Summer 2023 Newsletter
50 years of service and excellence!
COMING MEETING: Tuesday, September 12, 2023.
Meeting Time: 5:30 PM. Begin set up at 5:00 for the annual picnic.
Meeting at 6:00 PM. See agenda below.
Location: Schramm Education Center (SEC).
Presidents Notes: Greetings to all! In discussions with Norm, we thought it would be good to put out a “short” summer update. However with everything that is/has been going on, there’s nothing short about it. I don’t know about you all but I can’t believe that it’s August already! The weather has been a tad warm but I hope that it hasn’t put a damper on any of your activities. Especially as it relates to carving.
September will be here before you know it which brings with it the start of Club meetings. All of our meetings are great but if you’re like me you look forward to this meeting as it’s when we have our picnic. Carving is a social endeavor and the opportunity to get together with our Club members and their significant others is very special. Once again we’ll be having some great food catered in. A big part of this night is the mini decoy competition. Rules are the same as last year and hopefully we’ll have a lot of entries. I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone will bring.
Of course one big news item is the completion of the display case installation at Mahoney State Park. If you haven’t seen it yet I encourage you take a look at it if at all possible. It looks FANTASTIC and I want to thank everyone in the Club because without your support we wouldn’t have been able to get it done. Of course, a big round of thanks goes to employees of the Nebraska Game and Parks who were all great to work with. If you can’t make it to the Park, check out some pictures on our website.
I want to congratulate all those who competed at the Ward World Championships. Norm has additional details later on but the Club had some great representation.
I’ll cut it off here otherwise I’ll be stealing too much of Norms thunder in the rest of the newsletter.
Again, I look forward to seeing everyone at the upcoming meeting.
Happy Carving
Kirk
Upcoming Meeting Agenda:
6:00 to 6:30 PM:
Gather and Social time.
Registration of carvings for the MINI DECOY Show
and Contest.
6:30 PM:
Welcome to members and guests.
Invocation.
Meal time.
7:30: Special announcements and special business:
Display case installations.
Club awareness campaign.
Website updates.
Proposed events for 2023/24.
Raffle drawings.
Member recognition.
Member carvings.
Mini decoy contest and show results. Judges
critique will follow announcement of winners.
Adjournment.
The annual Club Family Picnic marks the end of an eventful summer and the beginning of the fall and winter round of meetings and activities.
Following a brief invocation, the annual picnic meal will be served buffet style. As in the past, the Club will provide the main meat entree, the tableware, condiments / seasonings and, a variety of drinks. We ask each family to bring a single side dish or dessert to share. No, you don’t need to tell us what you will be bringing. We like surprises!
Picnic Menu
*Parker’s Pulled pork and chicken with buns
*Parker’s BBQ sauces and condiments
*Variety of side dishes and desserts
*Beverages: bottled water, iced tea (sweetened and
non-sweetened) and a variety of soda and,
surprise beverage.
We ask that you RSVP with the number in your party to Norm Wise by Tuesday, September 3rd. You may send a reply to the email that this newsletter was attached, or call Norm @ (402) 320-2947. If you have questions, call us or send an email.
Please Invite family members and / or friends who might be interested in joining the Club.
We will hold a free, fun drawing following the meal. If you have an item or items you would like to donate to the free raffle, let us know asap.
Since the Last meeting…
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission approved the installation of a display case dedicated to the display of wildfowl carvings at the Kiewit Lodge at Mahoney State Park. We owe a huge thanks to Joe Schwartz for building a beautiful custom oak cabinet. Joe offered to donate his cabinetmaker talents. The club paid for the materials and compensated Joe for his outstanding craft.
The display case is located across from the registration desk at the lodge. Kirk Pfeffer, Bill Browne, Bob Hanger, Ned Shipley, Al Thomas and Norm Wise loaned carvings for the case. We anticipate rotating new carvings in every 6 months. If you have an interest in loaning a carving, let us know.
We are ready to rotate the carvings in the display case at Schramm Park. We will need 3 to 4 small carvings for this display.
Jim Layman and Norm Wise have made several changes in our website to make it a little more user friendly and relevant to the “modern” CFDCC…
We launched a new page dedicated to decoy collecting and collectable wildfowl wood carvings. Don Gablehouse and Brick Paulson have contributed articles, photos and, descriptions of collectable decoys. It is our plan to continue to add more articles and information on wildfowl carving collecting in the near future.
We re-ordered some of the pages so our users have easier access to information about our club and its activities. We invite all members to take a look at the website and give us your feedback. We will continue to update the website as needed.
We have secured a Club QR (Quick Response) code that will be used to help interested persons to quickly access our website. There may be future applications for this technology.
The code has been placed in the display case at Mahoney S.P. We are monitoring the code use. Try it!
We plan to launch new pages that features new and old carvings by Club members as well as features of carvings by Hall of Fame members.
Library additions:
Study Bills: Several new study bills have been donated to the Cub. Some of these are pretty unusual to include crested cormorant, sandhill crane’ and woodcock to mention a few. We will add a complete of these to the list on the Club Resources page our website.
Tom Christie YouTube Library: If you have been tracking Tom’s YouTube productions, you know the list is long and getting longer. We will attach the latest updated list of his
outstanding videos on decoy carving. We also plan to put the list on our website for a wider distribution.
Shows and Competition news:
World Show results: Here is the last listing of Club winners from the Ward World Wildfowl Carving Championships held in Ocean City last April. This list may not be all-inclusive.
Al Thomas, Decorative Smoothie, 2nd Best in Species,
Canada Goose.
3d place, Champion Champagne Floating, Shoveler
drake.
2nd place, Decorative Advanced, miniature
Pheasant.
Ron Cleveland, L/S Ward Hunting Decoy, 2nd Best in
Species, Common Goldeneye Drake.
Don Gabelhouse, Decorative Life size, Advanced,
Best in Species. Common Loon.
Ed Svoboda, Intermediate Life sized Decorative Waterfowl,
2nd Best in Species, Black Duck Drake.
Norm Wise, Decorative Smoothie, 2nd Best in Species, Pied Bill Grebe.
3d place, Champagne Floating, Shoveler drake.
Coming shows and competition:
CFDCC Mini Decoy Show: This will be the 10th annual show. 2023 guidelines are attached to the email with this newsletter. Please consider entering this worthwhile Club event. The more, the merrier.
Columbia Flyway Show Association 34th Annual Wildlife Carving Competition and Art Festival .
September 22 - 24, 2023 in Astoria, Washington.
Randy Martin President,
More info at www. columbiaflywaywildlifeartshow.com
Chesapeake Challenge, Ward Foundation sponsored, will be held at the Crisfield Heritage Festival in Crisfield, MD. on September 30, 2023. Go to https://wardfdn.org. for more info.
Chesapeake Challenge will be held at Somers Cove Marina and Tawes Museum and will include demonstrations, exhibits, entertainment as well as activities for kids. Food, drink, and Arts & Crafts vendors will be on site.
Easton Waterfowl Festival, Easton, Maryland.
https://waterfowlfestival.org/ . November 10-12, 2023.
Core Sound Decoy Festival, Beaufort, North Carolina https://decoyguild.com/decoyfestival/schedule/.
December 2 - 3, 2023.
Our 2024 calendars have arrived! We will begin distribution officially on
August 1. The really good news is the cost has gone down. This year’s edition is just $6.00 per copy. We are refining our “friends of the club” list. If you know a Club supporter who should get a free club calendar, let us know. We owe Ron Pigg another round of thanks for his many hours of work and lost hair as well as his collaboration with the printer which resulted in the price reduction and an excellent product.
We have a few extra calendars for sale. Members' price is $6.00 and non-members are $7.00.
If you want your calendar order before the September meeting, call Norm Wise @ 402 320-2947 or email to Norm Wise.
Note: Another newsletter will be published prior to the September meeting with updates.
Mahoney S.P., Kiewit Lodge Display case Installed.
The case is located in the lobby to the right of the registration desk in the former public phone bank. Photos on our Membership and Club Activities page.
Dick Zechmann has volunteered to be our keeper of-the-keys guy.
Members with carvings in the display…
Bill Browne, mandarin duck pair
Ron Pigg, miniature canvasback pair
Al Thomas, bobwhite quail on deer skull
Dick Zechmann, common loon
Bob Hanger, bufflehead drake decoy
Kirk Pfeffer, widgeon drake smoothy decoy
Ned Shipley, miniature peregrin falcon
Norm Wise, piping plover pair
It is our plan to rotate the carvings in the display twice annually. If you have a carving you would like to display, contact Kirk or Norm. The NGP commission requires a signed “Loan Agreement” from each exhibitor.
Have a great summer and hope to see you in September at Schramm Park!