There will be an ABS Awards Ceremony on Friday, May 31, 2013 immediately after the Blade Show closes for the day from 7 to 8pm in Room# 103 of the Galleria (same room as JS Judging and the ABS Knife Auction). The Blade Show is providing this room to us at no charge and it will be in place of the banquet which has become very expensive for our members. We encourage everyone to attend to honor the new Master Smiths, Journeyman Smiths, and other award recipients. There is no charge for this event.
I will post any additional details as soon as received.
Dan Cassidy
Journeyman Smith
Send an email to Dan
An ABS member had a question about the 2013 ABS Awards Ceremony planned for the Blade Show in Atlanta and this is the reply from ABS President James Batson. I asked Jim for his approval to re-print his reply on the ABS Forum so that our members would understand the reasons for the change and some details on the increasing costs of the banquet.
Dan Cassidy, ABS Webmaster
"I assure you that we intend to honor the new JS and MS stamp holders with as much pomp and ceremony as in the past with an Awards Ceremony that will not change as if were given at a Banquet. The attendance of the previous banquets had fallen from about 175 to less than 100 in 2012. The cost of the meals at the Banquet had gone up and the quality down. It cost the ABS more than $80 per person per plate. We only charged $45 a plate which meant that we had to collect over $35 from the Auction to break even. We estimated 150 plates andless than 100 people paid the $45 to attend. You would note that this is a loss of $4,000. We can afford a banquet to honor our stamp recipients if we were charged a reasonable price. The bottom line is that the ABS felt that requiring the Stamp Recipients in essence to pay $80 or even $45 to receive their stamp was too much.
The Awards Ceremony as now planned will cost the Stamp holders nothing and will beas prestigious as a banquet. For one thing, I would point out that the Awards Program honors the recipients of the Don Hastings, W. W. Scagel, W. F. Moran,etc. Awards as well as the certificates. But the ABS cannot afford to spend thousands of dollars to present these awards at a banquet. We cannot expect our members to pay $90 per couple and the ABS to add another $70 per couple for folks to attend the banquet. The planned awards Ceremony at the 2013 Blade Show will present the same awards and will honor the same people with dignity, at no cost to the ABS members who attend and honorees. The money we save will be used to support our mission of preserving the forged blade through a program of education."
Thanks for your concern,
James Batson
ABS President
Dan Cassidy
Journeyman Smith
Send an email to Dan
Thank you, Dan, and Mr. Batson.
That was very descriptive and obviously a sound and logical decision.
Karl B. Andersen
Journeyman Smith
