Bob and Bev Scafe hosted the first ever "Merritt in the Mountains
Insulator Show" and have been good enough to send in a show a show report
for those of us who wanted to be there, but couldn't make it for various
reasons.
The show was held at the Insulator Ranch in Merritt, B.C., May 28-29 in
bright sunny 86 degree weather. We had 30+ people in attendance.
Notable names
included Mark Lauckner who made one of his rare trips off Mayne Island to visit
with us. It was good to see Mark again, and we hope to have him back in Sept.
Mark arrived Friday afternoon, and left on Monday morning, and your show host
thoroughly enjoyed being able to kick back and have several relaxed chats with
Mark about insulators, collecting, and the various directions the hobby seems to
be headed.
Jack and Shelley Harynuk of Qualicum Beach were first time visitors
and Jack had some beautiful insulators available for sale. We look forward to
seeing them again, hopefully in Sept. as I would like to be able to spend more
time visiting with Jack and Shelley.
Aidan Morgan and Brenda arrived in a new 26
ft trailer on Friday, and it was nice to be able to visit with them before
things got hectic. Aidan brought several threadless Tillotson's in a lovely
display case, plus a section of pole with the original side pins and square
nails used on the old Collins line. This proved to be a great show and tell
item, and was very popular with the other collectors.
Jason Porter and daughter
Veronica joined us in time to celebrate Veronica's 10th birthday on Sat May 28.
Somehow, my wife Bev was able to find a birthday cake and 10 candles so we all
got to sing "Happy Birthday", and share a piece of birthday cake with
Veronica. Jason had some interesting insulators available on his table, and
there were usually several folks looking over his offerings.
Richard and Lorraine Enns arrived with a new collector, Jerry and Darlene
Reinhart, plus their granddaughter, Jacqueline Muir. Richard swapped and sold a
few insulators and Jerry had a good time wandering amongst all the insulator
displays, and meeting some of the local collectors.
Bill and Lorna Baker also
joined us Saturday afternoon, and had a good time. Bill is a great storyteller,
and always had 3-4 people swapping tales with him. It was Lorna's first time at
one of our shows, and with her great good humor and personality, we sincerely
hope she will come back for more in Sept.
I had notified the local newspapers
about the show, and both sent out reporters to cover the event. After reading
the newspaper accounts, I am fairly pleased with their coverage of the show.
Both papers have invited me to advertise the Sept. show in their "Upcoming
Events" in order to attract new collectors and create more awareness of
insulator collecting and it's history.
Saturday afternoon found many collectors
and a few of our neighbours sitting in the shade of some awnings, erected for
just that purpose. The temperatures soared to a very unseasonable 86 degrees,
but under the awnings, there was a nice breeze. Folks were happy to sit and chat
until the cooler evening temperatures arrived. General consensus of the
neighbours was that these insulator collectors are pretty interesting folks, and
the neighbours are planning to be at the Sept. 10-11 show.
Jason along with Jim
Rogalsky shared the "last one to bed" award Saturday evening. They sat
around the campfire swapping tall tales until 2 AM, before finally crashing.
Honorable mention goes to Dave Fleishman who faded out about 1 AM.
Jim Foulkes
arrived in time for Breakfast Sunday morning, bringing with him various
insulators recovered from lines being torn down. Bev prepared the Bacon and
Sausage, while Mark Lauckner donned the chef's cap and whipped up some great
scrambled eggs. With Breakfast out of the way, folks got down to some last
minute wheeling and dealing, and several more insulators found new homes.
My
thanks to 8 year old Jacqueline Muir and Veronica Porter, [10], who allowed us
to take their pictures at the "Free Table" for one of the local
newspapers. Also my thanks to Jason Porter and Jack Harynuk who saw my request
on ICON for Montreal embossed insulators for one of my trade partners in France.
Thanks fellas for you generosity. To all who attended, thank-you, we hope you
enjoyed yourselves, and we look forward to seeing you in Sept. To those who
weren't able to come out to the show, you missed a good one, but we are already
working on making the Sept.10-11 show even better. We hope to see you then, along with James
Bancroft of England who will be here to meet the local insulator collectors.
Hope to see you all in September. Bob Scafe, Merritt, B.C.
14,000+ Ibs of insulators nicely displayed outdoors at the Insulator Ranch
This column's photos are used with thanks to Dwayne Anthony and Jack Harynuk.
The header insulator for this column is a cd162 No Name Canadian insulator,
skirt embossed with the number 1678. This number is thought to be a
manufacturer's style or catalogue number. Feel free to drop CJOW or myself a
note if you have anything you would like to see covered in the way of Canadian
insulator news or information.
