Recently, 14 members of the Omaha-Council Bluffs Miniatures Guild had the great pleasure of attending NAME's 42nd Annual Convention in St. Louis, Missouri. The theme was "Rollin' on the River," and we certainly did. We chattered, learned new things, ate great food, met amazing miniaturists, and shopped until we dropped. The national convention is the biggest fundraiser of the year for NAME. As a non-profit devoted to educating others in the fine art of dollhouse miniatures, it's important for the organization to raise funds in big ways. It was a big party, and it was fantastic.
The national conventions have theme luncheons, workshops, banquets, galas, roundtables (when quick make-and-take kits are sold), auctions, displays, raffles, table prizes, awards, tote bag gifts, gift exchanges, table favors, meetings, and large salesrooms. There is so much more, and I highly encourage you to visit the NAME site
HERE to learn more information.
Each member of NAME who attends the conference comes home with official souvenirs. St. Louis didn't disappoint with their fantastic choices.
First, we have a Pewter River Boat by Barb Meyer. You can see that this one is sitting on top of a quarter to show its scale. The details are perfect! Many thanks to Barb Meyer of
mini-gems for making these beauties:
(click on the photos to make them larger)
Our next souvenir comes from Grace Griffin of
TreeFeathers Miniatures. It's a full set of Mark Twain books, which are lovely. No Tom Sawyer-ish party would be complete without all of these books. Many thanks to Grace for this special gift:
The next souvenir is a snazzy, detailed photo book showing the route along the Mississippi River by Carol and Thomas Kubrican of
true2scale. A-1 is the region that includes Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri, so each of these states are represented along the little riverboat ride inside the book:
When you get to St. Louis, there's even a pop-up Gateway Arch! The book is amazing. Thank you so much to Carol and Thomas:
Last, but certainly not least, is a 1:12 hand-painted porcelain doll by Pat Boldt (her Web site isn't working at this time, but you can reach her at patboldtdolls@cox.net per her business card). You can learn more about Pat
HERE. I was blown away by the detail on my doll -- her little face and fine toes are so delicate:
It must have taken a long time to paint all of these little faces, but we're so glad she did! Thank you so much to Pat for your phenomenal doll:
Here is a photo of the farewell luncheon on Sunday, July 20th. As you can see, there were a lot of attendees this year. I'm not sure of the exact count, but I hear it's somewhere around 400-500 people. For the shared meal events, we met in this fun tent. The food and service were excellent. Big thanks to the
St. Louis Airport Marriott for hosting so many miniaturists:
Each table had a centerpiece of a small boat that was "rollin' down the river" with Tom Sawyer inside. The centerpieces rotated at the meals, so everyone was able to view and admire more than one. These boats were made and donated by helpful NAME members (thank you SO much!). The most fun part for OCBMG was that our very own guild member, Sue Fortney, made all of the dolls. They are incredible! HUGE thanks to Sue and everyone who participated in these beautiful donations. I was lucky enough to win my table's centerpiece on the last day. Here is the boat I brought home:
I'm particularly excited to have my very own Sue Fortney doll in my house. All of our OCBMG members are proud and honored to have a talented artisan as one of our fellow miniaturists -- and our friend. Looks like he caught something:
There was also a very special guest at the Gala this year --
Mary Englebreit. Mary is now a lifetime member of NAME and was honored with special gifts from some of our members. You can see photos of Mary and the presentation of her gifts
HERE and
HERE.
These are just a few small highlights from the St. Louis NAME National Convention, 2014. Looks like fun, right? Well, I have good news then. There are plenty more in the future! Go to
miniatures.org to learn more about NAME and the houseparties/conventions. There are also Public Days at these events when non-NAME members can come and shop in the salesrooms.
Here are some hand-outs (with fun minis included) from St. Louis that are announcing upcoming events. Along with national conventions, NAME regions host regional "houseparties," which are smaller versions of the big yearly event.
NAME National Convention, 2015
Indianapolis, Indiana
NAME Small Scale Houseparty, 2015
Madison, Wisconsin
NAME National Convention, 2016
Seattle, Washington
NAME National Convention, 2017
Alexandria, Virginia
It takes a LOT of work and years of dedication (seriously--
years) to make these events come together. Thank you to everyone who is involved in every little detail. You make these parties special, enjoyable, and ridiculously fun for all who attend.
On behalf of everyone in the Omaha-Council Bluffs Miniatures Guild, I thank the St. Louis team for hosting us at your fabulous event! THANK YOU!
