| Where else could you walk away with a scanner or monitor simply by tossing five rubber apples into the shell of a scooped out iMac? The first weekend in February, you could line up for the chance to do just that at the booth operated by Gold Coast Mac at the Tropical Hamboree.
 Hundreds of people stopped by the booth staffed with Gold Coast Mac volunteers, as the group made a major showing for the third year in a row. This was the largest booth the group has ever mounted for the Hamboree, and for the first time, Gold Coast Mac offered equipment for sale as well as fun, games, and advice.
GCMac members joined with people who have donated equipment to the group to set up the single largest Mac sales booth at the show, which attracted tens of thousands of technophiles to the Miami-Dade Fair Expo center. Volunteers brought hardware and software by the truckload for setup the night before the Hamboree. They were offered for sale at prices which allowed people to assemble complete Power PC systems for under $100.
Nearly $600 was raised for the group by the sales, and other members who offered their own equipment for sale took home a little cash as well. While making money for the group was a benefit, the primary reason for staking the sale was to get Macintosh equipment which was growing obsolete into the hands of people who could use it. Much of the equipment sold was part of the "Mac a Difference" donation program, that was unable to be placed because of its age. Most of what was offered for sale had already been offered to members at October’s Dust and Glitter sale.
Prices were slashed Sunday in an effort to move all of the equipment, and when some monitors and older scanners simply didn’t seem candidates for sales, volunteers made them prizes in the Gold Coast Mac apple-tossing contest, which drew hundreds of people over the weekend. People were lined up 20 deep for a chance to win equipment they wouldn’t buy for $10, making ours one of the busiest booths at the event.
 While the apple-toss and the equipment sales were popular, our traditional experts desk was also busy through the weekend. Volunteer tech experts gave demos of Apple’s digital hub software, showed presentations of the Macworld Keynote address, and demonstrated making movies with video taken at the Hamboree.
Volunteers also handed out literature and answered a lot of questions about Mac technology. GCMac President Dave Game was even a guest on WIOD’S Tech Weekend program, which staged a live broadcast Saturday from the Hamboree.
The successful weekend event would not have been possible without a lot of volunteer help, as well as the generous donation of two booth spaces by the Hamboree organizers. Board members Game, Jan Barkan, Charlie Carlon, Sandy Medina, and Giuseppe DiFranco spant parts of both days at the event, as did Sandy’s husband Gus. Joining the volunteers at times during the weekend were Gus Monte, Joe Podgor, Rose Lynn, Andre Perwin, and John Hopkin Jr. Their involvement, and the support of other members who stopped by, made the Gold Coast Mac booth one of the most visible at the event, while having a great weekend.
February 2003
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