Great American Train Show 2003
Attendees
- Scott Sanburn
- Stefan Garcia
- Victoria Garcia
- Tony Hedglen
- Amy Hughes
- David Kohrman
Great American Train Show 2003
Attendees
Report
This GATS show was our first official show Michiana-LUG/LTC has done, and it went well, overall. We had some problems, as it was our first show, but we had a great time, and am looking forward to the next. Thanks to everyone who saw our layout, and most importantly, our members that made it happen. Everyone went beyond the call, and we all appreciate it!
Friday-Sunday, November 14th - 16th, 2003
We had a building party at my house this weekend, in preparation for the show. Stefan Garcia was nice enough to take some pictures, as I was too busy. Thanks for helping!
Thursday November 20th, 2003
I needed to pick up Tony in Lansing, so I planned on getting him, and then meeting Chris Leach in Jackson, to get some buildings and other supplies for the show the upcoming weekend. So I left home, and drove to Lansing, picked up Tony, and then headed towards Jackson. We met Chris in a Holiday Inn parking lot, and proceeded back to Osceola, with some much needed items. Thanks Chris for meeting us! We went to bed soon after, as we needed some sleep to get ready.
Friday, November 21st, 2003
Friday morning I got up early, and Tony headed downstairs as I headed for U-Haul. I picked up the trailer, and went home, and parked so we could load up the trailer. We had some problems that day, from packing to getting the tables, to getting the modules packed, as the time for us to leave came and went, and we ended up leaving late. We also hit a construction traffic jam in Elkhart, and ended up being 3.5 hours late for the show setup. We found Victoria and Stefan and Amy, and pulled the Tahoe and trailer into the coliseum. We started to unload and got everything out, and started setting things up. We were in the back part of the coliseum, and we were the farthest away from the doors. I had some problems with getting the trailer out, so the guys next to us were nice enough to help me get turned around. Thanks again! We ended up leaving at 9:00PM, we did manage to get most of the tables set up. Tony and I had to drive back home to get some buildings, and David and Amy went to the hotel, and Stefan and V ictoria went home to Kalamazoo. it was a LONG day. I gave Stefan the new cargo train set to build, so we could have that running for the weekend, as I had no time to build it.
Saturday, November 22nd, 2003
Saturday morning, we got up real early to get to Fort Wayne by 7:00AM, when the doors opened for us, so we took off here about 4:00AM, I had to go to work to get some items, and then onto Fort Wayne. We got there in time, and got started. Stefan, Victoria, Amy, and David all came about the same time, and we got started setting up the display. Stefan constructed a dropped section for this layout, a single large table, and had some problems putting it in. Due to Red Green's saying, any tool can be the right tool, Tony was able to use the hammer to make Stefan's drop section boards work, even thought a saw or something would have worked BETTER. Anyway, Stefan got his section set up, as we all worked hard to get as much stuff done, since we had a late start Friday. David was nice enough to get his section set up, before he had to go home to work on a paper, so thanks to him for his extra effort! Tony and I worked on my area, as Victoria and Amy got the barriers up, and Stefan continued to work on his area an d others. He was nice enough to get the signs set up, and put out vehicles for me. When the show opened, I was not done with my part of the layout, and did not get mostly done until well into the afternoon on Saturday. Fortunately, we were mostly done in a couple of hours in the show, so we weren't too bad off. We had a lot of people stop by, and asked the usual questions, which we were happy to answer. The show ended at 5:00PM, and we all left soon after, having accomplished most of what we wanted. Stefan and Victoria took off for home, and Amy, Tony, and I went to Pizza Hut for dinner. Afterwards, Amy went to the mall, and Tony and I decided to stay in town and sleep in the hotel, since David went home earlier in the day. We went to bed relatively early, and had a good nights sleep.
Sunday, November 23rd, 2003
Tony and I got up, and got ready for the show, and arrived there at 10:00AM. We decided to get the wireless camera and the TV going, and eventually got that to broadcast, and the show opened at 11:00AM. Stefan started working on the monorail part, as I continued to get things out. Tony had fun with the camera most of the day, as we switched it to a ton of different trains all day. We had a lot of people come, and had some invitations to other shows even. We got the usual GATS package, and we were overwhelmed that we got first place, so we put up the ribbon on Chris's buildings. I tried to finish the monorail, but gave up about 4:45PM, when we started tearing down. We actually got the teardown completed fairly early, even though we were one of the last to leave the show about 7:30PM or so. We parted ways, and drove off. I took Tony to Angola, and his sister picked him up for me, and I got home about 10:00PM.
Thanks
Tony Hedglen - Thanks for all your help, and putting up with me for the days and weekends to get this ready!
Tony's Cousin Nick - Thanks for your help too Nick!
Lynn Sanburn - Thanks for the Mountain Dew and the hotel room certificates, they were appreciated!
David Kohrman - Thanks for the effort David of coming down, and staying overnight. I am glad you had time for your paper.
Stefan and Victoria Garcia - Thanks for all of your efforts, including the driving and having Stefan over the week before, and for waiting for us Friday night, it won't happen again!
Amy Hughes - Who went above and beyond to get the barriers ready for the show.
Grace Hedglen - For picking up Tony Sunday night, and saving me a trip to Lansing.
GATS - For awarding us 1st Place and letting us have an opportunity to show our display!
U-Haul Center - Elkhart, Indiana - For helping us have the trailer until Monday
Links
Allen County War Memorial Coliseum - 4000 Parnell Avenue - Fort Wayne, Indiana
