Midwest Penturners Gathering - 2019 In The Books

[mg_dreyer]

Well the 2019 Midwest Penturners Gathering is in the books. Think it is safe to say it was the largest gathering of pen makers every. We registered over 200 families and had about 300 total come to the event. Hope you had fun. I saw some great presentations, had a blast talking with top of the community vendors (and some amazing products), but also very importantly met some great people. It was great to see how well all the demonstrators prepared and I hope everyone enjoyed the range of topics.

The Friday night social night saw many great many smaller classes and the ability to talk one-on-one with the presenter. And we definitely will be giving from our community - we made 150 Pens For Troops. That was impressive. Thanks.

The "I don't want to give this blank up" contest was very well received. Six people all walked away with a bag of 50 blanks each (let's see some pictures). The pen contest was also impressive. We had over 60 participate. Thank you.

Cannot say enough about our vendors - great vendors make great shows:
Rich Coers
T. Shadow
PTownSubbie
The PenSmiths
Custom Cast Blanks
Ohio Penworks
Garage Pen Company
BVV
Easy Wood Turning Tools
Exotic Blanks
The American Association Of Woodturners
Robust Tools
Jason Rose
Ankrom Exotics

A Special Thank You To Our Sponsors
Jet Tool
IAP - International Association Of Penturners - Penturners.org
And GluBoost

And the door prizes - over $7500. Someone walked away with
A Jet 1015VS Lathe
A complete stabilization system with pump and 5 gallons of stabilizer
A free AAW registration to the AAW Symposium in (where?????) - Raleigh
A set of Easy Wood Tools with negative rake cutters
Two more sets of carbide tools from Rockler of Bolingbrook
And close to 200 other prizes. We thank all those that gave.

And our history
Greg Cozad
Rich Coers
And the entire team from Ohio
Everyone of them took the show to the next level ...

What did you think of the new logo and the shirts? Cool...

And finally we thank all the members of the Chicago IAP you gave many hours helping with setup and audio, the event, tear down and anything you ask. It was almost as if we had Alexa or Siri in the room. Thanks.

Hopefully you had a great time. We thank everyone who attended. Sincerely.

So hope to see everyone again in Chicago next year (keep watching out for it). And for those of you who did not attend - what were you thinking (just some fun) - hope to meet and see you next year.

Now it time for me to ask - let's see some pictures and comments .....

 

[cozee]

I am still somewhat trying to gather my thoughts, and emotions, about this event. I was overwhelmed to say the least. I sit here this morning with the feeling of having watched one of my children at a given point in their life having gone farther than I could have ever imagined. As I watched the Chicago Crew; Ed Brown, Mark Dreyer, and John Underhill, orchestrate this event with nothing but heart and passion, I knew the MPG would continue to grow and be successful. My hat is also off, along with my heart felt gratitude, to Rich Coers and the IAP Ohio crew for their dedication, sacrifice, and patience in seeing the worth of the MPG. With no less a role, the volunteers served obviously served with their hearts. This big ol' Marine got dirt in his eyes more than once diring the event. To me, the old adage, "if you will build it, they will come" has never been so true as I witnessed this past Friday and Saturday. I cannot wait for the 2020 event!!! I reunited with old friends, and made new ones! It was great seeing the faces and hearing the voices of cyber-friends. And Jeff, many thanks for the welcome back!!!!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Penturners.org mobile app

 

[mg_dreyer]

The crowd ...

 

[studioseven]

This was my second MPG. They just keep getting bigger and better. My hat's off to all who helped put this event on. You did an amazing job. I can't wait for next year.

Seven

 

[Barnmb7117]

Lets not forget Patterson Grant and his True card blanks. He will be deploying in the next week or two to Korea for a 1 year deployment.

 

[ed4copies]

We all enjoyed listening to the IAP co-founder and subsequent "caretaker", Jeff Brown

 

[mg_dreyer]

It was a blast to sit and talk with Jeff. Had a great time talking with him.

 

[pgmorjal]

Had a great time and met a lot of fellow pen turners from all over. It was nice to exchange ideas, share some of tips and tricks and talk about different ways to do things. The demonstrators and vendors were equally fantastic. My hat (or should I say my "pen cap") is off to the team from Chicago. The event was a success and ran as smooth as silk. I am happy and proud to say that I am a member of the Chicago Chapter.

 

[JohnU]

I Also Had a great time! It's always nice to see old friends and hang out. I enjoyed meeting all of you who could make it and hearing and sharing ideas about casting. It was an honor to be a part of the largest pen gathering to date and seeing how giving this pen making community can be. I came home with a beautiful new EasyWood tool, great memories and lots of new friends. It's not everyday you can sit down and enjoy company with Jeff, Dick Sing, Exotic Blanks - Dawn Kizer and all of you who traveled so far! Looking forward to next year and the changes it brings to out do this year. Thank You to all for helping make the 2019 MPG the success that it was and...You Chicagoland member Rock!

 

[jeff]

After I got home and slept off two Chicago beef sandwiches and three pieces of deep dish pizza, I've finally rejoined the living and gathered my thoughts; MPG 2019 was AWESOME.

Considering the event itself, I don't think any penmaker, of any skill level or background, could ask for anything more. I saw the best vendors in the industry, outstanding demonstrators, and the willingness of every person there to share what they know.

For me personally, I was thrilled to meet some people I've only spoken with electronically, and to reconnect with people I've been with at many previous events. I have one regret, and that's that I did not come on Thursday! I would have liked the opportunity to spend more time talking with old and new friends about pens and life in general. Lesson learned for next year.

I thought the hotel was excellent, easy to get to, and I also learned that the brim of an IAP hat makes a great snow scraper. I'm getting the feeling that no matter where or when the MPG is held, some amount of snow will fall.

To Mark (& Donna!), John, and Ed; you guys did one hell of a job. To Greg, Rich, and the Ohio guys; Bob M., Bob J., Mark, Mike, & Jason - thanks for laying the foundation that the Chicago guys could build on. To everyone who attended, thanks for helping to make MPG 2019 an incredible success.

See you all next year!

 

[CreativeCanes]

What an eye opening event.
Sometimes we get stuck in our own little worlds of what we create, it was honestly such an amazing experience to see so many different ways of creating magnificent pieces and how they all come together. The information I was able to soak in was invaluable.
My hat goes off to the event coordinators, sponsors, the other demonstrators (that was nerve-racking lol), to all the vendors who had some amazing products and to the amazing community of people I was able to meet. It was an amazing two days!

I personally also want to say a big thank you to all the individuals who personally came and gave me encouragement and introduced themselves, your kind words really helped this shy gal break a little of her shell.
Thank you also to the lovely Ed & Dawn at Exotic Blanks for everything.

I hope everyone's drive home was a safe one and my apologies for jinxing the snow with my winter wonderland blank demonstration. :biggrin:

 

[Gregf]

"So hope to see everyone again in Chicago next year (keep watching out for it). "


Is the Gathering not going to rotate between locations ?

 

[alphageek]

"So hope to see everyone again in Chicago next year (keep watching out for it). "

Is the Gathering not going to rotate between locations ?

I think the way I heard it was that it's been in Ohio for a couple years and they have decided to do Chicago again next year, but it could move again in subsequent years.

Personally I think Chicago is a great spot given how big it's gotten. There is tons of locations to grow into and it's one of the cheapest places in the country to fly into. (And this is coming from a WI guy so that's hard to write!)

 

[mbroberg]

Is the Gathering not going to rotate between locations ?

The plan was that it would rotate between three cities every couple of years. Wadsworth, OH; Schaumburg, IL; and ????????. No one has stepped up to host the event so it might bounce back and forth from IL and OH.





Any other Midwesterners want to jump in

 

[MartinPens]

I wish we had something like this on the West Coast! (WCPG??) I guess I'll have to keep my eye on the next one and figure out how to make the trip. Sounds like a blast. I have family that just moved and live on the Missouri/Illinois border in Canton. Somewhere close to Canton? : )

 

[cozee]

I wish we had something like this on the West Coast! (WCPG??) I guess I'll have to keep my eye on the next one and figure out how to make the trip. Sounds like a blast.

Start one yourself!!! Trust me when I say it can be done!!!!