Natural MarketPlace In Brief

Attendance up, exhibitors down: The 72nd annual Natural MarketPlace trade show and convention in Las Vegas draws more than 5,000 attendees, compared to 4,159 in 2008, although the number of exhibitor booths dropped 42 percent to 261 from 451. A spokeswoman for New Hope Natural Media -- in its first year of running the event in partnership with the Natural Products Association -- said 45 percent of exhibiting companies were first-timers, in part because non-NPA members are now allowed to rent booth space at MarketPlace. "It seems that exhibitors are buying smaller spaces than in the past, but many are still exhibiting," she said. The number of buyers in attendance jumped this year to 3,532 from 1,730 in 2008. Boulder, Colo.-based New Hope said it is moving MarketPlace 2010, to be held June 10-12, across town to the Las Vegas Convention Center from the Sands Expo and Convention Center. The spokeswoman added New Hope anticipates maintaining a comparable level of exhibitors next year. ... Sardell in, Short out: Pat Sardell becomes president of NPA's board of directors, replacing Debra Short, who served for two years. Sardell has been on the board since 2000 and is the owner and operator of Country Vitamins, a store she founded in Corvallis, Ore., in 1982