NEW YORK—Festivities honoring Vision Monday’s Top Labs and LabTalk Magazine’s Web site of the Year will be held for the first time at Vision Expo West in Las Vegas. This year’s Labapalooza party will take place on Thursday, Oct. 1 from 6:15 to 8 p.m. at the Venetian Hotel, according to Jobson Optical Group, which publishes both VM and LabTalk.

For nearly 20 years, the Top Labs party has taken place during the Optical Laboratories Association (OLA) annual meeting. However, due to a change in dates for this year’s meeting, Vision Monday has opted to change the venue for the Top Labs event, according to Bill Scott, VP/Optical Retail Group Publisher for the Jobson Optical Group.

The OLA rescheduled its 2009 annual meeting and trade exhibition to Dec. 4 and 5. The meeting, which will take place at the Gaylord National hotel in Washington, D.C., had originally been scheduled for Nov. 12 to 14 in the same location.

This year’s festivities will include the release of the rankings from VM’s 2009 Top Labs Report, as well as the presentation of LabTalk Magazine’s Optical Laboratories Web Site of the Year Award. Winners of the second annual Trash to Treasure art contest, also sponsored by LabTalk, will be announced as well.

In addition to these award presentations, Labapalooza will feature cocktails and entertainment. The complete Top Labs Report for 2009 will be published in the Oct. 26 print edition of Vision Monday. ■