Tomorrow morning, I'm heading to Waterloo, Iowa, to set up for the Midwest Traditional and Primitive Archery Expo to be held at the 5 Sullivan Brothers Convention Center. Some of the finest custom bowyers in the country will be there so attendees will have the chance to shoot some mighty fine bows in the try-out area. Compton Traditional Bowhunters will demonstrate their trophy scoring system, so bring along that trad-harvested rack or skull to have scored. Seminar speakers will be G. Fred Asbell, Steve Gorr, Gene Winter, Paul Shore and Dan Brockman. Show hours are 2-8 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. Entry fee is $5 (under 12 free).
I'll have a sign-in sheet for TradGangers at my booth and stick-on name tags.
Hope many of you can make the show and help make it a success. Thanks, Tom
Have fun brother, I hope you have an excellent turnout! Wish I could be there!
See you there!
Sure wish I could make this one, but will be measuring at our Mo Deer Classic this weekend!!
I wish I could go! I'm trying to talk my brother who still lives in Dubuque into to going. He has only ever shot compounds but I am trying to get him straightened out. So if you see a 6'8" goofy lookin' guy (LOL!!) walking around like he clueless, give him hell! He usually needs a nudge when it comes to spending money!!! That's when he calls me!!
Rusty
I'll be there Saturday. Pretty excited to see everything and try out a few bows.
Partially packed and will be arriving Friday, look forward to the whole event!!
Couple of us Kansas Boys are headed up Saturday. Been looking forward to this since it was first mentioned.
Looking forward to meeting more of the Gang.
bretto
will be there sat.for the day cant wait :bigsmyl:
See Ya'll there. Stop by the Tri-State Traditional Booth to check out the new Bear Bows, KME Sharpeners, Can Cookers, Bungee Blinds and Kanati Quivers.
Plan to get to the motel late tomorow night. Only problem is the flu is making it's rounds at my house. I have been on the coach today since noon with a few quick trips to the bathroom. Yuck.
We got on the road an hour ahead of schedule. Good weather so far. Looking good. Stop by and say hey.
Looks like Mother Nature likes us. The snow storm forcasted for this weekend is now gone! Maybe some rain on Friday but the temps all above 32!
See you all on Saturday!
Katie
The Rapids crew will be there around noon, you know how we like to make an entrance...
Katie, just to let you know I'm not feeding Mattie till we get their on Sat.
doug77
Doug- I don't think that is legal :)
We'll be there Sat. Now if someone would give me the address of this place so I can put it into my GPS.......
Is the a schedule of events for the speakers?
List and schedule are at www.tradarchersworld.com (http://www.tradarchersworld.com)
See you there Saturday!
Looks like I'll be able to make it Saturday morning, along with my cousin Frank (FAV 52 here) and another friend who is just getting into trad. I don't think I'll be able to bring a bow though because I'll be heading to the UNI Women's basketball game in the afternoon and I don't want it in the car. I look forward to meeting some of you face to face.
Russ
See you all tomorrow :wavey: :D :archer2:
Tracy
We are headed down in the morning! Hope to meet some tg'ers there!
Are the Wensel boys there? and/or will the Wensel's DVDs and Books be available at the expo?
oops...I suppose the Wensel boys are in Texas shooting piggies....
Been great so far met a bunch of tradgangers. Day one will be winding down soon one day left
QuoteOriginally posted by Jerry Bellmyer:
Are the Wensel boys there? and/or will the Wensel's DVDs and Books be available at the expo?
No brothers, but Tall Tines has the new movie and many venders have their books. Plus amazing bows to shot everywhere you look. We had a great time. I encourage all of you to go.
Great to meet all the Tradgangers!
Russ- sorry I missed you!
I'm hoping somebody is taking Pictures.........
Had a great time.Lots of bows to be admired and shot.The try out area was very busy all day.Had some great visits with folks and found everything I was looking for.Thanks to all who made this happen!
Leland
The only day that works for me is tomorrow (Sunday). I'm looking forward to being there early since it's only 90 minutes away.
Bernie Bjorklund
NC Iowa/Sw Wisconsin
48# Spirit longbow
45# Martin Hunter recurve
The Sioux City gang had a good time there. It was great to actually visit with so many and be able to try out some of the best bows in the world. I took some pics and will try to get them posted. Hope this will become an annual event!!
Whip sent me pics to post.
http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo306/bhaukom/IMAG0019.jpg[/IMG]
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They said things were going very well for a first time expo.
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One more. The pics got away from me a little bit while processing on photobucket.
Looks like a nicer facility than k-zoo.
had a great day. Steve Gorr's short long bow beat em all hands down!
1+ that, Littlebigman. Loved the Brush Hawk.
Had a good day in Waterloo. Thanks to all the vendors and hope it happens again next year.
doug77
Where would I go to find (or does anything like this even exist) something in CA or neighboring states?
The Kansas City Gang had a great time up at Waterloo. Great vendors, great speakers, and the set up was perfect. Big props to Tom Colstad who put on the event. It really seemed to go great. I got so caught up with the venders I didn't get to all the seminars. My son had a great time "hanging out the guys" and was more that patient with his dads desire to return to every booth at least three times. My personal favorite bow was the Dwyer longbow endeavor model. Faster that the Centaur I shot from the G&M booth and up to that point I thought the Centaurs were about as fast as they come. Very nice bows.
Here are some pics. A little blurry on the overhead view.
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The St. Joe River bows were a big hit for my son. They were great as my son wanted to go back three different times to shot their bows.
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Tracy and Joe are two of the best on tradgang.
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Thanks to all to Tracy, Brett, Ben, and Tom for helping to keep Charlie entertained. He had a great time. Now I just have to figure out how to explain all the new vocabulary he picked up.
I gave my day to going to the Waterloo show today, and found it quite enjoyable. The Black Widow fellows were great. But now that I think about it, everybody I talked to was great. The show was a lot of fun to go to.
I shot the Dwyer Endeavor today for the first time, 58", 58#@28 (if I remember right). I pull 31", so it was heavier for me, but it was very smooth, quiet, and had no hand shock. I was quite impressed. I have made a mental note that may result in... well, never mind. I've already got a different bow on order!
I took a bunch and see if I can get them loaded today! Didn't meet any tg'ers there but had a blast!
Katie,
We didn't get a chance to visit with any members :( We were kind of limited on time and spent too much of it at the Footed Shaft booth. We met the new owners...nice folks. For those of you who know Lamont (the previous owner), he has been fighting cancer but winning the battle thus far, however it did force his early retirement. The new owners, Terry and Barb Banitt, are long-time friends of Lamont, so he is still around the shop helping them out when he can. They promise the same great service plus an updated website making online orders possible soon.
Anyway, by the time we got away from there, after having deposited some of our hard earned cash, and looking over lots of beautiful bows, we were out of time. I glanced at the list of members who had signed in, a couple of times. I saw some familiar names, but no faces. I didn't make it to any of the seminars, so I figured that's how I miss some of them.
My shoulder has been acting up...not bow related, but it has limited my shooting, so I didn't try anything out. There were sure some nice bows there. I did notice every time I found one that fit my hand and that I really like the looks of, it had the R.E.R. logo on it. Fortunately, my bow funds are depleted for the time being, so I didn't have to worry about a new one sitting in the car while I was at the game. :nono:
Anyway, it was a nice event, though a bit small. Hopefully the vendors did well enough to continue the event and possibly grow it some. I'd go back if they do it again. Maybe I'll be able to sample some bows next time. Hopefully I won't be on a tight schedule then either.
I am hoping that this event can become an annual.
My hats off to the sponsors/vendors that attended and really went above and beoyond to be there.
Rest assured, it will be on my schedule for next year, and hope it grows and grows. it is nice to have an event close to Minnesota especially with the costs of rising gas prices etc.
:clapper: :clapper: :clapper:
First events are tough and probably always start smaller then build on successes of the event. Hopefully it will be well supported next year offering a great show for middle America for years to come.
It sure was good to see some old friends and make some new ones. Thanks for taking picks Chris since I left my camera in the truck :knothead:
Little Charlie sure kept us all entertained with all his youthful energy and was a pleasure to be around as usual. I spent the short amount of time we were there just catching up with some old friends.
The bow try out area was sure busy!! :D and there sure were some beautiful bows to shoot if you wanted to. Thanks Brett and Ben for letting me ride along I had a great time.
Tracy
Thanks for the updates and pictures, it really helps to see what's there, when you can get away. The location and facility look great. Would really like to make it next year.
I was the wheel Man for the Kansas Guys yesterday. Let Me tell You it was worth every second of the trip.
Tracy aka the Kstrapper and Ben the Ksbowman and I met at 4:30 and started Our trip to Waterloo. The 5 hour trip went by quick with everyone catching up for the winter.
When we arrived we met up with Chris Kinslow his son Charlie and Gatekeeper aka Tom Porter a little more catching up and we entered the Midwest Trad Expo.
There were lots of bows to shoot and the little range they had set up was getting a work out. The Vendors I talked to All seemed to be doing well. You had to wait in line at several booths.
I picked up a Asbell knife and sheath and will be ordering some wool from them before next hunting season.
I got to meet Blackhawk, Whip, Mike Yancey. There were lots of other Trad Gang members present. There was a sign up sheet at one booth and I signed the last spot on the first page.
For a first year event I thought it was very well set up. The Event center was very nice. I hope they had a good enough turn out to continue having this event in the future.
bretto
What a great time! This was the first traditional expo. that I've attended, and hope they can continue next year. Very friendly vendors who had some outstanding bows. Scott Rentschler from Best Friend Longbows not only has a nice line of bows, but will fill a niche with his "Stumpbuster" cedar arrows. They're definitely worth taking a look at. I really enjoyed Fred Asbell's "Instinctive Shooting" seminar. Steve Gorr from Cascade Archery, Brian W. from Tall Tines, and a host of other fine bowyers had really nice displays. I'm fired up to go stumpin'! Great show!!
Bernie Bjorklund
NC Iowa/SW Wisconsin
48# Spirit longbow
45# Martin Hunter recurve
Scott's arrows are beautiful and tuff to boot,priced right too.
Leland
It was a great show...looking forward to next year already. Also looking forward to my Holm-made longbow!! My wife said I always get the same thing when we go out for supper, that can be said for my bows too. Not my first Holm bow that I own.
Starting to think about how to make the show better for next year. Will keep you posted about dates, etc. Tom Colstad
What a great time that was had by all at the expo. It was great to have 100 plus archers try our new Brush Hawk 56 inch longbow and 52 inch Golden Hawk Mag. Trad Archers World did a great Job hosting the Expo all of the events ran smooth. Thanks Tom hope to meet in Waterloo in 2012.
I am just checking. Does anyone have anymore photos of the Expo? How about Fred showing archers how to shoot?