Presidents Message
from
Laurin Garland
The show was held in Niagara Falls this year. The move from Oshawa was a major step and a point of some considerable discussion among directors and members, however, it seems to have worked out well.
Attendance and table rentals have both been steadily declining at the show since around 2006. This year saw a return to our previous normal levels in both categories. As a consequence, our finances continue in excellent shape.
As an addition to the schedule this year, we encouraged people to arrive early and set up in the hotel for room-to-room trading on Friday. That also seems to have worked well, with almost fifty rooms booked that night. The ability to visit with friends and to make new ones was considerably enhanced over previous shows as a result. Many seemed pleased with the traffic and your president managed to move a few decoys and other collectibles out of the room to make way for new purchases.
Because we arrived early, we had a chance to acquire some antiques from shops in the area and, of course, to take in The Falls over a glass or two of Niagara wine. We will continue to encourage the room-to-room activity in future years.
Contests and displays are dealt with elsewhere in The Rig, however, we would like to make special mention of Roger Young who presented a fabulous display of model canoes. The work involved in packaging and transporting such a display was significant, let alone the hours and dollars committed to amassing the contents and the knowledge associated. Thanks to Roger for both the display and the talk.
Our thanks also go to both sponsors of the cocktail party. Once again John Simpson provided the room and Guyette & Schmidt provided the refreshments. Jon Deeter of the firm was on hand to participate.
Finally, our sincere thanks go to Bernie Gates for donating a copy of his book Nichol Decoys for our door prize. The book was won by Milt Paige of Port Dover, ON, a new attendee at our show.
There were, as expected, areas where improvements might be made, particularly regarding co-location of the rooms for those who had items to sell on the Friday. This is an issue which has been addressed with varying levels of success by other decoy associations and we hope to be able to learn from them and, with the help of the hotel and our members, implement a system which will see all room-to-room activity concentrated on only two floors of the tower.
Your directors have confirmed that we will be holding next year’s show again in Niagara Falls at the Best Western Cairn Croft hotel. We have asked the hotel to set aside the 26th, 27th and 28th October 2012 and will confirm those dates in the next Rig, once the details have been worked out. With continuing cooperation from Pete Munger of Ducks Unlimited, we will endeavour once more to line up with their dinner and auction to be held also in Niagara Falls.
All the best for the New Year.
from
Laurin Garland
The show was held in Niagara Falls this year. The move from Oshawa was a major step and a point of some considerable discussion among directors and members, however, it seems to have worked out well.
Attendance and table rentals have both been steadily declining at the show since around 2006. This year saw a return to our previous normal levels in both categories. As a consequence, our finances continue in excellent shape.
As an addition to the schedule this year, we encouraged people to arrive early and set up in the hotel for room-to-room trading on Friday. That also seems to have worked well, with almost fifty rooms booked that night. The ability to visit with friends and to make new ones was considerably enhanced over previous shows as a result. Many seemed pleased with the traffic and your president managed to move a few decoys and other collectibles out of the room to make way for new purchases.
Because we arrived early, we had a chance to acquire some antiques from shops in the area and, of course, to take in The Falls over a glass or two of Niagara wine. We will continue to encourage the room-to-room activity in future years.
Contests and displays are dealt with elsewhere in The Rig, however, we would like to make special mention of Roger Young who presented a fabulous display of model canoes. The work involved in packaging and transporting such a display was significant, let alone the hours and dollars committed to amassing the contents and the knowledge associated. Thanks to Roger for both the display and the talk.
Our thanks also go to both sponsors of the cocktail party. Once again John Simpson provided the room and Guyette & Schmidt provided the refreshments. Jon Deeter of the firm was on hand to participate.
Finally, our sincere thanks go to Bernie Gates for donating a copy of his book Nichol Decoys for our door prize. The book was won by Milt Paige of Port Dover, ON, a new attendee at our show.
There were, as expected, areas where improvements might be made, particularly regarding co-location of the rooms for those who had items to sell on the Friday. This is an issue which has been addressed with varying levels of success by other decoy associations and we hope to be able to learn from them and, with the help of the hotel and our members, implement a system which will see all room-to-room activity concentrated on only two floors of the tower.
Your directors have confirmed that we will be holding next year’s show again in Niagara Falls at the Best Western Cairn Croft hotel. We have asked the hotel to set aside the 26th, 27th and 28th October 2012 and will confirm those dates in the next Rig, once the details have been worked out. With continuing cooperation from Pete Munger of Ducks Unlimited, we will endeavour once more to line up with their dinner and auction to be held also in Niagara Falls.
All the best for the New Year.
