A
FEW CONVENTION THOUGHTS…
by Dr. Paul Wassermann
The Midwest Division, under the leadership of Chris and
Marlene Rolfing and Steve Holic provided approximately
1000 registered members with a fabulous convention. The
years of careful planning were fully realized in what
appeared, to me, to be a smooth week of fun and great
toy train related pleasure. Since I was participating
in the board meetings for two of the days, I didn’t
get a chance to do as much as I would have liked, but
my early arrival on Monday did allow me to compete in
the TCA National Golf Tournament Tuesday morning. Forty
(that’s right…forty) golfers participated
in a great event that including wonderful prizes for all
kinds of “bests” including best drive, best
putt, best shirt, best shoes. Thanks to the Callaway Handicapping
system my gross score was netted into the winning score
and I won a $50 gift certificate at the pro shop, which
I turned into a nice silk shirt.
Highlights, from my perspective included:
Best public layout displays I have ever seen at a convention.
(Lego, Dorfan,
Erector, Standard Gauge Girl’s Train Layouts!)
Great layout tours including a visit to the Hoge collection
of toys and trains
A fabulous dinner cruise, complete with fireworks and
a mouth-watering steak.
Wonderful Kids Club racing events
Huge welcoming party full of near euphoric train collectors!
From start to finish this was one wonderful
week, which literally flew by! But the most gratifying
moment, for me, occurred when the National Board of Directors
unanimously approved our request to shift the National
Convention date from June to July, 2009. . This exception
will allow us to use the Desert Ridge Resort as our convention
hotel and means the attendees in 2009 will be staying
in a five star resort, complete with 4 acres of pools,
100,000 square feet of exhibition space, 950 rooms (all
with view balconies), two golf courses, 9 restaurants,
all for a 2009 guaranteed price of $135!!! I am already
trying to think of ways to make 2009 a “Star Spangled”
convention and I hope you all start thinking in that mode
too. We have the opportunity, with seven years of planning,
to really do something extraordinary and special.
|
