posted 11/16/09
Howdy all! Well, the Fort Wayne Hamfest is now a part of history. As you will see in the photos below, a good time was had by all! By the way, not all of the photos shown below are in actual time sequence. Some are kind of out of order....
In the photo panel below you see some of the gang gathered in one of the very nice rooms at our motel awaiting Dave (W8TVC), Betty (KC8PCQ) and Big Al's (KB8FJB) arrival . Once they arrived we went across our parking to dinner!
Here we are at dinner! Fantastic service! Great food!
The next morning John, N5AAA and Keith, WA8ZWJ planned an early breakfast and then headed off to the hamfest to get set up prior to the doors opening. As in past years, we were next to Glenn, W8AK and his friends. As you will see, our favorite vendor, Gaylen, WB0W and his wife, Jean were there too!
Below are some shots of the gang as they arrived and folks that are friends of the IOOK.
The hamfest was well attended Saturday and we sold well!
Below you see some of the guys who visited with John and Keith at "First Breakfast". Then you see the rest of the gang during their "Second Breakfast". N0BIXie, Dave and Big Al headed back to the motel about lunch time so they stopped for lunch. The girls also stopped for lunch during their shopping spree.
L to R - Jean, Betty, Jan, Sandi and Marian
Betty drove the girls around during their shopping spree, so, don't worry about the fact that she doesn't have any packages in her hands!
Before dinner the gang congregated in the lobby area for an extended visit prior to dinner.
John, W9KD and his friend Angie and her son, Brandon joined the group for dinner.
After dinner the gang gathered for a group picture in the lobby of our motel.
L to R - WD8CJD, KB8FJB, Brandon, KC8PCQ, W8TVC, W9KD, Angie, KA9VQS, N5AAA, Flat KBob, N0BIX, N8KXM, Jean, Sandi, WA8ZWJ
As you can see above left, taking the group photo had it's fun as well. After the group shot the "Days Of The Square Table" continued some more quality visit time.
Sunday at the hamfest was a bit slow, but we still managed to sell a few items. Since Glenn and his friends don't come back for Sunday we got to use their table next to ours to spread out our sales items. We understand that instead of "First Breakfast" and "Second Breakfast" there was just one very long breakfast at the motel that started about 7:30 AM and went until about 10:00 AM!
About 12:30 the hamfest guys gave up and agreed to meet the rest of gang to head to a late lunch.
While the John and Keith were at the hamfest, Marian, Jan, Jean and Bob spent their time shopping.
As is our tradition, we went to the Back Forty Junction in Decatur, Indiana for their all-you-can-eat buffet!
Yes, I guess it is true that the IOOK does travel on it's stomach! :-)
After a full weekend of visiting and hamfesting and eating Keith was DOG TIRED! Jim, W5JCS sent this photo today and I just had to show how I would have felt if I had decided to operate CW Sunday evening! Har de har!
A special thanks to Betty for making the arrangements for our rooms at the motel!
Also, thank you to N5AAA, N0BIX, Jean and WA8ZWJ for submitting the photos for this web page remembrance of the fantastic weekend!
Best 73,
Respectfully submitted by Keith, WA8ZWJ
