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During the week prior to the western regional, Hurricane Nora's path appeared to be aiming directly for the south western portion of the United States. As Ofelia and I left for the airport Thursday morning from our home in Highland, California, the effects of Nora, though weakening, was building over Southern California with a steady, but light rain. Would she follow our path into New Mexico?
Forecasters had predicted rain for Albuquerque, but our arrival was met with beautiful weather in the upper 70's! The rain never materialized as the remnants of Nora skirted us to the north.
Our first priority was to visit "Show Chairpersons", Tom & Linda Katonak in Corrales, NM. An open house at the Katonaks was planned for Sunday after the show, but our return flight schedule would not permit us to attend. A plea to barge in during their last minute preparations for the show was graciously accepted. (A prior contact with Tom regarding his possible acquisition of a depression glass green CD 151 H.G. from me might have given us the needed clout!) We had an enjoyable visit with Tom and Linda as we toured their apple orchard, new out-building and of course, the insulator room.
The show opened to dealers, exhibitors, EIC and NIA members Friday evening. Approximately 65 tables were eventually filled with insulators, bottles and related items. Collectors stayed quite active scurrying from table to table as insulators in all price ranges appeared throughout the room. By the close of the day several fantastic exhibits had appeared around the perimeter of the building.
The Saturday and Sunday show hours were open to the public. Attendance was about average for a regional show. Most dealers reported good sales and attendees seemed to have no problem depleting their budgets on quality glass and porcelain. Colored signals were in abundance and those priced reasonably were quickly snapped up. In fact, some priced unreasonably were quickly snapped up! Other notable insulators that changed hands were: CD 164 H.G., golden amber; CD 151's in cornflower, peacock blue and deep electric blue; CD 134's, NN Pennycuick style, (1) dark yellow green (2) dark green (3) blue with large olive splotch; CD 145 American, brilliant yellow green; CD 155 RYT, cornflower blue; CD 102's, midnight blue, teal blue and mustard; CD 145 Postal, two-tone light sca and sage; porcelain/glass Locke multipart; CD 145 H.G.'s (1) orange amber (2) sapphire blue (3) sca; CD 130 Cal Elec Works, icy aqua. I'm certain many additional desirable insulators changed hands without my knowledge.
A Saturday evening awards banquet was held at a huge restaurant nestled in the adjacent Sandia Mountains, just a few minutes from Duane and Rhonda Davenport's home. A brief visit with the Davenports before the banquet created such a severe energy loss that, coupled with the high elevation's thin air, I wasn't sure if I was going to survive the steep climb back up the driveway to our vehicle! Duane (should be spelled: Dwayne :-) has a world renowned collection of colorful insulators and seltzer bottles that will just take your breath away!
The banquet went very well, with several jokes from the audience, good food and a smooth awards presentation--well, once Tom finally arrived over an hour late to make the presentations. (Sorry Tom, just had to give you a little dig.) Yours truly was surprised with a "happy birthday" song from those in attendance, led by Tom and Duane. (I turned the "BIG 40" the following day.) Carol McDougald was in attendance, so I'll leave it to her to list the awards recipients in a future issue of Crown Jewels. (Maybe we can even convince Ron Norton to write a show report for his dear wife, Patti, so we can read it in Rainbow Riders'?)
I could go on with more events and stories from the show, but I'll close now with these final words:
There's much more to the hobby of collecting insulators than lining your shelves with glass and porcelain. Support your local, regional and national shows with your attendance and you will find that the fringe benefits of seeing old friends and making new ones are more precious in the full scope of life than the insulators themselves!
A huge "Thank You" to all EIC members for hosting a most enjoyable show!
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Last updated Wednesday, October 1, 1997