Canada's First Insulator Show For 2010

[Robin Plewes]

Hello All:
This may not be news to some of you, but the OVIC 2010 insulator show promotion is underway. Some tables have been reserved already. Darcy and I appreciate the support.
OVIC 2010 will be held on Saturday the 1st of May, in the Lions Hall on the Perth fair grounds. Perth is about 45 minutes from the US-Canadian border in Eastern Ontario. I expect things will be similar to last year's show, which saw a full house of sales tables with a few displays here and there.
More details on OVIC and the town of Perth are available on the OVIC web site at: http://www.insulators.info/clubs/ovic
If anyone has any questions or would like to reserve a table, please contact me at Robin.Plewes@cmcelectronics.ca , or Darcy Laframboise at dlaraspberry@hotmail.com / 613-545-2423.

Hope to see you there ............... Robin

[Barrett]

Hey, Robin!

I'll see if I can make it out this year. You know I've been meaning to for a long time. It may actually work this year, as I don't think I leave for my field course until the day after this. I would probably come the night before and spend the night at a motel/hotel nearby.
I'll keep you posted nearer to the date. If I do come, I would need a table.
All the best!

[Bushman]

Glad to here their,s another show,will try to make it, Will,Enjoy the trip through the Park again, Only down fall ,i,m off to see the Butcher next month for my knee,s, so hope by the time the show,s up and running i,ll hope to have a few hunt,s under me belt..Reguards Andy

[Robin Plewes]

Hi Andy:
It will be good to visit with you again. I'm sure you'll have some more neat finds to show off since we last spoke.
Besta luck with the knee!
Robin

[Robin Plewes]

Hi All:
As some of you probably know, we're on track for the spring Ottawa Valley
Insulator Collector ( OVIC ) show and sale on May 1st. This year's show will
have displays of threadless diggings, Doug Netzke's Russian insulators , Bob
Scafe's striped porcelain, a table of information about the Cegelec
insulator and assorted sales tables. There is still room for additional
reservations. Contact Darcy or myself if you have any thoughts or questions
about the show.
OVIC 2010 will be held on Saturday the 1st of May, in the Lions Hall on
the Perth fair grounds. Perth is about 45 minutes from the US-Canadian
border in Eastern Ontario. I expect things will be similar to last year's
show, which saw a full house of sales tables with a few displays here and
there.
The show web site is at www.insulators.info/clubs/ovic { Thanks to
Bill Meier }
Coffee and some lunches will be available.
To those who have already booked a table(s), I thank you very much for
the support!
Looking forward another show in Perth. :- )
Robin

[Robin Plewes]

Hi All:
A quick note here to remind those of you in the North East that the 12th
annual OVIC show will be held in Perth Ontario next Sat., the 1st of May.
Darcy and I expect the hall will be full with about 20 tables including
displays of both glass and porcelain insulators. Displays this year include
Striped Porcelain From France, Russian Insulators, Threadless Diggings and
The Cegelec Suspension, a recent Canadian discovery.

Check out the web site for show details, or contact us if you have any
thoughts on the show.
Hope to see some of you there ........ Robin

OVIC Web Site ..... www.insulators.info/clubs/ovic/
Darcy Laframboise dlaraspberry@hotmail.com / 613-545-2423 or
Robin.Plewes@cmcelectronics.ca / 613-256-7638 before 9.00pm EST

PS Word is that if you're interested in suspension, and coming up from the
Toronto area, there is a big power line upgrade project underway between
Port Hope and Trenton. Suspensions being changed out include newer NGK and
older OB in colors such as orange, black, green brown etc. The old gear and
poles are being left at staging points along the line.

[Sluggo]

Hey there,

Just a quick shout out to everyone coming to Perth on Saturday!

I'll be there as usual. I've moved my room across the street and will be staying at the Tay Inn on Friday night. Don't forget about me for Chinese dinner on Friday. I'll be around somewhere. If you're in Perth Friday night, stop by my room and we can talk insulators. Look for a silver Nissan X-Trail SUV in front of my room.

For a display this year I am bringing 50+ Russian and Polish insulators. James Mulvey is sending up another 8 or 10 to add to my display. It should be a very impressive showing of Russian colours and styles.

As usual, I am always looking for any kind of foreign glass, radio antenna insulators, non-glass insulators (rubber, plastic, wood, composition, etc.), spools and carnival glass pieces. If you have any glass fishing net floats (glass balls) hanging around your house taking up space, bring them along too.

See you saturday!

[treemendous]

I called Darcy last night and have a table at the show, the first in 3 years. I'll be bringing whats left of my threaded collection about 250 to 300 pieces of good Canadian glass lots of 102's/143's/145's/162.4's and others. Hope to see you there.
Thank you,
Steve Goodell

[cdnbeehive]

Steve,

Glad you are going to be there! I too will be hosting a table, albeit for display only.

Chris

I called Darcy last night and have a table at the show, the first in 3 years. I'll be bringing whats left of my threaded collection about 250 to 300 pieces of good Canadian glass lots of 102's/143's/145's/162.4's and others. Hope to see you there.
Thank you,
Steve Goodell

[Robin Plewes]

Hello All:
This is a complicated posting, so I'm sure it will read many ways at your end.

I have been involved in hosting the Ottawa Valley Insulator Collectors ( OVIC ) shows for over 10 years now. It's been a lot of fun for everyone who makes it to these meets.
For the last couple of years, my spare time has become more limited as other aspects of life have ramped up. Insulators do not get the time I would like to spend messing with them and the related activities I have done in the past.

OVIC 2010 was held a month ago and I am sitting on the proverbial fence as to the future of OVIC shows and what can be done with the established spring tradition here in Eastern Ontario.
This year's show had a great display of Russian and Polish insulators by Doug Netzke, Bob Scafe ( British Columbia ) loaned OVIC his French striped insulators, there was the first known Canadian glass sleeve on display, a rare Brazilian glass multipart walked in and there were a couple of great digging displays including probably the first reported dark green 726.

Despite this impressive content, collector turn out was down and table support was down also. "Build it and they will come", does not seem to be working in this case. There were several table cancellations, but these were balanced with a couple of last minute table requests.
Local media coverage was great this year. I don't know why, but for some reason our promotional efforts paid off much better than for any previous shows. The resulting walk-in traffic was noticeably up and some interesting insulators came out of shopping bags for identification etc. I personally had no idea that Cutter insulators had been used in this area till one was shown to me by a local couple who had dug it out of a dump on their farm.

Over the previous year's shows, a small OVIC reserve fund has been established. Darcy and I needed it this year to cover show costs. This fund is essentially a carry over from about 7-8 years ago when a "spark plug" by the name of Kevin Lawless got hooked on OVIC shows. As some of you probably know, he was an infectious collector and when he came to a show, it seemed like he brought half the collecting community with him. As show hosts at the time, Jack Harynuk and myself were having a hard time finding room for all the table requests. The resulting table fee "bonus" has been the OVIC reserve fund ever since.
OVIC has supported several insulator web sites, the NIA, and Crown Jewels as applicable / affordable in relation to the yearly shows.

With front cover quality insulators, a reasonable show tradition and some great show volunteers, I'm looking for suggestions as to how OVIC shows can be revived? I am quite happy to hand over or share the hosting effort. Perhaps new blood is the answer? I know more time could be spent reviewing the show, but is there an audience to read the review?

If the meet changes to a back yard event, then the hobbies exposure drops off big time. We've seen what can happen when any Tom, Dick and Alvin are allowed into private homes. ( No offence to the Tom's or Dick's who collect. ) Private or invitation-only shows have been hosted for years here in Ontario, but they do limit the exposure that the hobby deserves.

Recent postings by long time collectors Bill M, Steve B., Glenn D. and Jim C. have all wrapped up with the comment that collectors need to support insulator shows.

I'm interested in any feedback on this commentary, as I'm not sure what the next step should be for OVIC shows and the insulator hobby both locally and as a whole.

Thanks ............ Robin