began extremely early for Steve and I; we were at the shop by 7 cleaning up from the evening before and moving the tables and chairs around. Fernando, a rep from 5.11 who flew in from California for our event, was our chef for the day. He was dedicated enough to be out grocery shopping unil 10 pm Thursday evening...he began before noon that day! Fernando arrived just behind us and began prepping the food and assisting with the setup of the rest of the place. He was out there hovering over the grill as it was about 30 degrees that early on Friday morning, a little chillier than California!

By 10:30 Christina, Mike and Catie had arrived, banners and balloons were on display by the roadway, announcing our big day, and we had 2 phone calls for directions...a sign of our soon-to-be-success! Even Stone had his balloons in hands, as you can see here posing with Catie.

Soon we had numerous individuals shopping at Seaglass Logowear and reviewing the new Fire and EMS line. I am pretty sure the first glass of beer (Hook & Ladder Golden Ale) from the tap was poured by 10:30! Mike and Christina were showing off the Cams 40" Outbound Bag to a group while Steve was discussing the new 5.11 1/4 zip job shirts with a local fire department. (I love these new job shirts...and if you haven't seen them, stop in and take a look - no fade, no shrink - honest! They are awesome!!)

From what I heard throughout the day, unanimously, the London Broil was delicious! Fernando is welcome back any time to assist as chef for the day! He put on a tasty spread for all to enjoy! Topped with a Hook & Ladder brew, you could not go wrong!

Throughout the day I caught Mike taking a break with his feet on MY desk. I allowed it as he was working diligently throughout the day. After this he did show off his laptop wrap, courtesy of Steve!

Stone was another team player today and sold the boots off his feet (and he has big feet) .... No really....

For those who didn't see it, we had a prototype of the new Light for Life flashlight 5.11 will have available in January 2009. We took several pre-orders on Friday for these as they are set to be unavailable until mid 2009 unless pre-ordered. Here is the link to the blog created by 5.11 for these flashlights. (http://www.511tactical.com/lightforlife.html) With this new technology, this flashlight will be the only one you need!

At the end of the day, we decided the most popular items were the 1/4 zip job shirts, ATAC boots and VTAC bags for tactical operations. I was quite busy throughout the day and unable to take many pictures, so if you didn't make it in the blog I'm sorry. But I hope you enjoyed yourself nonetheless! Thank you to all of those who came to show their support and enjoy the discounts, food, beer and freebies! We could not be who we are without you!