May 8--CHICAGO -- Anyone looking for signs that sectors of the economy have found some shelter from the recession needed only to walk the halls of the McCormick Place convention center Thursday.

With more than 1,200 exhibitors, the world's largest trade show for the wind power industry saw record attendance in its bid to prove that energy from wind has escaped the label "alternative."

"When you look at this show, you wouldn't know there's a slowdown in the economy," Kim Zuhlke, an executive at Alliant Energy Corp., said while standing between massive booths at the conference Thursday.

Organizers of Windpower 2009, sponsored by the American Wind Energy Association, weren't sure how their conference would do, but the show ended up attracting more than 20,000 people. That's 60% more than attended last year in Houston, the association said.

The recession has hit the wind power industry just like every other sector of the economy, as projects stalled for lack of financing. In an industry forecast earlier this year, the association said the wind industry is likely to slow this year after setting records for new projects last year.

"Everyone's been in a holding pattern. It's not just wind energy -- the entire country had taken a pause," said Ellen Shafer of Broadwind Energy, based near Chicago.

But the mood at the convention this week has been one of optimism, said Shafer, whose company has two Wisconsin subsidiaries -- TowerTech, a Manitowoc maker of wind towers, and Badger Transport of Clintonville, a trucking company specializing in hauling the oversized components that are the ingredients of a wind farm development.

"And a significant amount of business is being done, " she said.

Other Wisconsin companies looking to ride the wave of interest in green power came to network and get their products known, including a Milwaukee machine shop that has been around for more than a century.

Busch Precision Inc., 8200 N. Faulkner Road, has served the mining industry, oil industry and food industry and did repair work for old-line Milwaukee manufacturers. Company executives learned of opportunities in wind power at a wind power supply chain workshop last month in Appleton, said Joe Wiemiller of Busch.

"We had to take a look around and see what's the next big thing, and wind power should be one of those," Wiemiller said.

Wiemiller stood in a booth where more than a dozen Wisconsin firms were based. The booth was sponsored by Wind for Wisconsin and the New North, the economic development organization for northeastern Wisconsin.