Are There Any Marble Shows In Michigan?

[hdale7]

I've looked somewhat online and have seen clubs for Indiana, etc and do know that they have a few shows in Ohio, etc. Is there a site that lists all the marble shows by dates and state? I'd like to take my son to one within the next year and am weighing our options for someplace that is only a few hour drive from where we live. We live in the lower central part of Michigan and for comparison purposes can hit Toledo, Ohio in 2 hours and 45 minutes by going southeast and Fort Wayne Indiana in 2hrs 30 min driving straight south. Thanks for any info on this matter.

[hillfrost]

Hi. I live in Northern Michigan and have been collecting for a few years. I heard that there used to be a marble club in downstate Michigan and that there were shows. I don't know of any now. I wish there were a club because it would be great to visit with other collectors. It is possible that there are some collectors who meet informally to buy and sell marbles. If anyone knows of a group, please share the information. Thanks.

[Steph]

IS there a comprehensive list of shows somewhere?

This looks like a running record of where they've been held in the recent past: http://marblemental.yuku.com/topic/371

Don't know how complete it is. I was kinda of hoping to see a Florida show and didn't. Maybe it doesn't exist anymore?

[romanoak]

Can't help with a list, but the last show I remember in Michigan was about 8-10 years ago in Ann Arbor. It was restricted to "Antique/Vintage" only. May have been longer ago than that as I can remember there being resentment among certain collectors when those "contemporaries" started showing up at the shows. Closest Show I can think of for you would be Canton Ohio or maybe Kokomo Indiana and both of those would be a good choice. Bill

[Ric]

There is also a good show in Indianapolis in early January, which might be a reasonable drive for you if the weather cooperates.

[Al Oregon]

I just got the latest list in the mail from MCSA (Stan Block) amd there was not a show listed for Michigan.

[Big Mibber]

Aren't ya'll glad you don't live in Texas......... It's 6 hrs. just to leave from the middle. I think the guys in KC have the best location. They are centralized in the middle of the mid west.

Texas show is this weekend. I will drive nearly 4 hrs up to the show, from the middle, and that's still a few hrs. to the OK boarder.

Willie

[hdale7]

Thanks for all the replies. I guess Ohio and Indiana shows will be our options for attending in the future. I know we just missed the Sisterville show in Ohio. If anyone has the dates in 2011 for Indiana and Ohio Shows feel free to PM/email me with it but they might not be set in stone yet till it gets closer, I don't know. Thanks a bunch and hopefully will run into some of you all when we do get to a show.

Howard

[Ric]

Hey Howard, The Indianapolis show is usually the weekend after New Years Day, I think the 2011 show will be on the 8th with room trading likely starting on the 6th. The Kokomo show is usually the weekend after Labor Day, which I think will make it September 10th in 2011, with room trading starting the 8th. But you might just want to keep an eye on the calendar link at the Indiana Marble Club's Home Page, just to be sure.

[sissydear]

The Sistersville Marble Festival is in WEST VIRGINIA. It is always on the last weekend in September.

[hdale7]

The Sistersville Marble Festival is in WEST VIRGINIA. It is always on the last weekend in September.

You are right, I was thinking Sistersville was in Ohio. Well, I'll keep a look out on the dates for Kokomo in 2011 in Indiana or the summer show that the Buckeye Club does in Ohio and depending on scheduling and plans, we'll hit one of those. Don't really want to travel in the winter that far in Jan. Thanks everyone again for the assistance.

[ann]

Wherever you go, you'll have such a good time!

[Dinkybus]

Hello to all who long for a show in Michigan. I was one of the 3 promoters who organized shows in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the late 1990's. We decided that our "theme" would be "Oldies Only, no reproductions allowed" to fight what we thought was a disturbing trend in fakery, etc. The first year, we had a fairly good reception from the marble community, and decent turnout despite one local yokel calling folks to diss our show before it even happened. We had no less than 8, perhaps 10 people come up to us spontaneously and tell us that "so and so called me and told me the show was going to stink, it was going to be a ghost town, we (the promoters) were the 3 Stooges, and he wasn't going to attend", etc. Of course, the dissenter DID show up the night before for a litle room trolling, just in case his predictions didn't come true. Most disapointing. He did not come to the show proper. We lost a little money the first year, and a little more the second, although making money was not our real focus. We just wanted to break even, and perhaps shake out a few interesting examples. Making money would have been nice, of course. I don't recall much coming out of the woodwork, but I wasn't everywhere. I guess even back then, comtemporary makers fill enough tables it is hard to get by without them, so maybe we shot ourselves in the foot, but I have no regrets. The 3rd year, after one of the 3 promoters quit ignomiously (actually, he didn't even show up for the second show, or call to say he wasn't), we couldn't get ANY room or table reservations by the cut-off date with the hotel, so we just killed it, never to return. The other promoter has since died, and I have no desire to try again, to say the least. It is treatment by one's fellow collectors like this that drove me back into privacy with my accumulating, I haven't been to ANY other shows since, 13 or 14 years. Actually, there were a few other "incidents" involving other collectors that helped me decide to withdraw unto myself, it wasn't just the failed attempts to run shows that did it. I am fond of telling people there got to be too much lying, cheating, stealing, and backstabbing going on to want to be much of a part of it all. The rat race caught up with marble collecting, as far as I was concerned. I have no problem with folks making money from marbles, I certainly did plenty of that, but there are right ways, and wrong ways, to go about it. Helping other people fail is one of the wrong ways, counterfeits are another (this was just a couple years after the famous "California Sulphides" debacle, for instance), and it just seemed like all the fun had gone out of it, EVERYBODY was now a dealer on the hustle. In case anybody cares, let me remind ya'll that marble collecting was formed around the notion that marbles used to be made by serious craftspeople, and were truly different than the ones that came out of machines. Until the mid 80's and later, you couldn't hardly GET anybody to LOOK at a machine made, unless it was in its original box with 24 or 99 (etc) of its siblings. I now confess to being just as blind as the next collector when it came to early MM's, some of them are outstandingly beautiful and rare, we just kind of had "tunnel vision" until the price of hand mades got so high, there had to be an alternative. Some of those early MM's are as old as hand mades, but what really sets them apart from new hand mades is the FACT that they had to risk the proverbial gauntlet of the playground, to survive. I find NO challenge in collecting new hand mades, no matter how beautiful and intricate, with styles undreamed of "back in the day". They are as sterile as collector plates or figurines, you can just order up one any size you want, and so can the next person, in fact they can order up one bigger or smaller, whatever suits. I am in awe of the skill of the contemporary makers, wish I could do it myself, I wish them good luck, but I cannot help but think their existance muddies the waters for us, and certainly will for future collectors. That is why we tried to run a show without them. I'm not sure I need to present my qualifications, but I have been in the hobby since about 1975, I attended the very first "marbles only swap meet" ("Amana 1") in the bail bond office in Davenport in 1978, and the next 9 or so Amanas until I missed one. I named "Marble Collectors Unlimited", you can ask Gary Huxford. I will always love marbles, but cannot say the same for some of my compatriots. I sure miss Bev Brule and Jim Ridpath, they brought a bit of decency and order to the situation, they knew where the bodies were buried and often weren't afraid call a spade a spade. Good luck to show promoters, perhaps you can learn from some of our mistakes.

[Hipocritter]

Ah, it takes Captain Marble to lay it all out.

Well said Don.