After 4 days of “work” covering the business side of the SEMA Show it was time for a bit of fun. Are there any other trade shows where Friday afternoon the displays are fired up and paraded out for the public to see? Crowds started to line the parade route early to catch the glistening iron in action.
SEMA Ignited is the after party for the SEMA Show. And best of all, tickets are available to the general public. This year there were 3 entry types available. The cheapest was a general admission. Since I was there in 2019 they’ve created 2 new admission types. The first is a reserved seating ticket where you get to pick your seats when you buy your ticket. This way you can stand and watch the action up close knowing you’ll have a seat when you need a rest.
The other new option was the SEMA Friday Experience. This ticket included general admission to all the excitement of SEMA Ignited with… access to the main SEMA Show on Friday. This was a chance to get into the exclusive trade only event.
To live up to the after party theme, SEMA Ignited had music, swag vendors and food trucks! It felt like a big party.
The evening started off with yet another wicked drifting display where us press personnel got to chew on some rubber peeling off the drifters as they rounded the corners. Needless to say we had to keep our heads on a swivel while the drifters were providing a rubber base for the upcoming parade route
Don’t ask how long the parade lasted because I don’t know. It was still going strong over 3 hours after it started. It’s a great time and I highly recommend SEMA Ignited to anyone who is in Las Vegas at the right time.
It sounds like the SEMA festivities will be expanding again next year with even more events in the works.
