Ohio Decoy Collector & Carvers Show

[mdallensr]

ODCCA is this weekend in Westlake, OH, west of Cleveland. It's one of the the big regional decoy shows each year, and it's a show with a lot of interesting things for folks other than decoy collectors and carvers. There are several good vendors, selling wood and general wood carving stuff, and lots of waterfowl art. The decoy competition is really intense and something to see if you've never seen decoys floating in a pool and being judged by people who really know decoys. They have carving demonstrations and on-going carving competitions which are amazing to see. These pros power carve a decoy in a couple of hours! I'll take photos of the carved bird winners and post them next week. If you're into decoy collecting, this is the show to attend. I don't know good collectibles from junk, but I've seen unrecognizable pieces of detritus selling for thousands of dollars, so I just assume these folks know what they're doing. Mike

[toycarver]

DH would love that show. He carves working decoys. Please post a few pictures if you get a chance.

[Claude]

Mike:
If you decide to watch one of the fast power carving competitions, take a photo of one carver every 5 minutes or so and post the photos, so we can see how the carver does it...

Claude

[mdallensr]

Good idea, Claude. I'll see if I'm there at the right time. Mike

[mdallensr]

Here are some photos of the Ohio Decoy Collectors and Carvers Association show. Timing is everything, and I forgot the judging drags on for awhile on Saturday. They don't open the exhibit room until all of the winners are on display, so we waited for 1/2 hour, then an hour, then after lunch, and finally gave up when they announced it would be closed until late afternoon. But, the show was good, and we saw some demonstrations.

This is a very different show. The participants, many of them collector/sellers, take the entire Holiday Inn, which is a Holidome. They fill their rooms with decoys, birds, and all of the memorabilia and collectibles. All of the rooms are opne and you just wander from room-to-room, checking out their wares.

They also have a lot of carvers of working decoys, and they have live judging of those, which took most of the time. Unless you know working decoys, this is totally mysterious, but meaingful to the winners. There is a lot of flat art, mostly animals, and some animal related jewelery.

Many of us have used Stiller patterns and the Stillers are always at this show; nice folks and friends to many. Mike

[mdallensr]

More photos. Mike

[mdallensr]

And more photos. Mike

[mdallensr]

ODCCA does several activities for youth. The Ohio Junior Duck Stamp Competition is judged at this show and the winner announced. They also had a painting demonstration and showed all of the entries.

[mdallensr]

More photos. Mike

[markken5889]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for posting these. Wish I couldn've been there,but it's a bit far from Mass.

Mark