New England Lumberjocks Get-Together - See Post #2 for Update

Calling all interested Lumberjocks! Let’s have a New England get-together.

Hi folks, as I have mentioned on two recent posts on LJ, I am seeking to organize a get-together of New England Lumberjocks (others are also welcome). I have taken some steps towards that end and I’m making this my first post regarding the status. I feel we should wait until Spring for this to avoid a postponement or cancellation due to our sometimes harsh winter weather. And while April-May might seem far off, it will be here soon.

I have contacted the North Bennet Street School in Boston’s north end and confirmed that they will allow us to hold a meeting at their location. Here is a link to their website: “North Bennet Street School” http://www.nbss.org/index.aspx. My contact, Camille, said it would be best if we could meet while school is in session and added that late April or early May would be best. I stated that a Saturday would be the preferred day of the week. Accordingly, I am throwing out for consideration the following as possible dates: April 17th, April 24th, May 1st and May 8th. Let’s see what kind of replies we get and make a final date a bit later. When/if you reply to this post with a comment that you will or hope to attend, please indicate what, if any, dates you can make.

Camille said she has thoughts on which rooms might be appropriate for us and is heavily leaning towards one in the Cabinet and Furniture-making section. As you will see on their website, they also offer classes in jewelry making and repair, carpentry, violin making and others. I expressed that the primary purpose of the meeting is for us Lumberjocks to meet and get to know one another a bit. She has asked if it would be alright to have some of the school’s students join us. As she is being gracious enough to have us, I said sure. I later told her that we might initially want an hour or so to meet and introduce ourselves. Purplev (Sharon) commented that to his line of thinking they are welcome for the entire meeting. We might recruit some new Lumberjocks. That makes sense to me. How do you feel about this? Camille said we can have a tour at some point during day.

Regarding the “agenda” for the day, unlike Sharon who kindly allowed folks to arrive at noon last year, I am thinking of a 10:00 a.m. start. The first 2 hours could be to meet and socialize and then have some kind of activity, presentation, or whatever folks might like to do, and then break for lunch at noon. More on lunch in a moment. We could reconvene at 1:00 for a tour and perhaps more chit chat about projects, things folks brought with them, etc. This is just a suggested agenda. I am open for other thoughts/ideas.

Regarding lunch, the Italian north end is a wonderful place to dine. There are nice restaurants in various price ranges as well as pastry shops. (Sharon and I are partial to “Mike’s Pastries”.) If we take an hour (or more) for lunch and Italian food is not your choice you can also take a walk from the north end to many nearby restaurants including the famed Quincy Market where you can not only eat but shop too . I will make restaurant information as well as driving directions available to everyone. Speaking of driving, parking WILL be an issue. The school does not have sufficient parking to make it available to us. As you might imagine, free on-street parking in Boston is practically non-existent. There are plenty of parking lots and garages available at varying costs. If familiar with the commuter rail and “T” in Boston, you could park at a commuter rail or T station and ride a train in. I will offer any help and information I can, but I am afraid this area will be up to individuals to manage.

Lastly, I will be working on a couple of sponsors to offer some items we can raffle or award to the winner of a quiz or contest. At the very least I will be contacting Woodcraft and Rockler. If anyone else has ideas or can assist in this area, the more the better. So, spread the word to any “jocks” you think might be interested. I think I will post a link to this post on the other two posts I mentioned. The 2009 gathering had 8 jocks plus a spouse. I think we can increase that number at this meeting, right folks?

-- On the eighth day God was back in His woodworking shop! Lenny, East Providence, RI