Bob Deibert with his display at our first of what we hope to be annual club shows.
We plan on keeping the shows in the spring. Last year the show was May 19 and 20, 2001 at College Hills Mall in Normal, IL.
The show was an outstanding success with most of the club’s membership participating. 20 plus tables were filled with some of the most beautiful displays of woodcarvings you could hope to see. Free door prizes were given away every 30 minutes. Several folks came back many times to try and win the hand carved and painted items donated by club members. The door prizes ranged from Christmas ornaments, to small figurines, to turned items like mushrooms and small bowls donated by the wood turner in our club, Bob Adam. The club also handed out several pairs of hand carved pliers to children. The pliers were carved by our oldest member, Ray Engle who is 89 years young. A raffle was held to help pay for the 2002 show. Pat Gregory and Greg Owens, both well known Central Illinois duck and fish decoy carvers donated duck decoys for the raffle. A fish decoy and jig stick were also donated by a non member, Richard Brenan from New Hampshire, who works temporarily in Bloomington and comes to an occasional meeting.
Excitement was in the air as club members displayed and demonstrated their talents for two fun filled days. Because this was our first ever show we wanted to start slowly and limited participation to club members only. Not so for future shows. Because the show was a great success, we will be opening it up for outside displayers and sellers from here on out.
Glenn Sparks sits behind his display while he talks to some visitors.
One of the highlights of the show was Glenn Sparks (Sparky) Noah’s Arc complete with hand carved pairs of animals.
