Show report

[Johanna]

I'm in Butler sitting in a freezing motel room...but what a show! What a day! I was later than I wanted to be, but we had a family funeral. I drove 300 miles in record time only to be amazed at the new ways Penn Dot has thought of to torture people. The last 50 miles took two hours. I didn't make it here until 6pm, and all the competition pieces were already packed away. Draper promised me a set of his pics, and so did Frank Z. Sorry guys. Lots of vendors, classes went well, great guild displays and the biggest best raffle table I have ever seen at an IFoLG show. I rushed Billy's "Legacy" to Pat Hay, who immediately found a can and tag. I think I'm going to have to buy some tickets, even though I don't do leather any more! Blanche did a great job organizing everyone to make the raffle a success...well it will be. The raffle is tomorrow morning and everyone is excited. Clay will win more stuff, I'm sure...he won one of the tool gift certificates (I think I want him to pick my lottery numbers from now on!) The Award Ceremony began dramatically as Pat Goodman played his bagpipes, looking sharp. I saw Blanche checking under his kilt before the performance, but I forgot to ask what she did or didn't find. Pat is so good that when he plays I actually like bagpipes. I accidently whacked Bob Beard in the head with my purse, but he was very nice about it. He said I could bump him anytime. Hmmm... too bad I'm a married woman! LOL Bob was very proud of the professional way the judging was handled, and probably relieved, because he was the head judge. He commented on the quality of the work submitted (that I didn't get to see! ) He sure makes some nice tools, too. Jeff Mosby and Little John of Warhorse Leather were there, and are now official Masters. I admire their work tremendously. I missed seeing Holly, but I'm hoping to see her tomorrow. Chris and Jennifer were there, of course, and I love Chris. I met him when I was a green Tandy manager, and his guild, the Pitt Pounders, is the guild that spawned the Ga Leathercrafters, when Dave Adams, (then me) got transferred to the Macon Tandy store, and later, John Henry came too. We tried to model the new guild after The Pitt Pounders because they have always been a group of friends, and they have been wonderful to work with over the years. I have to track down a computer copy of the awards yet, but I will post them here and on the PittPounders site when I do. Gesa won quite a few awards tonight, too. I got to meet Ann McGrath in person at last, and her sweet daughter, Margret. I got a necklace for my daughter from "Da Bead Lady", and Jane will be tickled when I give it to her. Karla Van Horne couldn't attend, and the Dragon Lady, Roz Short Kaohn couldn't either. I didn't see Silva Fox- and Gerry Woody is too ill to travel. I will call Jerri when I get home. I was really hoping they would be able to make it this year. Karla & Jim Linnell received special recognitions tonight. Lonestar won the traveling trophy again for the best guild display, and George Hurst invited us to Texas next year. Even George is going to have to work hard to top this show (I went to the one Lonestar hosted in 1997.) The swap meet and carving will go on for a long time tonight. It is great to see people from all walks of life in fellowship, the leatherwork is outstanding, and a good time is being had by all here at the show. I did get pictures of all the guild displays, but I'll post them when I get home. I have to be at the delegate meeting at 7am. Most of the people will be up all night anyway- and Ernie Wayman told us to just take a shower and show up for the meeting. I need a shower, and a nap. I have never been to a short delegate meeting, but you never know! Ernie did promise us coffee and doughnuts. I'm going to need gallons of coffee. After the clean up tomorrow, I am going to my other mother-in-laws, then driving home. Goodnight all, and God bless.

Johanna

[pepin1948]

"I missed seeing Holly, but I'm hoping to see her tomorrow"

I guess no one told ya I was only there for the day : I left a few messages at your house with my cell number, too...ah well, here I am back home in Hamburg, PA now. I have pics to post and will do that shortly. I spent the weekend with my inlaws in Girard, OH, but I can verify the mess that is PENNDOT traffic/road construction, as it took me longer to get to OH on Fri. than I'd expected. On top of it all, Ethan had gotten sick Wed. night with a fever and I almost didn't come at all. But by that point I didn't want to miss it. So he was a little out of sorts at the show.

I saw alot of folks I was really wanting to, so all in all I was glad I went. I only wished Ethan was perkier...

[pepin1948]

First, I have to show off the state that has become my "second home" (after the fact that I will always consider myself a Jersey Girl) These pics were taken today (some while the car was in motion) on I-80 Eastbound. One shows a sign for Jersey Shore exit - that always makes me laugh. Others are of what my family affectionately calls "the rock wall" - a rock face that was blasted to make room for the highway, and where you can still see the dynamite lines.

This road is very familiar to me as I've made the trip from NJ to Grove City, PA (my alma mater) many times. However, I never get tired of how beautiful it is, particularly in the autumn. Now, the road construction, and snowy trips, I could do without

[pepin1948]

[Johanna]

Sunday morning we arrived at the delegate meeting and there was NO COFFEE. Chris, of course, acted like this was his fault. It wasn't. When they asked the IILG for a show report I said, "We would like to thank Chris and his guild for all their hard work and hospitality!" and began clapping. The entire room joined me. The meeting was uneventful, and they did bring doughnuts and coffee after a bit. I got to see Don Sinyard from Ga. at last, and was glad to hear he and his family have been enjoying his retirement. The raffle was about to start, and the room was crowded. Maybe someone else can report on how that went. I was too busy talking to pay attention, and I didn't even see where Billy's piece went. Probably Clay.

Holly, my husband did tell me you called, and had no idea where he put your cell phone number. I left in such a hurry I forgot to take it with me. I asked him 10 times why he didn't give you MY cell phone number, and the only thing I can think is that he doesn't know it. Sigh. Those pictures are just teasing, right? I missed the competition entries by like 30 minutes...please please please post some pics...I am sorry I missed you, Holly, but with the family funeral we had, I was pushing it to go at all, and I got there as soon as I could. I missed you and the competition entries...hint hint...post pics Holly post pics Holly post pics Holly It was a good show. The next one is in Ft. Worth Texas www.2007ifolgshow.com Stay tuned for details. I need to update the PittPounder site, and don't know where to begin. Draper has a new lady friend, so it may be hard to get his attention right now. I do have the Guild diplay pics. I need to reduce their size, then I'll post them here, too. Pa. is beautiful, especially in the fall. It makes me almost want to go home for good. Almost.

Johanna

[pepin1948]

Well, aren't husbands just frustrating sometimes??!!

And I'm gonna frustrate you too, cuz honestly those are all the pics I took

[ClayB]

Thanks for sharing the pictures Holly. The really neat thing about a show like this is the variety of different things people make. I am not much into fish or bright colors, but that is an awesome picture! And that picture of the two trees and the moon looks like it was really cool too. Looks like it might be a little bit blurry, glad I am not the only one that does that ) I'd like to get a better look at how they colored that one and the cat. I always like to see what kind of designs other people come up with to put on saddles. Glad you took the pictures that you did and shared with us. I hope we get to see more from others that were there soon.

Clay

[ClayB]

[quote name='Johanna' I was too busy talking to pay attention, and I didn't even see where Billy's piece went. Probably Clay.

quote]

It wasn't me!! I spent my raffle ticket budget on postage to get my entries to the show. And I figured I would give some of the rest of the people a chance at the prizes. Sounds like there was LOTS of really cool things given away. If I would have been at the show, I am sure that I would have had to spend quite a bit on tickets. I will be placing an order with Bob Beard soon thanks to the tool raffle.

Clay

[Johanna]

I never paid much attention to Bob's tools before this show- John Henry was the tool junkie, not me. If I were ever going to carve, I would want one of Bob's swivel knives. I have never held a better balanced precision instrument in 15+ years of leatherwork. It shifted into my hand like it was meant to be there, and cut through the leather clean and sweet.

Johanna

[pepin1948]

I can report that Pat Goodman won the big prize in the tool raffle...more than that I don't really know.

[Johanna]

Jim & Pat Hay, IILG & Pitt Pounder members, gave me permission to crosspost the following show reports:

Many view working in the competition room at an IFoLG event as serving as judges and scribes. I have served as a judge in past shows. The show at Butler presented me with another perspective of working in the competition room.

Upon an entry being submitted, the data was entered into a computer (Maria Haddock). We did check to see that all entries were entered into the proper division/category, all though IFoLG rules state this is the contestants responsibility. In the event the information is not correct it will be disqualified by the judges at the time an item is to be judged.

A large number of incorrect entry forms were submitted at Butler. Time was taken to bring the error to the attention of the contestant and corrections were made as needed. The greater portion of the errors were discovered in the Advance and Master divisions. In most cases an Open category prefix had been entered upon the form.

Upon completion of the entry registration, the item was taken down a hallway and placed in its proper division/category The 239 entries required over 12 miles of walking from the time they were entered until they were resting in their proper place in the competition room.

The taking of entries was all but non-stop from the mornings opening until the last entry was recorded at 5:29 PM. Maria , assisted by Anita Neilson and Jim Wilkes spent nearly 8 hours in front of a computer entering the contestant information. Maria's day did not end at 5:29 as she then was required to spend additional time with the IFoLG officials in supplying them with the data obtained for the competition entries.

The competition room is only one portion of the onsite work required for conducting an IFoLG event. The raffle table requires an even greater amount of time. Not to be forgotten are the ones working at the show registration desk and the vendor room. I did not hear a single complaint as to any of the above. Several of the vendors did comment to me as to how Dave Briggs had the vendor room so well organized prior to their arrival. Each vendors area was neatly labeled prior to their arrival and prevented confusion as has sometimes occurred at past shows. Dave is not a member of the IILG, but is a member of Pitt Pounders. I mention him by name as he was one Pitt Pounder who performed his task in an outstanding manner.

I wish to extend my deepest gratitude to each of the ones worked such long hours at the above tasks. It was these individuals who implemented the prior planning in an effort to ensure a successful event.

An oddity did occur with the taking of competition entries. At 5:20 PM, Chris Kearns, Show Co-Chair, came to the entry desk and asked what was the time posted in the show program for closing of entries. The answer was supplied- 5:30 PM.

Chris then asked if someone came in late would the entry be accepted? The answer , No, as it would open the door for well-justified complaints from other competitors, should a late entry be taken and then win an award, such as Best of Show.

I then asked Chris why he was asking these questions. He stated two men had telephoned and stated they were running late, were only minutes away from the show.and feared not making the deadline. I requested Chris to telephone them and obtain the required information for the entries. The proper forms were then filled out.

At 5:29 PM, the two arrived and one of the men paid his entry fee for the three items.

The oddity--- the three items were submitted by Bill Brown and yep, one of these items did win the Best of Show.

I have now attended four IFoLG shows.

Do I consider our show a success? Yes.

Was the show without problems ? No. However, these were with the hotel and not the show itself.. On Thursday afternoon, they required guests with confirmed room reservations to wait from 1 to 3 hours until they were assured of a room and the room became available. No provisions were made for the handicapped (several in attendance). Yes, several of the handicapped also endured the long wait in the lobby to register into the hotel..

Last on my list and some may choose to term it as minor, the list of events on the hotel bulletin board had the show listed as Pitt Pounders and the buffet menus were headed Pitt Pounders Buffet menu. Numerous requests from IILG members (other than mine) were made of the hotel to make a correction to read Pitt Pounders/IILG or IFoLG 2006 Show. These requests were ignored by the hotel staff.

Once again, my thank you to all who worked to make the show a success.

Jim Hay

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jim, Blanche Byrne and I arrived at Butler Day’s Inn around 1:30 pm on Thursday and were greeted in the lobby by the smiling face of Dale Grabowski. After having problems getting checked in, we finally got to our rooms and headed out to the show rooms.

Jim and I started setting up the show display table while Blanche got busy on the raffle table. Chris and the Pitt Pounder members had everything there for us so we got an early start.

Thanks to Dale Grabowski, Jim Wilkes and Bill Miles for helping us setup and take down the display table, couldn’t have done it without you. They also helped us get the items packed on Sunday to ship back to the people that could not be at the show.

I then went to help Blanche open and put the items on the 8 tables we had reserved for the raffle. This took until around 1 a.m. and we had to add 2 more tables. We did not finish Thursday night but had to get some sleep. Think it was around 1 a.m. when we finally closed up shop.

Ed Lucas and his crew were putting up the competition pegboard display and were even later getting them done. They were still there when we left. Thanks to all of them, they worked hard and long hours!

Friday morning started a little after 7 for me (I never even saw the breakfast buffet the whole time there). As soon as Maria arrived and was setting up, people were lining up to get their competition pieces registered and this went on all day as Jim has commented in his report. Special thanks to Maria for all her hard work getting the computer setup with all the IFoLG guilds members to make this process go faster and to Anita Nelson, Jim Wilkes, Bill Miles and my Jim for helping Maria.

Also, a big thanks to Bea Wayman for all her help setting up the items in the competition room after they were registered and the people that were working with her.

Ann McGrath and her lovely daughter, Margret, took over the tool/book raffle sales and gave our members their meal vouchers on Friday for most of the afternoon in the vendor’s room. Thanks so much to you both.

All day Friday and Saturday until around 2 a.m., Blanche was receiving items for the raffle table. Our “Gimmie Gal” Blanche outdid herself considering she took charge of the raffle table in late February 2006! We had over 300 items on the table and they were loaded with quality items for everyone. This was the largest raffle table I know of at any IFoLG show.

A special thanks to Bill Miles, Al Runser (who joined the IILG at the show), Maria Haddock and Anita Nelson for helping with the raffle ticket sales. You made it possible for us to take turns with this and it was much appreciated.

Joe and Mary Jane Talbot did an excellent job at the registration table with only a short break for lunch where Chris Kearns and Jim Wilkes took over. They started about 8 on Friday morning and finally left around 6 that night. Thanks to you both.

Jim, Blanche and I did have a little “lounge” time on Friday night. After we moved next door to the restaurant area to get away from the loud music (?), the tables filled up fast with old friends and new ones. I gave up around 1 a.m. and Jim a hr. or so later.

The competition items were picked up between 4 and 5:30 pm on Saturday and the room was cleared for the social and awards program which the Pitt Pounders put together. The food was very good and the program went very well.

After the social and awards presentations, the flea market started and the guild displays were taken down as many of them take more than 2 hours to dismantle. This worked very well as they were packed and ready to go by Sunday morning. When I left the area, there were still people tooling, talking and finishing the baskets at 2 a.m.

Sunday was another early morning. We were still selling raffle tickets up to the announcement the raffle was going to start at 9 a.m. Blanche conducted the raffle in record time and we finished by 11:30 a.m. Many smiling faces left with “my” items I wanted…I won nothing

I know of 46 IILG members that attended the show. Most of them I got to meet but I missed some. It was great to see old friends and meet members and put a face to their names.

From what I’ve heard from the vendors, most were happy with their sales and the room was setup well thanks to Dave Briggs of Pitt Pounders. He was always there in the vendor room and ready to help if needed. You did a great job Dave!

Gary Draper of Pitt Pounders took over 300 pictures of the show and is suppose to supply us with them to put on the website. Thanks Draper! Several of our members also took pictures so you all should be able to see a lot when we get them all together.

A special thanks to Frank Zaharek and Dale Grabowski for the “groundwork” they did on Tuesday and Wednesday before the rest of us arrived at the hotel.

A special thanks to Carol Higgins for all her work with the workshops. All the classes were well attended and everyone I talked to had a good time and learned a lot.

We had a good show and I hope everyone had a good time.

Pat Hay

Edited October 28, 2006 by Johanna

[Johanna]

Best of Show LoneStar Leathercrafters, Ft. Worth Texas

IFoLG member Guild diplays:

[pepin1948]

I have edited two of the above posts to correct the spellings of Ann McGrath and her daughter Margret's names. Those were the only changes made.

[Johanna]

The list of competition winners is posted on the IILG website.

Johanna

[Johanna]

A big thanks to Gary Draper of the Pitt Pounders for the 2006 IFoLG Show Pics. Enjoy!

http://www.pittpounders.org/PPLGSHOWPICS/index.htm

Johanna

[Ann McGrath]

I also took pictures at the IFoLG show, although not nearly enough, in my opinion.

here are the guild display photos I took: http://www.boomspeed.com/magpie/ifolg/

Have not made the time to deal with the rest of my photos. I'll get there eventually.

[Johanna]

Ann, I am so glad you made it here, and thank you for sharing your pictures!!!

That was one of the best IFoLG shows I have ever been to, and what made it so great (besides the hard work "behind the scenes") was getting to hang out for awhile with people like you.

Johanna

ps

My daughter will not go to school without her special necklace!