Midway Mall Shows – Feb. & March 1971

Fifty years ago, Midway Mall was still in its early days – and very much committed to attracting new shoppers. One technique that the Mall’s owners used to increase traffic there was to sponsor shows.  

Above is the ad for a camping show, which appeared in the Journal on Feb. 10, 1971.

It’s an odd ad. I get the feeling that the newspaper's art department just didn’t have any clip art of happy campers roasting marshmallows or curled up in sleeping bags. Thus the clip art of a guy with a bow tie holding a tape measure.

I can’t remember if the Brady’s went to this camping show or not. We were slowly winding down our camping days about this time, and would sell our pop-up Bethany camper within a year or two.

The ad for the Midway Mall Boat Show was much more conventional. No 1950s beer commercial guys in this ad, which ran in the Journal on March 5, 1971.

There’s been rumors for years about the current Midway Mall ending up repurposed as a medical facility. Hopefully the current Mall owners will do something ambitious to try and get local shoppers out there again.

After all, you can’t have a boat show at Crocker Park in winter.