Message from the President December 2024
Let’s Get MEGA in May!
Merry Christmas!!! As this year comes to an end, we look once again to the next year with hopes of happiness, a good time with family and friends, dreams of good things to come, and a look back at the year we are just completing. Did it give us everything we wanted? Did we do enough to make the year memorable? Did we say “I love you” enough to those most dear to us?
I got to speak with Tom Mordini, who I have affectionately called “Mr. President” for more than twenty years now (he is the immediate past president of ICGA) as he was the one who asked me to serve as Vice President of ICGA under him, and then asked me to take over as President for him. He was always very encouraging and full of great advice and stories. Most importantly, he was a very very good friend, both to me and to carnival glass in general. Tom cannot be replaced, he was just far too wonderful of a person, and losing him is a loss to our great hobby. When we spoke, he said many things, all of which were incredible and generous. Thank you, Tom. The hobby owes you so much.
One thing we did discuss was the 2025 Mega Convention between ICGA and HOACGA. It happens May 28-31st in Columbia, Missouri, and it is going to be one heck of a good time for collectors and enthusiasts, both new and old. You really need to come to this one. So here are some of the things we are cooking up (and by we, I mean two committees of ICGA and HOACGA leaders) for all of us:
The convention will begin with a welcome dinner on Wednesday the 28th at a local restaurant (Jimmy’s Family Steakhouse) for our carnival family. Afterwards, we will be at our hotel to setup the MEGA Room.
Now the MEGA Room is where everything happens. We will have our seminars, our dinners and food events and we will have room sales all in there. That’s right: we are going to a central room sales location. You can still setup glass in your room to display and sell, but most people will be doing it in the Mega Room (which offers the benefits of everyone seeing your display and your sales glass, you don’t miss out on seeing other glass by hanging out in your room all convention in case someone wants to visit and see your glass, and we all get to share in a carnival community for the entire convention.
Thursday kicks off the convention properly with a BUNCH of events. We have business meetings (we’ll flip for which club’s is on Thursday), we have a morning seminar, we have a gift swap/steal, we have a seminar in which Tim Cantrell and Sam Scott are going to amaze you, we have actual carnival games for prizes, we have CARNIVAL HORSE RACEs, and there may even be some surprises here and there you don’t even begin to suspect. 😉
On Friday, it gets bigger. The other club has their business meeting, we have the MEGA Carnival Glass PLATES Display and Seminar with 500(!?!) plates, we have roundtable seminars (short mini seminars with several tables, each hosted by someone to show you a 10 minute carnival seminar before you switch to a new table), we have yet another seminar and we have a game show with prizes.
On Saturday, we will change your expectations of a Saturday at a carnival glass convention. We have an auction preview, we have the carnival glass ROADSHOW in the morning (bring that carnival glass you can’t identify!), we have a BANQUET BRUNCH (yes, our banquet this year is a BRUNCH!) with our Banquet Seminar being Anne and Max Blackmore, we will have our carnival glass room display awards, our 50/50 contest drawing, our white elephant auction and then, just when you think it has to be done, we have THE AUCTION PARTY.
This year, we will have a live carnival glass auction in the EVENING, a real Saturday night blowout, with food, drinks, and a live Sheffield Auction with great value, rarity and color. Here is your chance to buy carnival glass you will want to buy, bidding live against other people in the room….at a party.
As you can see, a lot of thought and planning and volunteering has gone into this. We want this MEGA Convention to be super memorable. There is more that will happen (surprise appearances, classic and contemporary carnival glass, maybe even a little STRETCH to iridize it all even more), but you won’t get to see how awesome it is unless you attend.
The information to register and make your hotel reservations is in this issue of the Pump. Please make plans to attend. Two conventions come together to make a MEGA Convention. It’s tine to do this!
Have a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, and a MEGA New Year!!
Brian
