We got up a couple of days ago and just happened to look at the Calendar. When we did, we almost fell on our faces. Even though we always know that our favorite time of the Ventriloquists year is in July, we just about let it sneak up on us this year.
Most of you know that we are talking about Vent Haven Ventriloquists ConVENTion. All the fun starts in less than 2 weeks on July 17 and goes until midnight on July 20.
What that means for us is a race to the finish line to get ready to go. Although ConVENTion does not start until the 17th, we will have to start loading the car on the 15th. You can not just jam that many puppets into a small space without carefully packing them all together. Each puppet has to be individually bagged to protect it. Each puppet must have a price tag on it so that we don’t lose track of what is what and who is who.
Then comes the display racks and stands. It takes a fair amount of planning to set up a display with about 45 puppets for all of the wonderfully crazy Ventriloquist friends that will be there this year. I assume (based on last year) that there will be nearly 600 Vents from about 18 Countries that will make the pilgrimage to Kentucky this year.
When we first pull up to the Holiday Inn, we will start seeing old friends as soon as we walk into the lobby. Over the next 4-1/2 days we will spend hours visiting with old friends and getting acquainted with new friends. For us at The Dummy Shoppe, we started going to ConVENTion in 2007 and we would not even dream of not going to this annual crazy fest.
Last year there was a new group that was formed at ConVENTion. It has founding members of Mary Ann Taylor, Melissa Taylor, Barry Gordemer and last but certainly not least JET. There has always been quiet competitiveness between the soft makers. A year ago, the founding members of the new group sat down and began to talk and swap ideas. What each of them found was that unlike what they had individually feared, there was no real competitiveness, but rather true friends who could exchange ideas and techniques without anyone getting abused in the process.
The result of this new group is that on Saturday the 20th, there will be an open conference with the members of the group that will be for everyone to attend and ask questions at. What we have discovered is that no one is looking to “steal” anyone else style, but that each maker can be made stronger by the exchange of ideas.
Now for those of you who are going we will see you there. For those of you who have not gotten tickets, it is not too late but don’t waste time, it is getting late. Go to www.vhconvention.com and get signed up.
See you there.
Steve and JET