KAISER FRAZER CONVENTION 2013 SHIPSHEWANA

[darrin502]

Just returned from the convention in Shipshewana, I have put in a link to some pictures I took there. It was a great convention and I think everyone that attended had a great time. We did get a little rain but for the most part it was perfect. The facility was top notch and it was right next to the Hudson museum. The enclosed pictures include many Hudson's from the museum. There is also a picture of the 6 past presidents that attended and a picture of the past presidents and Mike who will be a past president in September as Jim Lape was elected as the new president. For those who attended and those who were not able to attend please enjoy the pictures. The next convention is in Washington state next June, hope to see you all there.
Lee Abrahams

http://www.hubgarage.com/mygarage/darrin502/vehicles/92297

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Barbara and I are planning to be there the entire week at this point.  We should be in a position that we can attend all the Nationals in the future unless there is a downturn in the auto industry.

[Dragon]

It was definitely a great place to gain weight.  Fantastic Amish food.  Great pies and ice cream.  I came home with more weight and more KF parts.

[pnw_oldmags]

Thanks for sharing this album of photos!!

[Corsairdeluxe]

Much Molested Darrin at the convention... Art Griffin was planning to be there and for many years this Darrin sat in 4 big pieces in his back yard. It has a fasinating history.The resale red J once was mine(sob... sob).Here we were saying goodbye as it headed up nawth.

[52AeroWillys]

Great photos!! Thanks for sharing!

[HJ-ETEX]

Well I learned some things about the Amish culture while there. I was not aware that the Amish were known for noodles for example. The ladies got very generous food portions at the Ladies Luncheon so I made the joke, "Don't say 'Super Size,' say Amish Size".
As expected there was a lot of carriage traffic and a lot of bicycle use. The carriages have electric running lights (how do they recharge the batteries?) and turn signal lights and I even saw one with a revolving light/bubblegum light. There was carriage traffic as late as 11 PM.
Of note are the surrounding farms that are not necessarily Amish. These farms have dairy cattle, some sheep & goats, corn and other crops as well as some crafts. These farms also have large herds of cats. I saw 2 farms that each had a dozen or more cats of the same color markings (which suggests the cats were very closely related)  clustered in the front yard by the highway on a pleasant day. It rained Monday, Wednesday & Friday so I couldn't go back and verify just how many cats were out there.

[HJ-ETEX]

Our Host, Mike Barker, said several times that the Meet was planned around the Meet that was held Sat Aug 3 at the Gilmore Museum (Hickory Corners) outside of Kalamazoo MI. He hoped to get 60 KF products, but that would have required extra KF vehicles that weren't at the National. This was 65 miles from Shipshewana and involved a number of route changes and turns as well as 9 miles on I94. My party could not stay through Saturday and I had concerns about how big the crowds would be at the Museum during the event so Robby Markman and I went up on Tuesday. The trip was 90 minutes in a modern car. There were a number of cars to see at Gilmore - it seemed like every 36-37 Pierce-Arrow still in existance was there. Between this museum and the Hofstadler Hudson collection next to the host motel in Shipshewana, I had some sore feet on Tuseday and Wednesday.

[Dragon]

Tom, you must not have stayed up very late.  We heard Amish buggies going by after 2 in the morning.  What do they do at this time of the night, or morning.

[BigDave LM6174]

You sure it wasn't the local Amish Law Enforcement making their rounds?

[joefrazer]

My home is situated near a large Amish community so I have some insight as to how they choose to live. Like many sects, they have those who choose to live a strict life "the old way" and those who are more contemporary. All have homes with no electricity, and few have them with running water...mainly because it takes electricity to run well pumps. Many do, however, allow propane powered appliances, including refrigerators, in the home.

Those who live on working farms still rely upon horses for the power to pull a plow or wagon, but many have started using gasoline powered equipment like mowers and trimmers as well as generators (to charge the buggy batteries). The rule though is, no power equipment of any kind inside the home.

Becoming more common now in the Amish community is the telephone. It's situated outside in what looks like a kid's school bus stop and is usually shared by several homes in the area.

The lights you see on a buggy are a result of local laws, enacted after fatal wrecks between a buggy and the "English" as those of us in the outside world are called.

At our national in Goshen, IN, several years ago, a fellow KFer and I stopped at an Amish roadside stand and in the course of conversation with the older gent running the place, we came to learn that he knew my family as well as that of the other fellow. Both of us are from the same western PA area with an Amish contingent...proof that the world truly is getting smaller!

[Roadmaster49]

Specifically where is the next National meet in Washington state?  I ask because Amtrak runs from MN to Seattle as the Empire Builder, a name taken from the defunct Great Northern RR.   Would be curious what city is hosting?

[pnw_oldmags]

The  2014 Natl is in Puyallup Washington.  Very close Tacoma Washington.

[Dragon]

We also saw one of the Amish ladies that worked at the hotel hiding behind a bush talking on a cell phone. 

[HJ-ETEX]

Across from the host motel, on the East side of Highway 5 was a cell phone tower. This lead to jokes about the Amish having rotary dial cell phones. We saw 1 Amish lady on a riding mower maintaining the motel grounds and she was using a gallon of herbicde. There were 2 convience stores in town with credit card pumps and one had a Subway. There were MacDonalds in the area but they were 5 to 10 miles away in the surrounding settlements and they were patronized by Amish.  Certainly an interesting place to people who observe culture in evolution. It occurs to me that fast food may be more undermining to the Amish culture than phones or other modern technology.