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Latest information on the Shopsmith 75th Anniversary Celebration Event

Posted: Tue May 31, 2022 6:31 pm
by jpdalton
Hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday weekend! Sorry I’ve been negligent in getting updates to the community on this topic, but unfortunately, I’ve been battling a stubborn case of COVID over the past couple of weeks, and am only today starting to feel functional again. So, let me provide the latest:

Date and Schedule
The target date for the event is October 21-22, in Dayton, OH, and a rough schedule for the weekend includes:
Friday, 10/21:
  • 3 rotating groups for: Factory Tour, Product Demonstration, Panel Q&A (timeframe TBD)
  • In-factory surplus and product sale event (Friday afternoon)
  • Welcome reception and keynote from Bob Folkerth, President of Shopsmith, Inc. (Friday evening)
Saturday, 10/22:
  • [repeat of] 3 rotating groups for: Factory Tour, Product Demonstration, Panel Q&A (Saturday morning)
  • Closing banquet (Saturday evening)
Sunday, 10/23:
  • Departure and return travel
Cost
The Shopsmith team is not charging for any of the in-factory events (unless of course you’re shopping for in-factory bargains!).

There will be charges for social events (welcome reception, closing banquet, outing) and hotel accommodations for those who require them. I’ll be seeking input from participants as to what they’re comfortable contributing to the reception and banquet, and likely will suggest cash bar for both.

Logistics
The Shopsmith team indicated they’d need to limit the Friday and Saturday rotating events to 3 groups of 10, for a total of 60 participants over the two days. That’s about the number I would expect would commit to the event, based on interest expressed in my prior posts.

We are going to need some indication from the community around how many people will require hotel accommodations, and for how many nights, so that we can look into group rates at a local hotel.

The Shopsmith team unfortunately is not willing to help with any sort of registration, so we’re on our own for this. I’m not really well versed in the best mechanisms to do this (some have suggested a dedicated Facebook group for the event), so would like to lean on the community for some suggestions and expertise here. Since we have limited slots on each day to get into the factory, we’ll need to register people into specific groups for those rotating sessions.

Shopsmith has offered to host the welcome reception on Friday evening in the factory, but I think we’d be better off hosting this offsite for a couple of reasons: (a) we’ll only be able to have a “vendor showcase” for those who are creating add-ons and replacement parts if we do this outside the factory, and (b) the Friday tours would have be conducted in the morning (rather than afternoon) to give the Shopsmith team time to set up for the reception at the factory during the afternoon.


So, if you’re interested, block the weekend on your calendar, and I’ll have some more information shortly. Please comment back if you have expertise that you’d be willing to share to help with registration and communication to the participants.

Re: Latest information on the Shopsmith 75th Anniversary Celebration Event

Posted: Tue May 31, 2022 8:01 pm
by jsburger
I don't have any expertise on this but, if it is all done on Facebook you can count me out.

Re: Latest information on the Shopsmith 75th Anniversary Celebration Event

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2022 11:33 am
by chapmanruss
John,

First off thank you for your continued work on this. I believe it may be best to try to keep this on the Forum as opposed to a Facebook group. I no longer have a Facebook account so not an option for me. As for costs I expect to pay for lodging, food, drinks, transportation etc. For the factory sale would Shopsmith provide shipping as an option for those of us flying to the event? Or is it going to be a cash and carry event only?

P.S. I hope you are enjoying working on that 10E.

Re: Latest information on the Shopsmith 75th Anniversary Celebration Event

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2022 11:57 am
by twistsol
Another non user of Facebook so I would vote to keep things on the forum as well. As far as expenses, I also expect to pay for travel, lodging and meals. For the reception banquet, $50-100 seems reasonable to me, others may have other ideas. I don't drink so I think a cash bar is a good idea from a purely selfish standpoint.

Re: Latest information on the Shopsmith 75th Anniversary Celebration Event

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2022 3:42 pm
by dusty
It would be nice to have this on the Forum but I don't believe the forum would/could produce the level of support to make it worthwhile for Shopsmith. Shopsmith needs a level of interest that the other social media sites (woodworking sites) would produce (especially Facebook).

Re: Latest information on the Shopsmith 75th Anniversary Celebration Event

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2022 10:57 pm
by jpdalton
I’m not going to leave out any of the Forums-only participants, but I can’t do this exclusively on Forums either. Frankly, there simply haven’t been enough respondents on Forums alone.

Re: Latest information on the Shopsmith 75th Anniversary Celebration Event

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2022 11:00 pm
by jpdalton
chapmanruss wrote: Wed Jun 01, 2022 11:33 am For the factory sale would Shopsmith provide shipping as an option for those of us flying to the event? Or is it going to be a cash and carry event only?

P.S. I hope you are enjoying working on that 10E.
Shopsmith hasn’t indicated if they’ll support a shipping process, but I’ll certainly ask that question.

I am definitely enjoying the 10E project, thank you! It’s in really excellent condition under the surface grime, so it’s going to be spectacular when I finish!

Re: Latest information on the Shopsmith 75th Anniversary Celebration Event

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 11:35 am
by chapmanruss
I should have said it better in my previous post about how to arrange the scheduling for the event. I don't think that only including the Forum members is the best thing but having scheduling on only one site would leave some interested participants out.

I would fly into Dayton on Thursday so hotel for Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

One item that would help many of us would be transportation sharing while in Dayton. Since I will be flying in for this event like many others transportation to and from the hotel will be needed. Sharing rides with anyone driving to Dayton or sharing rental cars would help and lower that cost. Something for us to consider as we get closer.

Re: Latest information on the Shopsmith 75th Anniversary Celebration Event

Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2022 9:09 pm
by ryanbp01
I have deleted my Facebook account as well and look solely at this forum for Shopsmith information.
BPR

Re: Latest information on the Shopsmith 75th Anniversary Celebration Event

Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2023 1:06 am
by sawdustfun
Any up to date info on possible anniversary event at Shopsmith?