5TH GCSIC SHOW, YUMA, AZ
Riverside Park was still shrouded in pre-dawn shadows as Lou Pin-Man Hall
piloted his van down the winding tarmac below Yuma Territorial Prison. As more
light flowed from the dawn horizon into the early morning sky, anyone could have
told you that Saturday, February 7th was showing the promise of becoming a
clear, beautiful, late winter day in Arizona. Shortly after dawn, Dwayne Anthony
and Kevin Jacobson arrived in their big SUVs, leading what would prove to be a
two hour long procession of insulator enthusiasts into the park.
This was the Fifth Annual Grand Canyon State Insulator Club's Yuma Tailgater.
This GCSIC show has always been a VERY well attended event by locals, NIA
Western Region hobbyists, and snow birds from the frigid north. GCSIC put on a
grand show complete with a spectacular assortment of breakfast goodies,
insulators and go-withs, awesome lunch fixins, and a healthy serving of friendly
fellowship.
The big attraction was Tucson, Arizona's Ross Thompson collection that was
offered for individual sale. His spectacular insulator collection of some 35
years represented the most hair raising assortment of Crown Jewels that we have
seen since the Jim Overstreet collection was offered for sale! The other 15 or
20 tables were covered with high quality items, and sales all around the park
were quite brisk for most of the day. There were a number of really nice mud
items sold including a gutter top. Carol and John McDougald brought some of
their best mud and it went poof! when Jason Townsend caught site of it. Roger
Nagel snagged a CD164 citrine McLaughlin for a REALLY good price and Dwayne
Anthony took home a BOX of insulators to consider and compare before adding them
to his collection! One particular item that caught our eyes was the clear CD151
HGCo Petticoat with purple in the dome and olive in the skirt. What a score!
Then, there was the dead mint, super clean, blue, CD206 castle that Robert
Baumann had. We at Left Coast Lines (LCL) spent the whole day wishing that we
had a real bank account. Tom Katonak picked up a wonderful, medium SCA, CD203
Zicme tramp, and Bob Jackson brought a killer wood-covered CD723.? Wade. We saw
telegraph hardware (Larry!), linemen's equipment, BIG, THICK hamburgers, FOOT
LONG dawgs and .... wait .... I'm not to the lunch part yet. Ahhhmm .... There
were cobalt threadless Tillotsons (broad dome!), there were cobalt and aqua
EC&Ms, swirly Cal. Electrics, SCA CEWs, threaded ERWs, multiple Bostons! and
at one point we counted TWELVE CD196 tramps, all in VNM or better for sale.
There was a great lavenflower WFG toll, a gutter top porcelain multi, and more.
Left Coast Lines would love to list all of the great deals that were made at the
show but Linda Banks tells me that we have to fit this report into a certain
amount of space so we will reluctantly move on.
The lunch bunch included a few of the GCSIC guy's wives who worked very hard
preparing the vittles in advance. Thank you Terri, Cheryl and company! They
outdid themselves with a wonderful lunch spread that included flame broiled
burgers and huge hot dawgz. Our official kitchen judges were Richard Dawson (hot
dawgz), Bill Ostrander (burgers), Carol McDougald (salads and fixins), Doris
James (cookies), and Don Bayes (white chocolate coated pretzels). The judge's results were, as you might imagine, unanimous.
The GCSIC lunch crew scored a near-perfect 9.7 out of 10.0 Later, behind the
scenes, LCL discovered that one of the judges took off points when he got so
enthusiastic that he bit his tongue. (Is that fair?)
Dealers, hobbyists, and insulator enthusiasts included Bill Ostrander, John
& Carol McDougald, Cheryl and Kevin Jacobson, Art McConnachie, Pat Bradford,
Steve Kelly and his son, Dave, NIA First Lady and the President, Lynda & Tom
Katonak, Dwayne Anthony, Dave LeForge, Terri & Roger Nagel, Lou Hall, Ross
Thompson, Robert Baumann, Roger Brekke, Brad Blanseette, David Brown, Richard
During, Jason Townsend (displayed a wooden Baker board), Denny Hackthorn,
Richard and (can we believe our eyes?!?) Pam Dawson, Arlene (Good to see you
back up and around Arlene! :c) and Bob Jackson, Tamra & Ken Wnuck, Doris
& Norm James, Rick Insulator-King Bentley with his children Judith and
Anthony, Mark & Debra Johnson, Matt Keliher and friend Ed Ferriter, Valerie
Meyers, Roy Parker and Jim Barton (both with 25 years collecting), Bruce Young
(35 years in the hobby!), and Carol & Ed Lowe.
When asked a question, Ed Lowe replied, "I been collecting about as long
as Mulford & Biddle." Others attending included Jim Harlow and his
children Maria, Aleesia, and Julian. LCL spoke with Maria Harlow who told us
that she's 13 and she collects Hemingray and Gayner. Elaine & Don Bayes
were there with their kids and grand kids and friends. The Bayes' clan included
John and friend Robert Valdez, Bill & Maria with son Nicolas. Yuma snow
birds included Michael Jones of Big Fork, MT, who founded the Yuma show in 1998.
Mike is also a co-host with Ron Yuhas for the upcoming but yet-to-be-announced
Big Sky Swap Meet in Helena, MT. We are looking forward to mid-September,
possibly, for that shindig. OK, back to the snow birds --- Doreen & Gary Reed
(Chute Lake Resort, BC Canada), Robert Parker (Alberta, Canada), Jim & Bea
Gramlich (Alberta, Canada), Ferne & Mel Bradford (Moosejaw, Saskatchewan,
Canada), and Ron Davies from Christian Lake, BC, who was vacationing in Yuma for
the 25th (consecutive?) winter! '
The Yuma show is another great example of a re-strengthening trend in our
hobby favoring affordable, home grown, informal venue based, get-togethers. LCL
fully supports similar shows in the Western Region like Big Sky, Mountain View,
Merzoian Brothers, Rohde Roundup, Banks' Backyard, Emerald City, and the newest
informal venue based show in the region, The First Annual Three Amigo's High
Desert Insulator Thang & Bar-B-Q that will be held on Saturday, October
16th, 2004 in Lancaster, California. Visit http://www.av3amigos.com/events.html
to learn all about this premiere event or wait for the October listing in Crown
Jewels Magazine's Coming Events.
So, all you thread-heads, Listen Up: Getcher glass and mud traders into a
good, sturdy box. Getcher swap lists and price guides updated. Flip open yer
Crown Jewels to Coming Events and click in the Show Finder for details on the
next swap meet or tailgater in your area. Dig that dusty wad of cash out-o-the
Fred Locke pinhole and get all yer friends together for an insulator road trip
because.....
IT'S SHOWTIME!
Ross Thompson's spectacular sales table.
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