News-Record.com

High Pointers greet their market guests with, "Welcome, folks." Las Vegas visitors are told, "Ante up."
Seventy thousand people attend the High Point event. Market Authority President Judy Mendenhall knows them all by name. Las Vegas claims 35 million visitors a year, and each one has a dollar sign instead of a face.
Vegas visitors stay in high-rise hotels and spend hours on elevators or waiting for elevators. High Point houses many of its guests in private homes, where they can enjoy evening breezes in front-porch rocking chairs.
High Point's average high temperature during market months April and October is a perfect 72. The average in Las Vegas during July, when its furniture market is scheduled, is a sizzling 104.
High Point has plenty of water. Las Vegas, located in the desert, is sure to run out someday.
The preferred beverage in High Point is sweet tea. Las Vegas drinks harder stuff, which sounds like fun but makes it difficult to get up when the showrooms open in the morning.
Las Vegas is near Yucca Mountain, where the nation's radioactive waste will be stored -- maybe safely, maybe not. If not, the city really will glow in the dark. It's also in the vicinity of the infamous Area 51, site of mysterious UFO appearances -- hence the frequent Elvis sightings.
High Point has lots of churches; Las Vegas has lots of wedding chapels. No one wants to go to furniture market and end up married to someone he or she just met in a bar.
The major attraction in Vegas is gambling. The big draw in High Point is the market, and market people come to work. High Point is a working town. Las Vegas is a city for players.
There are no clocks in Vegas casinos. Gamblers have been known to lose track of time and miss entire conventions. In High Point, there's little to do but attend the market. But that's why people are there.
Las Vegas serves fine food, but not Oscar's Fine Food. That's only available in High Point. And try finding Lexington-style barbecue in Vegas.
High Point has been staging furniture markets since 1909 and knows something about it. It's just another crapshoot for Vegas.
High Point makes furniture, Las Vegas doesn't.
It's nearly 300 miles from Las Vegas to L.A. (Los Angeles). It's only about three miles from High Point to L.A. (Lower Archdale).
The mayor of High Point, Becky Smothers, is much better looking than Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman. And smarter.
High Point is a more innocent town than Las Vegas, which is known for its mob connections and sinful distractions. For example:
In High Point, "muscle" is what you use to lift a heavy sofa, not rub someone out.
In High Point, "topless" means you're not wearing your ball cap.
High Point's "strip" is a stretch of North Main Street where cruisers hang out.
"Professional women" in High Point are doctors, lawyers and accountants, not hookers.
In High Point, if you take someone to the cleaners, it's for the purpose of having his shirts laundered. In Las Vegas, you're wiping him out at the poker table.
In High Point, snake eyes are what stare at you from under the shrubbery. In Las Vegas, it's a bad roll of the dice.
When market ends, High Pointers bid farewell to visitors with, "Y'all come back." In Las Vegas they say, "See ya, suckers!"