Holiday greetings everyone!
I hope this issue of The Carnival Pump finds you preparing for a festive holiday season. Hanukkah is December 12–20th this year, followed by what I hope is a most excellent and festive Christmas! In the past five years or so we have been honoring Hanukkah in addition to Christmas, and I must confess a very selfish reason for doing so: eight days of presents (in addition to presents on Christmas morning)! And if you think about it, a nice water set or punch set makes a fantastic Hanukkah present (one tumbler or mug at a time)! Perhaps, like me, your joy at giving and getting presents will kick in and you can find eight more days to enjoy the holidays this year.
Alright, last time I promised an update on the conven-tion information, and finally we have it! Our 2018 Annual Convention will take place July 18–21st at the Crowne Plaza Indianapolis Airport, 2501 S. High School Road, Indianapolis, Indiana. You may make reserva-tions by calling (317) 244-6861 and asking for group code ICG. Our room rate is $126 per night, which includes breakfast for two and a manager’s cocktail reception each night for those who want to swap carnival stories over a few beers or wine.
The convention in 2018 features the collection of Nancy and the late Bernie May, who bought some beautiful glass. There are also pieces from Emmett and Dorothy Morgan in the auction to spice it up even more! I am looking forward to the beautiful glass that Jim and Jan Seeck are bringing us this next year in Indianapolis. Both the Mays and the Morgans collected the kind of carnival glass I enjoy, so I am saving my pennies already!
Now this convention, we will also have a display room, but this year we have done something totally different that is very interactive and is something we can all contribute to and make it a lot of fun and something pretty fantastic. Our display room theme this year is Beauty and the Beast. You can read more about it from our Display Room chairs, Bob and Sherry Cyza, but let me say this: YOU get to define what piece you put in is a beauty, and which is a beast. For me, I think my beauty piece is either going to be my Goddess of Athena, simply because it is weird, pretty and fairly unique, or it’s going to be my emerald green Imperial Grape water carafe that was in John Muehlbauer’s collection. I spent a fortune for it at John’s sale at HOACGA several years back, and it is just one of the prettiest examples of emerald green that I have ever seen.
My beast piece is going to be more of a chal-lenge for me. I try not to buy anything really ugly, so I don’t have a lot of that in my collec-tion, but maybe I will put in the white Pea-cocks plate. It’s not ugly at all, but the way it made it into the collec-tion is a bit unusual. When the internet was new and we were just starting to get into buy-ing carnival glass online, a guy listed a piece for sale that the description said “there is a very definite light green color across the plate,” and the picture he in-cluded made this sucker seem totally ice blue. So we spent $400 for the first time online and bought it. When it showed up, it was absolutely white. No green, no blue. After complaining, the person just simply said “nope” on returns and we were stuck with it. I enjoy the plate, but I absolutely didn’t enjoy the seller and it took quite some time for us to buy any carnival glass online again.
The great thing about the Beauty and the Beast display room is that if you want, you will have a chance to share your reasons why each piece is a beauty or a beast. On Friday, we will have a seminar with the various pieces and owners may get up and share, or if they prefer, they can write down the reasons and we will share their stories for them. I am really excited about the possibilities, as well as the fun that some people’s beauty will be another person’s beast and vice versa!
We also have two different games during the conven-tion, as well as a closer look at the different shades of blue by Don and Barb Chamberlain, who will be trying to explain “Which Blue is This?” Our banquet this year is going to be fabulous with our seminar speakers, Carl and Eunice Booker. They have something intriguing planned that could very well blow your mind! Registra-tion for the convention is already open on our website. We look forward to hosting you again in 2018!
In closing, I hope you have a Happy Hanukkah, a very Merry Christmas, and I look forward to enjoying Indianapolis with you all in the new year!