As I m sitting here at Tavern on the Ridge reflecting back on our spring show , and giving you an update . I think again about the weather that our Schell show has endured and all the years we ve tried to keep pushing it back to the latest possible date , which ends up being the last weekend in April . And even in doing this we have encountered some lousy weather over the years . This year was no exception . We loaded up the car early Sunday morning and headed up the road driving through some scattered showers and cloudy skies . All the while praying that the sun would break through , clear off and make it a nice day . And knowing full well that it probably wouldn t . We got to the brewery and people were already there . Stevan Miner greeted us as we pulled in front of the brewery . We backed the car up and started to unload chapter supplies . It was raining so like the old days everybody set up in the old taproom . Somehow we all squeezed in and managed to make it work just like 30 years ago . As the morning passed by there was actually some pretty good buying and selling taking place . Even Steve Miner was able to pick something up for his collection , so you know there had to be some decent things there . Lunchtime rolled around and we did a free will lunch which was well received and very tasty . A big thanks to Chapter President Gary Sprenger for getting that handled . Also a big thanks to all of the chapter members who brought side dishes and donated them to the lunch table . We couldn t do it without all of you . We had our raffle and that went well . We made close to $ 400 that day with the free will lunch donations and the raffle . We donated the proceedings from the show to the restoration work being done at the old Hauenstein brewery where they re preparing to put in a museum in part of the brewery . Some of us that stuck around after the show were fortunate enough to go over to Hauenstein and get a tour of part of the facility , and some good information from John Vorwerk . After that we hit Smiley s for a couple of beers and then it was back to Iowa . As I sat reflecting back on the show on the drive home I realized we just had a very good day . The show was a success even though attendance was down due to the weather . There was some buying , selling and trading . Some beers were drunk . Stories swapped and an all-around good time was had . The brewery also had the gift shop open as usual so people were able to shop in there as well . And as I thought about it and I realized that there is no bad day at a brewery , unless someone spills beer . At our recent meeting we discussed the show and the weather again and in the end it was concluded that the show has been a long-standing tradition and it will go on as usual next year , the last weekend of April . We ll all gather around a Schell s beer and have a good time . We ll buy , sell and trade , have a few beers , swap stories and enjoy the day . So if you weren t there you missed out on some fun and we hope to see you next year , and if you were there thanks for coming . On to the next spring show at Summit Brewing Company in St . Paul Minnesota .
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