Sweet new candy trade show coming to Las Vegas in 2026

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority last week announced that the Sweets & Snacks Expo, held in Chicago for the past 25 years, will rotate between Las Vegas and Indianapolis, Indiana, beginning in 2026.

The show sponsored by the National Confectioners Association will bring the event to the city every third year for the next 10 years.

The Sweets & Snacks Expo brings together candy and snack retailers, manufacturers and suppliers including companies such as Hershey, Ghirardelli, Russell Stover and Jelly Belly Candy Co. to showcase the latest product innovations.

The announcement came just days before Las Vegas’ first-ever Food & Beverage Industry Week this week.

Four food and beverage trade shows — the Bar & Restaurant Expo, the International Pizza Expo, SIAL America and the World Tea Conference + Expo — will be held under one roof beginning Tuesday at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Food & Beverage Industry Week is similar to the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Week held in November that enables conventioneers the ability to attend multiple trade shows in one location in the same time frame.

There was no indication whether the Sweet & Snacks Expo would someday join Food & Beverage Industry Week.

The LVCVA also announced last week the signing of several new shows as well as the extension of others over the next decade. The meetings and trade show industry has been hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic with prospective attendees reluctant to travel or to attend group meetings when the variants of the disease were running rampant.

The downturn in convention attendance took a big bite out of the more than 5 million annual attendance for conventions and trade shows and hurt midweek visitation to the city.

Since in-person meetings and conventions returned to Las Vegas in June, the LVCC has hosted 66 trade shows and events with an estimated 900,000 attendees, which the LVCVA says showcases confidence by trade show organizers that meetings can be held safely and efficiently.

The LVCVA listed several other shows that are coming to the city.

The Global System for Mobile Communications will move its North American edition of Mobile World Congress (MWC) to Las Vegas for the first time Sept. 28-30 and will return to the LVCC in 2023. During MWC Las Vegas, key decision makers from top business and technology industries will conduct business that will improve technology and increase connectivity worldwide.

Also on the horizon:

— Fancy Food Show, extended for Jan. 15-17, 2023, and Jan. 21-23, 2024.

— 2023 Wedding MBA Convention, extended for Nov. 7-8.

— Tobacco Plus Expo 2023, extended for Feb. 22-24.

— Cosmoprof 2023, a show involving salon and beauty products, extended for July 11-13, 2023.

— National Finals Rodeo Cowboy Christmas Gift Show 2022, extended for Dec. 1-10.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.