Wow, just wow. Did we have a great Winter Show & Sale or what? Record attendance and record sales; it doesn’t get much better than that. You cannot hold an event like this without an army of volunteers to make it come together.
We start with Advertising. Sue Thomas and her beautiful fliers, Christine Vargas & her media contacts, Jeff Harris flooding garden web sites from Kamaloops Canada, Kirsten Higgins working her magic on the web page & Facebook, all of you sharing the flier with friends and on Facebook, and Kelly Griffin going on TV Saturday morning. No wonder we had such a great crowd.
Set-up on Friday went smoothly with the help of George Plaisted, Bill & Jean O’Daniel, Susan Hopkins, Mary Aparicio, Jerry Markle, Brian Shepherd, Cathy Clark, Mary & Jim Reiser, Russel Ray, Don Hunt, Sandy Wetzel-Smith, Mike Fernandes, and Paula Munoz. Tom Knapik and Kelly brought in the plants for the Menzel Auction and set them up in room 101. Most of our vendors set up Friday afternoon and evening, so set-up Saturday morning was pretty smooth.
Also on Saturday morning, Paul Maker brought in the registers, and the sales team set things up for non-stop action. Jim DeForest once more led the team to victory. The team included Diane Tigard, Melanie Howe, Brita Miller, Winston Chan, Sara Clayton, Sue Thomas, Suzy Perkins, Jessica McGee, Linda Stewart, Deya Wilson, Deb Schmal, Heather Chan, Tammy Fletcher, Patty Miller, and Christine Vargas. This group worked so well that although the line went all the way around the room, time in line at the longest was 39 minutes. The line was continually moving, and customers were making new friends in line.
For customers, the day started with a visit to the booth out in front to renew or sign up as new members. The Greeters were Candy Garner, Wendy Goldman, Penny Sommerville, Antonina Lansangan, and Betsy Markle. They also had a Plant Hotel for the customers’ plants so that customers had a safe place to leave their plants to get their vehicles. Lots of new members were signed up.
The kitchen crew was led by Sandy Wetzel-Smith. They suffered through a couple hours of the drain mishap but still managed to keep us fed and hydrated. I don’t have a list of names for the kitchen crew; please know you are appreciated.
Our unpaid holding area was manned by Chuck Ramey, Norb Roden, and others. They did a great job and made a difference in the number of plants sold.
Geoff Twitchell, Chris Dawson, & Julie Dixon were security on the Auction Plants all day, and we appreciate their efforts. The Auction was held in the afternoon, with Tom Knapik, Mark Fryer, & Kelly Griffin acting as auctioneers. Proceeds went to support the Scholarship Fund. I know several people went home with a plant that Jürgen loved, and they are happy knowing they have a part of his collection to cherish.
The Show Chairs, Bill O’Daniel and Kelly Griffin, did a great job organizing the Show, both prep before and execution. Mark Fryer and Gary James were the Judges, and Susan Hopkins headed the clerking crew of Alison Baldwin and others. Paul & Carol Maker tallied the results, and Paul took the trophy pictures. Jean O’Daniel and Susan Hopkins ran the information table in the courtyard and gave out club fliers until they ran out. Stephen Zolezzi and Sherman Blench ran the Paid Holding Area in the patio. The patio area was a busy place all afternoon.
Boxes. We had a wonderful selection to choose from and more than we needed, which is better than running out. Thanks to all of you who brought boxes. Remember, June is coming and we need more than we had for the winter show. So keep up the good work!
Brian Shepherd did a great job leading the Security team provided for Show and Sale Security. His team included Jerry Markle and Paula Munoz—who braved the cold Friday evening to guard your show plants— Mike Marika, Rom Chisum, Luis Urias, Mary May, Mike Fernandes, Steve Schmal, Ginger Steketa, Herb Stern, Lynn Grant, and Rick Plant.
The clean-up volunteers were great. Russel Ray, Mike Fernandes, and Jim & Mary Reiser broke down tables for George to put away. May Fong Ho broke down boxes, with help. May and I swept the floor and picked up trash. Bill & Jean O’Daniel and friends cleaned up the show area. Susan Hopkins gathered the club info and put it away.Sandy and team with Cathy Clark cleaned up the kitchen and stored stuff away. Others helped in the final efforts of the show but by then my memory was slipping and like everyone else I just wanted to go home and sit down. I know I missed some of you and I want you all to know how much I appreciate all of your efforts towards making our Show and Sale a success. A fine-tuned machine we are. Our only issue other than flooding in the kitchen was too many customers, and is that really a problem? Stay warm through the cold spell. Spring is around the corner.