Woodworking In America Conference, August 14 - 16, 2009, St. Charles, IL

M

msiemsen

Well-known member
The SAPFM Minnesota chapter will be setting up a booth in the Marketplace at the conference. We will be running a hand tool competition for the conference attendees with prizes given for competing. Contact Mike Siemsen at [email protected] if you are interested in promoting SAPFM at the conference and having some fun by working in the booth. There should be time to attend some, if not most, of the conference. If there are any members in the area that would like to host a couple of Minnesota members let me know.
Mike
 
Mike, Myself and Steve Hamilton will be there demonstrating and lecturing and hopefully we will give a positive representation of SAPFM. I hope to see you there.
 
We will be setting up the new booth that Norman Landry got together, we hope to get some good photos at the event. Any one that is interested in coming to the marketplace should do so as it is free admission(the conference is not free). Come in and work in the booth for a while or just stop in and say Hi! Mickey Callahan will be there as will Mark Arnold and myself and Jim Van Hoven from Minnesota.
We will also be running the Olympics at the  Valley Forge WIA handtools conference so if you can't make it to this one practice for that one! You can learn more about the Olympics at http://schoolofwood.com/node/41 and also at the SAPFM site http://sapfm.org/. This is going to be a fun event and one I hope will make the SAPFM booth a popular venue. Hope to see you there!
Mike
 
Just got back from the St Charles WIA where I enjoyed some great presentations by Jeff Headley, Steve Hamilton, Don Williams, Jeffrey Greene and Jim Tolpin. I saw a number of fellow SAPFM members including George Walker who was demonstrating some of the materials found in his DVD on traditional design.
The first ever Hand Tool Olymp1cs were an undeniable success. Thanks to Mike Siemsen who organized the events with other members of the Minnesota chapter--all armed with stopwatches and playing cards (used to fill gaps thus determining deductions for errors). The games were serious but fun. If you plan to make it to the Valley Forge WIA, be sure to participate.
 
Well I have been home for almost a week now. I had to hit the ground running as I was teaching a class for kids at Leonardo's Basement in Minneapolis (we built benches and stools from wood and a pair of canoes from 55 gallon plastic drums).
I must say that the Olympics was a success with positive feedback from all quarters. If you can make it to the WIA in Valley Forge stop by. Entrance to the Marketplace is free.
We had visits from several members, Jim Vojcek stopped by and lent a hand, as did Jim Crammond (thanks Jims!). Mark Arnold lent moral support and took some photos as well as talked with interested attendees. Donna  Hill visited but was already working for Bob Lang at the conference. Rich Gotz took some photos for me and Roger Knudson competed and lent moral support. There were other members there as well but these are the names I can remember right now. Jim Van Hoven, John Griffen-Wiesner, Jeff Hand and myself were fairly busy the entire weekend as the market place was open from 8 to 6 and we kept 3 people in the booth at all times. This is a great opportunity for outreach. I hope to see some more volunteers at Valley Forge. We need people who can commit to 4 or 5 hour time blocks because we can't spend much time in training, an entire day would even be better. It sounds like a lot but it is very fun working with all of the people at the conference and the day goes quickly. Be sure to stop by the booth and take a shot at the events and visit. This is a great way to help realize several points on the SAPFM mission statement.
I hope to see you there,
Mike
 
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