Dallas, a popular convention destination, has hosted all kinds of meetings.
DALLAS — The 2024 Convention Cities Index lists Dallas as the No. 3 most popular city in the country for hosting conventions behind only Chicago and Atlanta.
Hosting conventions is a business boom which might explain why both Dallas and Fort Worth are currently in the process of upgrading and expanding their respective convention centers.
And one look through the WFAA archives housed by the SMU Jones Film Library shows there is a convention for just about everything.
In 1973, Arlington hosted a magician convention where illusionists from across the country gathered to sell their tricks and secrets for anyone interested in sleight of hand. A WFAA story said you could buy their “illusions and gimmicks from two dollars on up.”
But the ability to know the unknowable is a real trick.
A year later, hundreds of people packed the Sheraton Dallas for an Extrasensory Perception workshop. There they could explore the depths of their mind, and buy one of the many books for sale, with some of the foremost ESP experts.
“With all the problems America seems to be having today, the numbers turning towards ESP will probably continue to grow,” said WFAA’s Betty Hoover.
Al Pollard, a founder of the ESP Research Associates Foundation believes more people took up an interest in ESP because of the national turmoil and stress many experienced during the 1970s.
“I think they are turning inwards instead of outward for answers,” said Pollard. “The interspace of the mind is a great answer.”
But a 1975 convention in Tarrant County sold the item a buyer never uses and a user never sees.
Caskets of all kinds were displayed throughout the Tarrant County Convention Center for a meeting of funeral directors. A WFAA story on the gathering also examined the rising cost of funeral services.
“Many people solve guilt problems about a dead person by spending lavishly for a casket,” said reporter Doug Fox.
Because eternity is quite an investment.
