NWBA President Lynn Gledhill
From the Presidential Scrap Heap
Greetings All Blacksmiths:
Hope all are having a great summer. We had a blast at Blacksmith Week at Mount Hood! There were some great demos from some really talented smiths, and I learned a lot, even how to stick iron into hot rocks! Thanks to Darryl Nelson for organizing such a fun event and for demonstrating and sharing his tricks… He demonstrated ‘til he nearly dropped!
I’ve heard from several members that they would like to go back to two conferences per year but I think Blacksmith Week fills that bill really well.
The Mentoring center demo’s and open forging have been really well received. It has been a great success, in my opinion. Thanks to Bill Apple’s negotiating, we didn’t have to move out for the Fair! Instead we were able to move in some of the archives and share blacksmithing with all the fair attendees. Thanks so much to those who set up the archives and staffed the building during the Fair! A great organization like the NWBA wouldn’t run if it weren’t for you folks who generously give of your time.
We have a couple more demo’s coming in September and October at the Mentoring Center as well as a possible workshop with Mark Aspery in November. Hope to see you at the Mentoring Center end of this month.
As an organization, I want to develop plans for outreach and education… Maybe in the form of workshops held in various locations or…
We were in Astoria, OR for the Metal Fest event in July… What if the NWBA were to sponsor Metal Fest; Portland, Eugene, Spokane, etc.? …Just some ideas to kick around.
Many of you may know that we lost one of our founding members, Don Kemper Sr. in July. He was held in high regard as one of the great presidents of the NWBA. He will be sorely missed.
Good forging,
Lynn