Show report

[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!