Sitting here in the Tavern on the Ridge contempleting the events of this past fall. The annual trip to
Guzzle N Twirl was excellent as always. This year Judy, myself and the Texas Plumber met up with
Miners, Bullocks and Ron and Pam Thomas. We all checked into the hotel on Friday afternoon and it
was game on. We discovered a new (to me) place called Obs Tavern. We had an excellent lunch and
some cold Grain Belts there and then went back to the hotel. The weather was rainy and cold and pub
crawling just didn t seem like a great idea. The room to room this year was down a little, probably
because the hotel was undergoing
renovations and the upper floors weren t
rented out. The next day we went back to
Obs for breakfast and then hit the show. It
was loaded with breweriana as always. I
wasn t planning on buying something unless
it was something special. Well wouldn t you
know something special came along. About
five years ago I bought a Grain Belt bottle cap
neon, the one from 1948 to 58 era. A friend
of mine wanted it bad and finally pried it from
my hands. I thought I d never get another
one, but low and behold after cruising the
entire floor I ran across a table where there
were 2 Grain Belt bottle cap neons and one of them was of the 48 to 58
vintage. I negligied a price and handed it off to Steve Miner so he could put a
transformer on it. I was thrilled to get this sign back in my collection. I know
own all 3 bottle cap neons.
Kato Show - the second annual show at Mankato Brewing Co. was better
than last years first show (except the weather). We had a really good turn
out with probably 10 more tables than last year. We had people from as far
away as Sioux City Iowa and Kenosha WI in attendance. Walk through traffic
was good and lots of quality breweriana was sold. I added several pieces to
my collection. First I was blown away by the fact that Ron Thomas saw me
drooling over a Heidelbrau gold watch at Guzzle but didn t pull the trigger.
Ron called Jim Massey and bought the watch and brough it to Mankato and
offered it to me for the same price Jim did. I guess when something comes at
you twice you should buy it so I did. It s a beauty for sure. Thanks Ron! I also
got a really cool Premium Neon (90 s era), a pair of the Grain Belt Tiffany hanging lights (small ones) and
a cool Schmidt cardboard sign with a swimming bass. We drank some great beers and had lots of great
conversation with fellow collectors. If you haven t been to this show I recommend you come next fall.
Christmas Party- this years party was in a new location at John Vorwerk s pinball palace. There was
a nice potluck, micro exchange and toasting contest. We need more people making a toast next year.
Big Bird edged out Benwha for the trophy again. We hit the B&L about 1:30 for the remainder of the
festivities including the antique beer tasting, auction and raffle drawing. If you ve attened this event in
the past you know how much fun it is. It was right on par again this year.
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