Leduc West Antique Society

THE IGNITOR NEWSLETTER

VOL.17 No. 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 2006

"Living the Past for Future Generations"

Leduc West Antique Society Executive:                  www.leducwestantique.com

UPCOMING EVENTS

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE - Walter Burak

Spring of 2006 is upon us. Activity on the grounds is starting to develop. By the looks of things July will be extremely busy. A summary of events on the books starting in May is as follows:

1. May 27 - Country Swap Meet - Leduc West Antique Society site - poster enclosed with details
2. June 4 - LWAS Family Picnic - Leduc West Antique Society site
3. June 23 - Afternoon Bingo - Leduc Rapid Bingo
4. July 14 & 15 - Old Time Fiddle Championship - Leduc West Antique Society site - poster enclosed with details
5. July 17 - Afternoon Bingo - Leduc Rapid Bingo
6. July 26 - Leduc County Provincial Agricultural Service Board Tour - Leduc West Antique Society site
7. July 29 & 30 - Annual Exposition - Leduc West Antique Society site featuring John Deere
8. September 16 - Country Harvest - Leduc West Antique Society site

From this list I think things will really be quite hectic.

Some of the projects and happenings of the Park area:

1. Windmill has been set up,
2. Four older granaries have been repaired and made useable,
3. A number of low areas on the site have been filled with top soil,
4. A scale to weigh tractors for the "tractor pull" events has been purchased,
5. A 2y2-yard wheel loader has been purchased.

The insurance liability topic is still to be solved - most exhibitors have accepted this issue and very little feedback response has been received. If any one is having difficulty with their insurance agent EDGETA is another option to look at. The contact person is:

Dick Tombrink
2250 North 12th Road
Worden, MT
Phone and Fax: (406) 967-6687

Visit their website at www.edgeta.org to view information on safety and other "heads-up" details and issues.

Attendance workers are booked for the following dates:

JUNE 1,2, 7, 8, 21, 22

JULY 5,6,12,13,14,15,20,21,24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31

AUGUST 1,16, 17, 30, 31

SEPTEMBER 7, 8, 9, 10

Anyone willing to assist on these dates please contact Wally at 986-0054.

A big Thank You to all the Volunteers that helped at the Black Gold Rodeo performances. For the three events our members committed a total of 150 hours. Many new faces came out to help.

For information concerning volunteer workers or any other details about our events please contact the following Committee Chairmen:

Any members able to duplicate Country Swap Meet posters can perhaps post them in their community.

EDITOR'S ADDRESS - Ross Emblin

Our new editor Ross will be doing the next newsletter so submit articles to his address.

Hello, this is your new editor. I hope to continue the excellent work Marg Burak has done for the past 13 or so years. My address and phone number are:

ROSS EMBLIN
26 ANTLER LAKE
52343 RANGE ROAD 211
SHERWOOD PARK, ALBERTA
T8G 1A6
(780) 922-2870

This information will change as my father passed away on December 9th last year. After all is settled, I plan to move to greener pastures, but I want to stay involved with LWAS. It is a great club. I have met many good people through it. I am now a lifetime member.

Hope to see you all at the Swap Meet on May 27th.

RAFFLE REMINDER

Thank you to those who have already sent in your raffle ticket books and money. You have helped LWAS immensely and we are grateful for your support.

On that note.. .this is a friendly reminder to send in your raffle tickets to:

Leduc West Antique Society
c/o Jennifer Dziubiak (nee Bodnar)
3230-97 Street
Edmonton, Alberta
T6N 1K4

If you need to get in touch with Jennifer regarding the raffle you can contact her during the day at (780) 465-4429.

VENDOR APPLICATIONS

Vendor Application forms were sent out last week and there has been an overwhelming response of people who are looking to sell their wares at the Country Swap Meet, the Annual Exposition and the Country Harvest. Remember, this is a first-come-first-serve venue.. .with no exceptions! If you have already sent in your forms, thank you, and if you are still needing a form or know of someone who might be interested please contact Ron or Jennifer at:

Leduc West Antique Society
c/o Ron Bodnar/Jennifer Dziubiak
3230-97 Street
Edmonton, Alberta
T6N 1K4

You can also call us during the day at (780) 465-4429.

KOLLECTORS KORNER - Bill Smith

A New Year arrived but by the weather you would think it was a balmy October day. An election coming up and more political lies to endure. Promises, promises and more promises than even The Muppets on television could muster up on one of their better days. Someone should collect these quotes from politicians and make a book of humour, but we only have so much newsprint from our depleted forest and secondly, no one wants another set of encyclopedias cluttering their book shelves.

What's hot and what's not? "To be or not to be, that is the question?" Trends seem to be turning in a new direction. No longer are people clamoring over coal oil lamps, telephones and furniture. The big Wild Rose Show in Edmonton, April 8th and 9th experienced quite a change. Not in antiques so much as in attendance. From the year 2000 attendance is down over 50, which hits your bottom line. We wonder why? Is it parking fees, entrance fees, cost of fuel and lodging or has the collecting crowds taste changed? Then again our generation is either getting older or gone to collector heaven. Also, our country is so over taxed, people under so much pressure with work and family, they do not have the energy to devote outside time to organizations like they used to. Remember the days when the towns had a July 1st sports day? It was the event of the year, with the exception of the school Christmas Concert.

World War II arrived and Bond drives started, Victory Concerts, Red Cross Campaigns there was knitting bees to send homemade socks, scarves and sweaters to our soldiers overseas.

After the War in 1946 people started having a car in every garage and trucks on the farm. Horses were out and tractors were in. Combines, Boilers, grain augers and chemicals were all supposed to make farming easier. The l/2-section farmer was no longer. Then country schools were fazed out with centralized schools and we were wardhousing kids through school. Then television came, Medi-Care arrived and a god sent electricity through the rural areas. Beautiful blacktop highways and air travel made the world a much smaller place; breakfast in Edmonton, lunch in Chicago, supper in Washington D.C., bed in Florida and you still did a bit of shopping along the way.

What does all of this add up to? All the convenience of fat food, microwaves, computer age and you know what? We have less time to stop and smell the roses than any generation since the Dawn of Man. Where will this fast paced world end?

THE LEDUC WEST ANTIQUE SOCIETY
THANKS YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT.