Washington State Gourd Society

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Spring Meeting Comments & Pictures

SPRING MEETING Notes from our President

~ April 19 and 20th ~ Moses Lake

Now that our first Spring Meeting is over and it’s time to reflect on the weekends festivities, I couldn’t be more pleased at the outcome! This was truly a collective effort on everyone’s behalf and without just one component missing, it wouldn’t have been as huge a success as it was!

Let me start by saying that Moses Lake treated us as well as any city ever has. From the Grant County Fairgrounds, to the Restaurants, to the Hotel, to the gourd farmers, everyone was excited we were there and did their best to accommodate us.

We had over 200 people attend and we walked away with 17 new members and a lot of amazed folks! It was so much fun to see the reactions of people who didn’t really understand what a gourd was, let alone what you can do to a gourd! We had gourd growers sell their gourds and from all accounts, it was well worth their trips over. It is beyond exciting to see the quality of gourds they have grown right here in our state! Mu Hoo!

I think what capped it off for me, is when someone took me by the shoulders and said, “Look me straight in the eye and tell me..’I told you so!” Another great thing to hear was..”I’ve been to a lot of state festivals and this is just as good or better than some state festivals!” We all heard that a number of times..and of course our response? “This is just our meeting, wait until you come to our festival!!” We will go into more detail about the meeting in our summer newsletter, but for now…my sincerest thanks to all who helped, all who came and to all who walked away with a new understanding of what gourds are and the amazing things you can do to them!

Myrna Grigsby

President

Washington State Gourd Society

Article from the Columbia Basin Herald http://www.columbiabasinherald.com/articles/2008/04/18/news/news03.txt

Article from the Tri-City Herald (Click on thumbnail picture to view)

Article from the Daily Sun News in Sunnyside (Click on thumbnail picture to view)

For those of you that missed the meeting here is President Myrna Grigsby opening the Spring Meeting in Moses Lake April 19th, 2008. I had to break the video into four parts to get it posted. (Just click the arrow in the middle of the picture)

Part - 1

Part - 2

Part - 3

Part - 4

Stacy Annon - I just wanted to say Thank You for a great weekend and also for such a welcoming and positive experience. What a great group of people!

Jim Martin - Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the meeting in Moses Lake. You folks did a super super job on putting it together and I really appreciate it. I talked to a lot of people outside and all thought it was very good! I know I had a real good sales day. I didn't get around to signing up for any committees so anywhere you can use me I would be willing to serve. Again, thanks for everything and I look forward to many more!

Patty Burke - I had a great time and loved meeting everyone.

Linda Claeson - I thought that the spring meeting was incredible! I am relatively new to gourd art and I learned so much from the demonstrations and talking with every one. I cannot begin to tell you how impressed I am with this organization! To think that you just started in October and put together this meeting with all of the demonstrations, etc...! Wow! I am looking forward to future meetings and the continued inspiration that comes from having contact with other people who are as enthused about gourd art as I am!

Althea Heaton - I had a wonderful day and gathered several great ideas for setting up my workshop... especially your idea of the foam with a hole dug down to hold the gourd while you work on it... it's like a second pair of hands helping. I've been working and growing gourds for two years and had no idea that there were so many doing this in our local area... it was nice to meet them. I bought a gourd from Garry Carr for inspiration and spent some time with him on how to set up a carving station to eliminate the dust problem, as I prefer carving and etching. Allen was very helpful in showing how to use the right tools for hand carving and Bar Deck was great in her soldering ideas... I'm so glad I went!

Dennis Conley - Oz, it was good to meet you in person. Thank you for all your work with the Association and especially the web site. I don't know how many times I have referred people to the site when they want to know about the WSGS. A few comments from the "gourd grower". The time of the year probably is as good as we can get. While weather can be so-so in Mid April, it can be a lot better than we had and not much worse. As far as selling last year's crop, some big ones were not dry yet so handling these are tricky, but in my case I have to get them out of the field anyway to plant the next crop. I have not had any feed back yet how it went a Tonnemakers, but again the weather could have played a big part here. Hopefully people will come back to Tonnemakers this summer as they have a wonderful organic farmers market open 7 days a week with lots of stuff beside gourds.

I have also received many favorable comments from local Moses Lake folks that attended the event. They all were impressed at the quality of art work and that there was such a thing as gourds right here in our backyard. This is going to cost me a lot of money at the Rotary Club meeting this week! I would predict that we will get a bigger turn out of local folks next year.

I think our next step if we want to do this again in Moses Lake is to get financial support from the county tourism council. I gave Myrna the form to request funds. I will help and lobby for the money.

Norm and Nancy Larson - Nancy & I had a specially good time. Saw a lot of excellent gourd art--- very impressed and now have some new ideas. One lady in Cle Elum and one in Gleed (near Yakima) that we hope to get together soon for a patch in Yakima area. Myrna was great, very gifted lady. You put together a very impressive show especially for the first time. The demonstrators were very gracious and patient in answering questions and showing over and over again "how to". Oz sorry you don't live closer to us. Your Friends Norm and Nancy Larson

Sharon Watson - Here is my input: I learned how to make a rain stick, how to use my wood burner tools, how to start a hole for my saw when cutting open a gourd. Everyone I talked to was very nice and friendly. I saw new ideas but not sure if I could do them, would have to buy more tools and have more patients (carving with knifes or the power carver). I did stay all day so don't know if my ticket was pulled for a drawing. I should have gotten a gourd to make a rain stick as mine are ALL to big, for the first try. I signed up for a Patch group and other stuff, OH NO!

Alan Sweeney - WOW What a great meeting. Duane and I had a wonderful time and feel we have a whole new gourd family. Everyone greeted us with warm smiles, sincere welcomes and open arms. You all really touched our hearts. Thank You! Big hug to you all

Shannon Rowan - I had a great day Saturday! I enjoyed speaking to everyone and loved seeing all of the techniques being demonstrated!!! I learned a lot. It's amazing how much you can learn by explaining products you know nothing about! I met many interesting people. I hope to meet you all again. I got too many ideas for projects. I saw techniques that I already wanted to learn, and got ideas that I never would have come up with on my own. I regret that I was not able to spend more time getting to know everyone as my daughter was ill. I hope to be able to visit a farm next time. I look forward to the next event.