I would need my European/Asian food.....(especially great sushi and some Michelin caliber restaurants), easy beach access, good weather most of the year, and some tech meetups to go to.
Probably not for me.
Probably not for me.
Granted, you said decent scene, and I wouldn't necessarily qualify a single "large" event (for the region) a decent scene, but it doesn't mean there has to be nothing.
edit: Also, some of the regional small cities can attract a lot of shows. Boise, ID is particularly good at it, even with a pop < 250k. Boise also has a pretty decent tech drawing, but that's more on the hardware side, I think, Boise is Micron's headquarters. Boise is also a great city to live in. My parents were there for a while when I was in college. Quite a fun city for its size. Ethnic foods are somewhat limited, but you can get very good Mexican and Basque food there (loved the Basque food in particular).