Our silent auction came off without a hitch this past Thursday evening with many items to bid on and take home. I want to thank all our club members and those who purchased items. This will help the club financially to take us through the remaining part of this year. Thanks goes out to Gerry Fields for running the whole operation.

Our First Thursday September Meeting

How can you get ready for our up-and-coming show? We have many new club members who have never experienced making a bonsai display before—and even many of us seniors have not had a chance to participate and display our trees in awhile since for the past two years bonsai shows were not even happening because of COVID.

Well, Juan Cruz has the answer for us! For our first Thursday meeting in September, Juan is determined to help us all remember (or learn) how to make a first-class bonsai display. In order to help him out with his presentation, he is asking senior club members to provide display tables, accent plants and an assortment of trees that he can work with to demonstrate a variety of appropriate displays. Since we all need his help, please remember to bring what you can to our next meeting so we all can benefit from his expertise.

Getting Organized for our October 1st Show

Yes, we are now but a few weeks away from our club's yearly show in Cupertino on Saturday, October 1st. Those of you who have never been to the Quinlan Community Center will truly be surprised—it provides a beautiful environment for a show such as ours. It offers a generous space to display our trees and the high quality facilities that make it possible to present a show worthy of the public's appreciation.

Show Schedule

Friday

7-9:30pm: Set up venue/show displays

Saturday

8:00am: Tree setup and final set up
9:45am: Member tree evaluation
10:00am: Show begins, Beginner’s Workshop begins
1:00pm: Tree demo with JT
5:00pm: Show ends, clean up begins
6:30pm: Vacate premises

FRiday Night Prep

Friday, September 30th at 7pm, the night before the show, we require all club members to be at the Quinlan Center to assemble our show displays, minus our trees. It will take all of us working together to coordinate all the various jobs everyone signed up for. Our facilities man, Ray Stagner will be in charge that evening, making sure everyone has a job to do and the tools to accomplish it. Many of our club members have done this operation before, and can assist those who need instruction to get started. Patience will be required, but with focus and determination we will be out of the facility by 9:30pm when it closes.

Show Day

Saturday, the morning of our show, we will need everyone there at 8:00am with their trees and anything else you may need to bring with you for the day. There will be tables available just outside the main room for you to leave your trees temporarily. This allows the team that places your trees in the show a chance to evaluate the trees and coordinate their placement. This takes time and patience from everyone that morning, so be there and be ready when called to have your trees placed. John Thompson and Juan Cruz are in charge of tree placement. You must have available for your trees a display table and if needed, an accent plant to accompany it. Those who have trees for the Trees In Training Area will need to talk with the person in charge. Usually a display table and accent plant are not necessary unless you have them.

Those who would like to take part in the beginner’s workshop that morning will need to bring their tools with them but wire will be available on the two or three tables set aside for this program. This starts at 10:00am and ends at 12:00 noon. Students who want to take part need to pay their money at the entrance desk for their tree. They will be assigned a club member to assist them.

Once all trees have been placed and we have settled in for the morning, usually around 9:45, everyone will be handed a tree evaluation form to judge the trees displayed in our show. There are four categories to be judged, and the winners will receive an award that will be placed along side the winning trees. This needs to be done rather quickly, making sure that everyone had access to a judging form and pencil. Throughout the whole day, we all need to keep an eye on the various guests that attend our show, knowing that some person may take an item that doesn't belong to them, so be aware of such possible happenings.

Our club's bonsai tree demonstration located on the stage will begin at 1:00pm. John Thompson has agreed to be our professional presenter. After the presentation, the tree he worked on will be raffled off to some lucky winner. That means that we will need volunteers all morning and during the presentation to sell ticket to those who attend and would like to take part in the raffle. So please, if you’re not doing another job, grab some raffle tickets at the entry desk to sell!

There will be a lunch available for everyone in the club starting at noon. This is usually a nice sandwich along with soda or water. This is available for free, but we ask for donations if you see fit. In addition, a refreshment table will be available throughout the day in the room set aside for guests and club members. Gina Dias is coordinating this table, and will need your assistance. Please bring in pastries, cookies or even healthy snacks, anything that you would like to share with the club. There will be coffee available along with bottled water. Also, I will be bringing four dozen donuts for everyone to enjoy during the morning set-up.

Clean Up

Our show ends at 5:00pm. At that point we will need everyone to pitch in. First, remove your trees from the main room. This allows the display tables and backdrops to be disassembled and loaded up on the trucks that brought them. Everyone’s help will be necessary during this time in order to make sure that we are out of the Community Center by 6:30pm. This is always a very busy time, but gratifying, after putting on a show of which we can all be very proud.

I'm getting very excited about our show, and I hope everyone else is too!

We All Need to Get the Word Out!

What is a bonsai show without anyone attending? This is not a comfortable thought, but unless you take advantage of the promotion materials we are passing out and invite others to attend we all could be disappointed. How can we utilize the handouts and flyers we now have to advertise? What about your close and extended family members, workmates, neighbors, friends with whom you interact, these are all potential attendees who will come if you only let them know and extend an invitation. Think about posting our flyers on bulletin boards everywhere: at work, senior centers, libraries or local nurseries. Even some grocery stores have bulletin boards.

If you are aware of local garden clubs, they often have members who love bonsai and would like to attend and see how bonsai works. Those of you who attend other bonsai clubs could leave hand bills and even make a personal club announcement.

The club has placed an advertisement in the Golden State Bonsai Federations “Up and Coming Event Section” about our show, so that is one announcement available to anyone searching online for Bay Area bonsai events. The possibilities are endless, so please take action with our nicely designed print materials.

Have a great time doing bonsai this month everyone!