THE IGNITOR NEWSLETTER
VOL.13 No. 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sept. 2002

"Living the Past for Future Generations"

Leduc West Antique Society Executive:                www.leducwestantique.com

APPRECIATION NIGHT

FRIDAY, NOV. 1

TELFORD HOUSE in LEDUC

4907 46 street (East end of Main Street)

Time: 6:30 p.m.

Supper will be provided.

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"PLAY POKER"    NO DOOR PRIZES !!

Instead of door prizes we are going to play "POKER". I will mix several decks of cards, eliminating cards from each deck. You will try to build a poker hand. It costs $5.00 to buy your first five cards. You may build as many different hands as you wish. You can buy or trade in cards at $1.00 per card or if you're lucky you can make a deal with someone else. However, that doesn't build up the pot. The money raised will be split 50/50. At the end of the evening I will pick which hand I am looking for and what suit. Eg: I may ask for a full house; but, it must be in diamonds and spades only, or I could ask for a Royal Flush in hearts etc. The amount won will be determined by the number of winners with that particular hand. Let's have some fun !!!

Bring along your board games. I will have a craft to make for the younger ones. I'll need helpers to operate the glue guns.

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE - Walter Burak

Another successful year for the Society. Our summer show just keeps getting bigger and better each year. On the morning of July 27 I received three phone calls between 6:45 - 7:00 am inquiring how the weather was in Leduc. One caller was in north Edmonton, one in Ardrossan, and the other west at Beach Corner. All reported it was raining heavy in their area. They wanted to know if the show was cancelled. The horizon didn't look good; however, the rain managed to avoid our site. We had an excellent weekend with more of everything. The Black Gold Rodeo grounds sure came in handy for the vehicle parking.

I would like to thank the Show Chairperson, Committee heads, Exhibitors, Entertainers, Vendors, Sponsors, and all the Volunteers that had some part in putting on a terrific show.

Our Country Harvest had good response from everyone to close the year. The fall rye bundles sure looked good considering the summer we had.

The publicity that we receive in our local papers, surrounding area papers, and magazines is amazing. The editorial in July and the front page coverage for the July and September shows sure goes a long way to reduce our advertising costs. After each show the summary of articles and pictures is excellent. Thanks to the Ledue Representative for sponsoring additional advertising. Also thanks to CFCW for sponsoring additional radio time for us. We even made the Western Producer with pictures and a write up, as well as, the local paper in Kamloops, BC. If anyone has access to any papers with articles we would appreciate receiving them for our scrap book.

This past year we had a mini boom for construction projects. Seeing four new buildings spring up is quite impressive for the society.

I would like to thank all the members for your support over the year whether it be financial, physical labour, or just promotion of the Society and our activities. We hope to see many of you for the Appreciation Night supper. If you know in advance that you will be coming please call, 986-0054. This will give us an indication of how many to plan for. There will be a short meeting after the supper, followed by some fun activities.

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PARK NEWS

The year 2002 is coming to a close for activity at the Park. It has been a very exciting and eventful year and don't forget prosperous. This year our goal was to concentrate on completing projects; however, three new buildings popped up and a fourth one in the construction stage. Our second concession received a new facelift. The back of the big bleachers actually has siding. The backs on the corral bleachers got a partial painting. The Founder's Gallery got a real good cleaning. One of these years we should just be able to back up with the tractor pull the wagons out and VOILA !! the building will be ready for use. Hopefully a whole collection of articles won't great us next spring that requires weeks of work to clean out.

We had several very interesting and profitable events at the Park during the year.

The May "Antiques in the Country" is getting better known. The idea of an auction in conjunction with it added to its success. Thereby enlarging the flow of visitors. After all not everyone can afford to be an antique collector. We are still working on the prospect of the possibility of the Wild Rose Collectors eventually joining us for their show. With the new heated buildings going up the chances look much better. Who knows what's in store for the future !!!

(If your planning on selling larger items for next year, let us know and we can plan again on an auction and advertise well in advance. It doesn't have to be antique.)

The park was well used for picnics, weddings, family reunions, company suppers, tours, etc. throughout the year. We appreciate the support of these groups to come back each year and welcome the new ones.

As usual we had another very successful show. In spite of the cooler weather, I think the visitors were so thankful for the prospect of rain they didn't mind spending extra money. I believe this was the most money we ever took in at a show. With the generosity of our sponsors (for which we are very grateful) the expenses were way down. These donations will be shown on the financial statement. To top it off we received a generous discount from IGA on the concession order.

Our main gate is well looked after by Dallas and his crew. These are all pretty seasoned operators. There were very few line-ups. We still have to figure a way to enter from the parking lot to the south. There are always those few people who sneak in without paying. I guess that's just human nature to see what you can get away with.

Our concession workers did a super job as usual. It's nice to see many new faces assisting the more seasoned operators. Even our Councillors get in the action. With the menu kept simple, the work load is far less. The line-ups were greatly decreased. You didn't have to wait as long as you do at a fast food restaurant downtown at noon. The french fries were a good addition. We now operate two deep fryers. Also the buffalo burgers sure sell out quickly.

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The vendors were about the same - - except more went inside. This puts our expenses more as we have to rent tables. We rented 39 tables at $6.00 per table for the weekend. The vendors do not like to be outside if they can't park near their tables and we don't allow parking modern vehicles in the show area. It's a no win situation. If we could have a lean to built on the north side of the Founder's Gallery this would provide protection for outside vendors and then we wouldn't have to see modern vehicles. I tried to move some of the trailers to sell east of Vintage Iron street and north of the swale and almost had my head taken off. People want things done as was done in the past and they don't care who tries to tell them.

This reminds me of a little incident at the show. We try to enforce "No Dogs in the show area. . I met one woman with her dog in the Founder's Gallery. I told her we do not allow dogs in the show area. I asked if she would please take it back to her vehicle. She told me "I spoke to Marg this morning and she said it was no problem to bring it." So I informed her I was Marg and I received no phone calls this morning as I was out at the site at 6:00 am. She quickly took her dog to the car. Some people must think the name "Marg" has some pull. If she would have said "Wally" I probably would have looked the other way.

Our turn out of exhibitors was right up there. A few more than usual. We finally found the right chairperson for the north gate that thoroughly enjoys the job and is looking forward to next year. Julie did a fabulous job welcoming the exhibitors. She even collected all but two magnetic numbers after the show. Thanks to Rosemarie for making the new numbers and next year we'll have to go to 300 magnetic numbers. It's not that many years ago when we only needed 50 numbers. We thank all the exhibitors for coming and are looking forward to seeing them back next year.

I am impressed with the co-operation of the exhibitors to complete the registration forms. This makes it so much easier when going through the parade. I think for next year if the information isn't put on the standard form we should just have the vehicle go through the parade without saying anything about it. It's very difficult trying to pick and choose what to say if it is a whole page all lumped together. So exhibitors keep in mind extra forms are available.

Larry did a super job bringing in a variety of older horse drawn farming equipment. Unfortunately he was far back and the visitors didn't really get the opportunity to appreciate it. 1 guess we need another smaller people mover to just tour the exhibits. Perhaps we could have one like in Lynden, Washington where several smaller ones are hooked together like a train. Any takers to build one before next year ????

Our turn out of cars wasn't nearly what we expected. However, when the weather isn't the greatest these cars do not go out. It was nice to see the number of different cars available. Also next year the trucks will be joining the cars on the west side. The stationary engines will be moving to the area north of the Graham building. That way they will be nearer the engine building and also they can park their vehicles east of the engine building thus alleviating modern vehicles on the show site. Also we will be needing a much larger area north of the swale for the tractors as next year we are featuring the giants of all tractors, the Rumleys and related tractors. It will be quite an interesting show. We should see about 20 or more of these tractors. If anyone knows of a sponsor for our advertising poster for these big tractors, please contact me at 986-0054.

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We sure missed our Bill Smith. This is the first in many years that he wasn't around for the events. However, we are thankful that Elsie is getting much better and Bill will be put back to work next year. Jean did a wonderful job with the bathrooms. Trying to fill Bill's shoes is a tall order. Several comments were made regarding the cleanliness, as well as, the potties were emptied bright and early in the morning before the campers started waking up.(Even the smallest of things adds a smile to people's faces.)

Other demonstrations like the sawmill, threshing, straw baling, etc are always enjoyable and well looked after. Elmer takes special pride in seeing that everything is organized and run smoothly.

Our new corral events were a welcomed addition to the show. The sheep dog demonstrations had the younger crowd trying hard to get away from the dogs. The Klondike Driving Association put on excellent demonstrations. Don't forget the llamas. It's amazing how intelligent these animals are. These events added more to the family aspect of the show. Thanks to Schneider's Building Supplies for sponsoring this event.

The Kiddie's tractor pulls were very successful. The tractor and sled built by Bob Hill are very realistic. What talented members we have !!! It sure is nice to have our own equipment. They were used again for the Country Harvest. Thanks to Larry & Charlene Gitzel for sponsoring this event.

The Petting Zoo was very exciting for the young ones to have it for the two days. Thanks to Master Ware House in Edmonton for sponsoring this event.

Although I enjoy all the displays and demonstrations I would have to say the Tractor Square Dancing was awesome. Maybe it wasn't the skill of the drivers as much as the triple EEE bra, the beautiful long golden braids or the gorgeous brunette with the sexy legs. We've had several requests to rent these guys out, however, I think we're going to keep them just for ourselves. But, in all fairness you had to be pretty skilled to make those turns or brave like Ken to stand in the middle to call. Thanks again Pauline for coming up with the outfits. Also, a special thanks to Dave Halliday from the Journal for the suggestion. They'll be back for next years show. Talks are underway already as they all want to be women.

Our tractor pulls are getting bigger each year. This year they added a new category and next year they are adding another class. If we had our own sled, for the Country Harvest, we could invite all the winners from the summer shows from all around to compete in a championship match. Wouldn't that be exciting to watch !!! We'll have to see what we can come up with or what kind of sponsorship we can get. I would like to thank Roda Deaco Valve (Ron Bodnar) from Edmonton for sponsoring the event and thanks to Ellen Widdlefield for chairing the event.

What an impressive sign post for the feature tractor area. Many thanks to Peter Straub and his crew for designing and erecting it. Now we have the beginnings of a permanent fixture to work with in setting up our feature tractor display for each year. If anyone is interested in working with Peter, call 986-6109 to set up a committee to look after the feature tractor displays.

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Our entertainment gets bigger and better each year. Kathy does an excellent job organizing the many talented participants. There were more participants in the Fiddling Contest. Thanks to Ledue Co-op for sponsoring this event. A number of children participated in the talent show. This will probably be bigger next year as it gets better known. I hear our treasurer and secretary could make a living in the modelling business. The fashion show was quite a hit. Thanks to Sears for lending the clothes. Thanks to Danin and Irene for putting it together.

Although our horse didn't get shoed this year; the blacksmith guys did a super job of demonstrations both days. Thanks !!!

Our People Movers were kept very busy, as well as, the golf carts. Thanks to all involved.

Also a big thank you to our other sponsors. D-Line Construction, Ertman Miller, Ed Chuboca, Mike's Appliance, OK Tire, and who ever else I missed. Without your support our expenses would be rather high.

The Country Harvest is growing. It was quite successful. More visitors were present. There was a good turn out of vendors. The Gymkhana was very well received. Raven wants to bring her group back for next year during the summer show. She plans on a horse show one day and the Gymkhana the next. All details aren't worked out. The antique cars had a fun time going through their obstacle courses. Although Phil and Brian set up a great obstacle course for the tractors they didn't receive any participants. We'll try it again next year with more advertising. The farming and sawmill demonstrations ran smoothly. Before the Harvest I even got to drive the Farmall to pick up bundles for next year and I never drove over one stook. There's hope yet !!!

The chicken supper cooked by Tim Neiman was fabulous. Everyone had lots to eat and throughly enjoyed the chicken. Thanks to Tim and the servers.

The 50/50 draw brought in $222.00. Denis Jabs won the $111.00.

The crafts for the younger ones were a real hit. I never saw so many realistic pet rocks. Thanks to the Pioneer Girls from Leduc for looking after the craft. It's amazing how much joy a rock can bring a young one or a proud parent or grandparent. We're almost there for buying our swing set.

Thanks to the guys for the "Jigger" rides both at the annual show and the Country Harvest. Perhaps next year we'll have the track all the way to the camp grounds. I keep hoping !!

We had visitors from Salmon Arm, BC. They were very impressed with the Country Harvest and will be bringing back 20 units next year. Also our Austrian visitors throughly enjoyed themselves including the buffalo burgers. I was the happy recipient of a beautiful pen.

I would also like to thank the members for looking after the buildings. They get many visitors going through during the events. These buildings are a great asset to the Park.

I'm sure I forgot to mention something; but, to all of you thanks again for your assistance in putting on these events. Without your help the events couldn't go on.

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A SPECIAL THANK YOU by Anna Heinricks & Marilyn Saramaga

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our volunteers in helping us make this a great year. We appreciate your time and patience in helping us in a learning curve to make each function a success. We enjoyed meeting and working with each of you and look forward to your assistance to making next year an even bigger success. We would also like to thank all the members that donated pies. This is clear profit for the society. We look forward to receiving your pies again next year.

RAFFLE
On November 1st at the meeting we will be discussing the idea of another raffle. I will volunteer to look after it again. However, I would like to change the draw date to September 15th at the Country Harvest. This year we only raised $8 500.00 as we didn't have a chance to sell all the tickets or collect all the books. $2 000.00 of that is paid out for prize money. Remember, you can make my job so much easier by phoning before the middle of January stating that you do not wish to have a book or if you do take a book send it back immediately if you are purchasing it yourselves.. I have to spend many hours trying to track down books. Remember this raffle is used to pay down the mortgage on the railroad station.

The raffle winners were as follows:

1st Prize	$1000	Jim Rollo	Edmonton
2nd Prize	$ 500	Lewis Young	Devon
3rd Prize	$ 100	Clark McNabb	Sherwood Park
4th Prize	$ 100	Mike Brennan	Edmonton
5th Prize	$ 100	George Fahl	Humboldt, Sask.
6th Prize	$ 100	Ervin Gatzke	Millet
7th Prize	$ 100	Dorothy-Jean Hiller	Edmonton

The winners for the draws were:

The quilt in the school donated by Marion Barker was won by Donna Patriquin.
The doll and doll clothes donated by Juliette Cordell went to Brenda Dowell from Trochu.
The lawn chairs donated by UFA - one went to Eileen Senft from Calmar.
            - one went to Gerry McLellin
The afghan donated by Grandma Arnholtz went to Anne Pruss from Sherwood Park.

Thank you to all the people who sold or bought tickets.

SUMMER TOURS

I would like to thank all the members who volunteered their time on the weekends to have the Park open. However, I will be needing more for next year. Please book your time as soon as possible. One tour had two small children from Ontario. In their thank you card the highlight of the trip was the chair with the hole (pottie chair) and the sand box. They took back wood chips, fall rye, stones, etc.

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PARK PROJECTS

There are still a number of projects to complete at the park. One is to finish the siding on the bleachers. It would be nice to get this done before the winter. If you can help please call 986-0054 and give a time when you would be available.

Elmer has been busy for the past two months constructing a grill cookhouse for the main concession. It's very impressive and probably will be completed before the snow falls.

Our restoration/display building is progressing quite nicely. We are in the process of getting the floor ready for the cement. Then comes the electrical work, gas hook-up, walls and ceiling covered, more windows will be installed etc. It should be ready for next winter.

Other projects to work on for the winter are:
      - the tractor pull sled
      - the mini people mover
      - a second cook house for the grills for the second concession

There will be more information regarding projects in the next newsletter in January.

Community Hall/Museum Building - Howard Lengert

Marg asked me to write something on my building project at LWAS. On Sept. 3 Allan Kuhn started construction on my community hall/museum building. On September 24 is when the first half of the trusses are to be lifted into place and hopefully by the end of Sept. the roof will be on. The building will have some of the architectural features of a building built by the Hooper Coach building firm in England in 1933. Alex Lewoniuk kindly offered the services of his interior designer from Victoria to help design the front of the building. Many thanks to Alex.

This project has been on my mind for a few years now and it has finally come together. My plan is to build a community hall for the society to use now and sometime in the future I plan to turn it into a museum for my car collection. It could be ten years or more down the road before that happens. Right now I feel that we could rnake good use of this building by promoting the use of our site for weddings and other events. We could offer a complete package deal. We have the church for the wedding and various nice buildings for taking pictures at, and then we have the hall that the reception could be held in. We also have a nice Model A Ford to take the bride and groom for a drive around our site. In the September 13th Journal in an article on Fort Edmonton Park it was stated that 220,000 people came to the park last year and they had 200 weddings !! Just think if we got even ten percent of that business what that would do for our site. You might say, isn't that going to be a lot of work and who is going to do it. I feel that every event should have an outside caterer and that a hall committee could oversee operations. A janitor would be needed and his pay would come out of the rent of the facility.

(Editor note) Thanks Howard for giving the society a hall. We already have two requests for weddings for next year and requests from catering companies to have such a facility in place for booking weddings.

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KOLLECTOR'S KORNER by Bill Smith

Has the world gone nuts? The Canadian Senate vote themselves a big raise last year and now vote to cut their so called working days. Hockey players and baseball players are signing contracts that are bigger than some Banana Republics annual budget. Ottawa keeps turning the thumbs screw for more hidden and not so hidden taxes. They can't get much lower than putting a tax on children's small juice containers for school. We got a sick Canadian dollar and wait till this Kyoto deal is signed and see a 50 cent dollar against the USA.

So what has this got to do with Antique Collectors? Saturday, September 21st was an antique show at the Sportex in Edmonton. It was put on by a Toronto Company. There were 70 vendors from across Canada. I know about 60% of them. There was a great variety of goods from jewellery, military, glass, and dishes. It was of higher quality than usual. There were items for every pocket book from five year old to the 70 year old. A bronze sculpture priced at $17 500.00 was the most expensive item I noticed. The dealers seem to be selling a lot of high end items as people are starting to invest our sick dollar into material things. Stock markets and mutuals are the pits in any man's language. People want larger investments in small items like jewellery or art, preferably what will go into a safety deposit box. But as several dealers said, "they had great sales in Alberta as opposed to say Saskatchewan or Manitoba." But, where are they going to replace those high end items once sold? Once sold it is gone. This is why in Europe land is like gold. Places like Belgium, Holland, Germany, etc. land has been in one family for 2 or 3 hundred years. Maybe we have a lesson to learn from across the pond.

Special Report from Bill Smith

What a summer the SMITH'S have had. My Elsie has been very ill since the middle of June. We suffered through June at home with our family doctor doing his best for her. On July 11 we went to Emergency and she was in three days, home again, still ill, lost 20 lbs weight, back to the hospital over night, home and back to emergency three times the weekend of August 10th and 11th I was losing my wife. A retired nurse told me to check in at another hospital. This was done August 12th to the Misericordia Hospital. We were in Emergency from August 12 - 16. On the 16th we got a room on the 7th floor and it became our home for now and awhile yet. At no time did I ever give up to get my wife home. It is now 45 days that I have slept in the hospital in the wife's room. I am happy to report at the time of this writing on this date she ate her lst solid food meal in over two months. We got her sitting up two hours a day now and she is able to walk 20 steps with a walker. We are not out of the woods yet; but, each day I can see improvement this past two weeks. I am going to take my wife home. Those Sweeds are pretty tough !!!!

I want to thank the LWAS members who paid visits, sent cards, phone calls, sent flowers, and prayers. It helped me as much as Elsie to see you. Just try sitting in a room day in and day out. I never read so much in my life. TV was to disturbing for Elsie. The phone was our link with the outside world. I am sorry I missed the July and September shows; however, it proves one thing, "No one is indispensable". The show was bigger and better and I want to thank all those who stepped into my shoes. LWAS is a great family and I am so proud that we have been part of it. Hope to see you at the Appreciation Nite on Friday, Nov. 1st.

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