Well, the 35th Annual Mid-Ohio Insulator Show has come to an end, and a bittersweet one, I might add. Unless you have actually hosted a show of your own, you probably have no conception of the amount of work involved prior to the show, and how much time you spend throughout the show taking care of the needs of your guests. For 35 years, one man has been a part of this show, and while the co-hosts may have changed over the years, if it were not for this man and his wife, the Mid-Ohio show would not be the successful show that it is today.

Dave Shaw from Tama, IA and Glenn 
Drummond from Notasulga AL.

Steve and Lois Blair have been with this from the beginning, in good times and bad, when there were 100 sales tables or only 10. This year, and in many years past, with the assistance of his (dare I say?) old friends Glenn Drummond and Alan Statsny, the Mid-Ohio Show was once again a show that could easily be compared in scope to a National. However, something rang differently this year. This year, Steve decided to take a back seat and enjoy the show from the perspective of a collector and dealer - but I will get to that more later...

Scott Pahl & Bill Meier comparing two wooden 
"Section 1 's" turned by Mark Corriero.

The actual show began with the set up on Friday. Beginning at noon, Glenn, Alan and Steve began to set things up. With the help of Rick Hess, Mark Corriero, Alan Hohnhorst, Bob Nobbe and yours truly, things were put in place to get the show off to a good beginning.

Chairs were placed at each table, table cards were laid out with the help of the hall layout chart and electricity was dropped from the ceiling. As all of these final preparations were coming together, many dealers were gathering in the parking lot and inside the hall - greeting old friends and swapping insulator tall tales. Finally, at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, dealers were allowed to begin their table set ups, and box after box began entering the Arts and Crafts Building at the Clark County Fairgrounds. The weather was perfect, excitement was in the air, and dealer set up day was coming to a close. Time to go have some dinner and check into the hotel, and get some sleep before the big day!

Doug Williams admiring a threadless piece.

Bright and early on Saturday morning, bleary-eyed dealers and collectors made their way into the show for a full day. The fun started off early in the morning when a "talking" crow that Alan had set up on his table mysteriously disappeared to another part of the hall. By the end of the two-day show, it had traveled around the show from table to table... and I SWEAR I had nothing to do with it. 

A view from the stage of many of the 120 sales tables.

A Display Presented by Rick Hess and Mark & Elaine Corriero.

A raffle was held, and items available included t-shirts, paperweights made by Wilkerson Glass, and 35th Annual Mid-Ohio commemoratives. By the way -- this year's commemorative was made from 400 pounds of Hemingray aqua glass that Steve and Glenn had pulled from the "insulator dump" on Steve's property and taken to the Wilkerson's last April. Even though none of the pieces were cleaned of the train smoke or dirt that had accumulated on them over the years, the commemoratives poured came out a crystal clear aqua -- but loaded with fizzy bubbles. I'm sure that Steve still has some available, so contact him if you're interested in purchasing one. This is the LAST year for this mold style -- next years' show will be a completely different CD, so no more mini Roman helmets will be produced for the Mid-Ohio!

Peacock and Amber Hemingray Glass Display by Kim Borgman.

Keith Roloson's display of beautiful colorful beehives. 

The displays were excellent and 20 collectors brought their items to set up some very informative and dazzling exhibits. The displays ranged from miniature commemoratives and salesman samples to spools to porcelain strains, exchange type insulators and fireplugs to Hemingray amber and peacock pieces to battery insulators to junk in glass, and finally, some of the most colorful CD 126 blob tops, beehives and diamond ponies. They were all wonderfully informative, beautifully displayed and a sight to see! Collectors and dealers came from as far away as Southern California, Alaska, New Brunswick, Southern Florida, and all states in between.

Beautiful honey amber glass with
"The Ware Battery Insulator --- Patented 1900"
 embossed on it. A lovely rarity!

During the day on Saturday, the Wilkersons put on a display of glass making. Fred, Sr. did the gathering and Fred, Jr. was in charge of pressing the mold. During their display, they produced tiny frogs made from cobalt glass, but the interesting thing happened when they used a mold from one of the display tables for a CD 115 No.3 Armstrong. Roger Lucas aIlowed them to attempt a pour into his mold, and though it took three pours to completely fill the mold (a solid pour was done), the piece was removed from the mold and allowed to "anneal" in the vermiculite that the they had brought to cool the tiny frogs. Happily, on Sunday, when the solid pour Armstrong was pulled from the vermiculite, it had held together!

INSULATOR MOLD
CD 115 ARMSTRONG NO.3 INSULATOR MOLD - DATED 1964  WITH 12 DOTS, USED TIL 1976? MINUS THREADING MANDREL &  BASE PLATE	AMERICAN FLINT GLASS WORKERS UNION INITIALS WITH  NO.3 ON EACH 1/2 OF MOLD

Many dealers that I spoke to reported having good sales, and quite a few had picked up new pieces to add to their collections. Some pieces available for sale included a clear CD 155 Kerr with a gorgeous cobalt blob, a cobalt EC&M, a Fisher, a gutter top with a glass sleeve, quite a few Lefferts threadless insulators and specimens, several different Boston Bottle Works CDs including screw tops, more than one Pluto, an Emmingers and a cobalt Mulford & Biddle. Yes, there was A LOT of nice glass to be had! And if you couldn't afford to bring one of these beauties home, they were available for your viewing pleasure! Dennis and Jeanne Weber brought a battery rest with them, and they told me that it was one of only two known.

In addition to the CD that Bob had for sale, he hosted a seminar on insulator photography. Those in attendance received the CD at a discount, and learned some valuable tips on how to take better pictures.

Saturday also happened to be Paul Hoste's birthday and after everyone sung happy birthday to him, cake was served to anyone who wanted to join the celebration.

Dry Spot and Cobalt Paisley

As I said earlier, Steve took a back seat in his role as show host of the 35th Annual Mid-Ohio Insulator show. This year, he put together a display of memorabilia from his years as show host. Mark and I searched through back issues of Crown Jewels of the Wire and we scanned advertising that we could find from previous years' shows. Combined with the ones that Steve had on hand, he had an almost complete group of ads from each year of the show. In addition, he had several Viking helmets on display, sheep that he's collected over the years, several awards he's received, and trays full of this years' commemorative, including slag glass versions, solid pours and some from previous years. It was a nice change of pace for Steve to have a show table and be able to "hold court" and visit with other collectors, knowing that the show was in good hands with Glenn and Alan.

Fisher

Saturday's sales day came to an end, and that meant it was time for the awards banquet at the Holiday Inn in Springfield, Ohio. Cocktails began at 5:30 p.m., and people began to arrive and take their seats. Conversation was lively as a buffet was served that included beef tips, pork and chicken, vegetables, potatoes, salad and wonderful desserts. The food was wonderful and the service at the Holiday Inn was excellent. After those who gathered had filled their tummies, it was time to hand out the awards to all of the displayers. The awards given were the same for everyone -- a large red and white gingham ribbon stating "35th Mid Ohio Insulator Show -- 2005" and a carnivalized aqua Mid-Ohio commemorative. This year, Glenn contacted the Springfield, Ohio, Area Convention and Visitor's Bureau and asked them if they would be interested in participating in the show in any way. The Visitor's Bureau generously donated funds for a special award to be produced and handed out to commemorate the 35th anniversary show. After the hosts had an opportunity to review all of the displays and discuss them, one display was chosen as the best representation of information and examples, and that award was given to Charlie and Sandi Irons. Their display of Battery Insulators, Oil Insulators and Chloride Accumulators was certainly worthy of this award! The time and effort put into the display was obvious, and handouts were available to give the viewer more information on the use of the items on display. Congratulations, Charlie and Sandi!

Sandy & Charlie Irons receive Best of Show!

After all of the awards had been given out, Alan took the podium to see who had come to the Mid-Ohio Show for the most years. Jerry and Margaret Turner have attended at least 33 years, and for that, Alan gave them a special gift - he refunded the money for their banquet tickets!

Alan Statsny at his table with Dick Bowman's get well card.

The floor was opened to anyone who wanted to announce an upcoming show, and those discussed were the 2005 National, the St. Joseph, MO show to be hosted in March by the Webers, the 6th annual WRIC show in Natrona Heights, PA in March and the Wheaton, IL show in April. An update was given on Dick Bowman's health, and Alan reminded everyone to take a moment and sign the giant card at his sales table to show Dick how greatly he was missed this year.

Later on, after the banquet, some people lingered for the annual Viking festivities, others gathered for a night of poker, and everyone else retired for the evening.

Sunday morning arrived, and dealers were a little slow coming into the show. After a late night of fun, most people straggled into the show. Walk through traffic was lighter on Sunday, but that's pretty typical. Not to say that sales weren't any good, but they were definitely slower -- although some of the best deals could be had on Sunday! Some dealers began breaking down as early as noon because they had a long day of travel ahead of them. It was time to say goodbye to friends as another Mid-Ohio show came to an end. The time came to pack everything up, break down all of the displays and head back home after a wonderful weekend spent with friends, old and new.

After everything was broken down, several collectors were invited back to the home of Steve and Lois in nearby London, Ohio for pizza and memory sharing. Your reporter and her husband were a part of the group who traveled to their home, and it was a lot of fun to spend one last evening with a group of friends before going back to the hotel for one final night prior to driving back to Chicago.

While Mark and I have only been in this hobby for a little more than two years, it has become quite clear to us both that the Annual Mid-Ohio Insulator Show is one of the best around. If you can only make it to one show a year, make plans to attend this one! The memories will last a lifetime!

I'd like to thank everyone who participated in the show, those who allowed me the opportunity to photograph their insulators, and those who opened up and talked to me at great length last weekend. A special thank you to all of the dealers and displayers for bringing their wonderful pieces to share with others, and finally, I'd like to thank Glenn and Alan for asking me to be a part of the show, and to Steve and Lois for making it happen far 35 years. Let's make it another 35!

Photos by Kevin Jacobson and Elaine Corriero.