Niagara Falls Seminar....OUTSTANDING !!

This past weekend I attended the Seminar in Niagara Falls.
In a word, it was OUTSTANDING !!
Folks, this one gets a 5 Star rating.....everything about it
was "First Class".
The ambience that Dave McCallum and his staff created in the
"Hospitality Room" and in the "Grand Ballroom" of the Ameri-Cana
Resort made growers from all across the United States and Canada
feel warmly at home. The pumpkin motif, photos, decorations and
"life size" fiberglass cast replica of Adrien Gervais' 981.5
pumpkin created the perfect atmosphere for the seminar.

Nic Welty kicked off the Seminar on Saturday evening in the
"Hospitality Room" with a genetics presentation. He also fielded
a wide variety of genetics related questions from many growers in
the room.  Nic did a great job of bringing the complex topic of
genetics "down to my level".  He has a way of making all that
technical stuff understandable !

The program for Sunday was also impressive. The panel discussion
and question and answer session with Al Eaton, Drew Papez and
Rock Rivard was highly informative..... yep, they actually shared
some of their secrets with us....(but I'm still not sure of how
Rock "no-bug" Rivard keeps ALL those bugs out of his patch). (>:

Speaker Adrian Gallant of Hydro Agri Canada gave an in depth presentation
on fertilizing.
We also learned some growing techniques for other assorted giant vegetables
such as giant tomatoes, tall corn, sunflowers, gourds and watermelons.
I plan to plant giant tomatoes this year so I found this panel presentation
especially helpful.
In their presentation, Tim Parks and Al from Ohio gave us excellent advice
on product use for weed and disease control.

Dave McCallum was our Master Of Ceremonies. (He's the best I've ever seen).
Hey, I vote that we get rid of Whoopie Goldberg at the Oscars and replace
her with Dave......he's great !!

There was a multitude of seeds available at the seed bazaar. The tables were
filled with cups of seed from every imaginable grower in the world.
There were also many pumpkin related door prizes.
The seed auction was fun. Lots of "hot seeds" were available to the higest
bidder......and judging by the smiles of these highest bidders when they picked
up their seed, I would say a lot of growers got some great bargains at
the auction.

The Hospitality Room was open for about 9 hours on Saturday. This room was a
gathering place for growers to get reacquainted with friends, meet new growers,
share photos and stories, exchange information and have a beer or glass of
wine or two. I met dozens of growers that I have e-mailed for the past four
years
plus several legendary growers. This "Meet and Greet" time was fun, fun fun.
Lots of laughter and cheer ! I'm not sure how many growers were at the Seminar
(seemed like about 200), but it seemed to me that everyone there was having
a great time.

When you are running a little low on beer in the Hospitality Room at a Pumpkin
Convention, how do you get more money for beer?......simple, you have a guy
like Bill Bobier step up and raffle off a 723....BINGO.....instant beer money
in minutes. Thanks Bill for keeping our whistles wet those last few hours !!

I'm probably leaving out some other stuff that I wanted to mention but I'm
still suffering from jet lag and not thinking real clear this morning.

I hope next year that the Northwest Seminar and the Niagara Seminar are not
on the same weekend like they were this year because I would like to attend
both......speaking of the Northwest Seminar....I just got word from a few
growers
who were there and it sounds like it was just as outstanding as Niagara.
For those want a video tape of Niagara....I will have copies available in about
six to eight weeks. Also, Bob Troy taped the Northwest Seminar. I have heard
that
Olaf Riberio gave an excellent presentation there. Bob is lending me his tapes
and I will also make copies of them available. (Thanks Bob)
I will make a post to the list when both videos are available.

Well I have babbled on long enough.....time for me to go take a nap and
catch up on my sleep.
Thank You all for your hospitality,

George Webster
Napa, Ca









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