Oklahoma City GWAA Meeting

**J* B* <J*@USOL.COM>**

Nancy and I agree that the okc meeting was right up there among the  
best in terms of all general categories.  It is clear the local  
committee worked their butts off and we all thank them profusely.   
Only one seminar bombed and that is probably a record.  The crowd,  
all 450 something was incredibly noisy on the buses, at meals, and on  
trips.  That means everyone had a good time.

Now my concerns - I have two and they are probably related.  I'm just  
talking here off the hip.  I've had no time to research this stuff,  
so I may be way off the mark.
1.  I left the awards banquet feeling really disappointed.  I didn't  
figure it out until later on the bus.  The museum was fantastic, the  
food was excellent for institutional food, and the winners of the  
Fellows and Jung awards were eloquent, funny and tear jerking.  I  
realized I was uncomfortable because it seemed that half of the  
recipients of awards did not attend the meeting.  I guess I resented  
that.  Most years, the awards session has been really fun - lots of  
clapping, yelling, and delight in the faces of the winners.  This  
year since they didn't mention any award where the recipient was not  
present, the awards part was over in a very short time.  We rowdy  
types didn't have time to get warmed up. I guess the awards didn't  
mean so much to me this time as they have in the past.  I think this  
is a bad sign.  If we as a group can't get excited and up for our  
very own awards, enough to come and get them, then what is that  
saying about our feelings about our organization and our profession.   
It just concerns me.

2.  In the radio/tv session, one participant announced that HGTV has  
no gardening shows any more and has no intention of having any in the  
near future.  The reason is that advertisers don't feel that garden  
shows draw enough interest to make advertising in them worth it.    
People who spend money on advertising usually know what they are  
doing.  They are telling us, our profession is becoming less  
important to Americans.  Then Nancy and I were rehashing on the way  
home, and while I didn't double check the attendance list, our  
feeling was that some of the key magazines ignored us; specifically  
Fine Gardening and Horticulture.  Organic Gardening seems like it  
disappeared.  Maybe there was a representative there from those  
publications, but where were the editors?  Maybe I'm being too picky,  
but if the editors of the top gardening magazines don't make an  
effort and half the award winners don't show, do we have a problem  
that we are not addressing?

Again, Nancy and I had a blast.  All rowdy members showed, so that is  
fun.  We had 70 first timers and that is good.  Our deep thanks goes  
to Steve and his crew for making us snobs from Michigan realize  
Oklahoma is a really neat place to live.  Oklahoma City certainly  
shows up Detroit as a great place to have fun.

Jeff Ball
jeffball@usol.com
810-724-8581
Check out my daily blog at www.gardeneryardener.blogspot.com
Check out my extensive web site at www.yardener.com

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