The Last Flower & Garden Show – March/Apr 2009

Moving the NWSSA booth down to the main sales floor was a huge success for attendance, interest and sculpture sales (17). Of the five days: Friday, Saturday and Sunday were elbow room only! We were lucky to get a corner booth to catch people from two sides. Our hand carving demo booth was in the front corner where people stopped to watch and lined up to give the stones a whack. Both adults and children were excited to see how carving is done while experiencing a couple of minutes with hammer and chisel.

Displayed next to the carving booth was a roughed-out  s alabaster mother with ducklings on her back along with a photo depicting the inspiration by Nicky Oberholtzer. This is a vital stage in understanding the process of carving.

To get more interest and understanding about our symposiums, Leon created a story board across the back curtain with 8 x10 photos from Camp B. Showing the layout of the field, sculptors working under their canopies, the stone yard and a night shot with a group sitting around our new fire pit. This visual seemed to help folks make a “connection.” Having handed out several hundred flyers, the true test will be to see how many sign up for a symposium.

I wish to thank Nicky Oberholtzer, Jim Heltsley, and Tom Francis for assisting with the prep work and sitting shifts. A special thanks to Nicky who worked the booth daily from 9am to 8pm with endless enthusiasm. Her Grande Mocha’s really helped!

Many thanks to other booth sitters, Bob Olander, Gus Schairer, Rich Andler, Sharon Feeney, Bill Laprade, Tamara Buchanan, Terry Slaton, Susan Harris, and Lonny Morgan who is not yet a member and drove up from Portland, Oregon to see what we are all about!

Ed. Note: According to the media, this was Seattle’s last Flower and Garden show.