Re: SHOW: SPIS report

wmoores@watervalley.net wrote:
> 
> ....
> 
> Some people pooh-pooh shows, but, after all, that is how societies
> and AIS  gain a lot of their members, and it takes a LOT of work to
> get all of those stalks to the show in one piece and win those blue
> ribbons.
> 
> I wonder if I would have ever been an irisarian if I hadn't stumbled
> into a Fort Worth Iris Society Show way back in the early sixties.
> Seeing all of the colors and varieties I never new existed hooked me
> for a lifetime.

You are much luckier than I am. By twenty-some years.

I didn't see my first show until 1989. I joined the local society on the
spot, and AIS a couple months later, as soon as I found out it existed.

Within 7 years or so I was a judge. I first thought I was just
interested in garden judging, and that shows were a necessary evil. Then
I found out I really, really liked show judging. It is a fascinating
mixture of artistic and intellectual processes. And when I'm not judging
I volunteer to clerk. 

So yes, shows draw in new irisarians. That makes them essential. But
also, if not taken too seriously, they are fun. At the shows I have been
at, entrants help each other. I've had a competitor point out I had
misnamed an iris so that I could correct the error. Winning is
important, but just playing the game is a thrill

Gerry, off to cut a few stalks--no real chance for Queen, but maybe a
blue or two
-- 
g*@attbi.com
American Iris Society Affiliates Chair, Symposium Chair, and Director
in warm, winterless Los Angeles--USDA zone 9b-ish, Sunset 18-19

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