FOHBC 2016 Sacramento National Antique Bottle Convention & Expo | Membership Meeting Breakfast 

FOHBC Membership Meeting Breakfast | Lions Gate Hotel Patio, Friday morning, August 5th, 7:00 am – 8:30 am

The FOHBC will be hosting its 2nd annual FOHBC General Membership Meeting Breakfast at the Lions Gate Hotel Patio. Come meet your Federation officers. This event is free and only for current and paid up FOHBC members. Come hear the latest news and goals of your Federation. This will be a buffet breakfast that starts at 7:00 am. The meeting will start promptly at 7:30 am.

All photographs are by our official show photographer, Angelina (Gina) Pellegrini unless otherwise noted.

Day 2 | Friday

Year after year, we would have our FOHBC Membership Meeting after the FOHBC Board meeting. The Board meeting would run from 8:00 am to Noon. We would then grab a quick lunch and rush back to a mostly empty room for our 1:00 pm Membership Meeting. For one thing, it was a day early and many folks had just not arrived. For another, it was near lunch and many ran late or missed our meeting entirely. So last year, at the FOHBC 2015 Chattanooga National Antique Bottle Show (Read: 2015 Chattanooga National – FOHBC Membership Breakfast Meeting), we had our first FOHBC Membership Meeting Breakfast in the Marriott host hotel. It was a grand success so we decided to do it again, this time on the patio of the Lions Gate Hotel. With beautiful weather, it could not have been any better of a setting. Oh, and provide food, and they will come.

Read about Day 1 events: FOHBC Board meeting, American Bottle Auctions Open House, Early Registration, Generals House VIP Reception and the Sacramento Shootout.

R E G I S T R A T I O N

We anticipated about 110 members and that was based on last year. We reached that goal. In the pre-function area, members had to be confirmed, dues paid up to date and any other business relevant to the moment occurred.

T H E   B U F F E T

FOHBC Membership Meeting attendees were served a hot breakfast, buffet style including a stocked beverage station with freshly brewed coffee and tea, chilled fruit juices, assorted breakfast pastries, muffins and croissants, fruit preserves and butter, sliced seasonal fruits and berries, fluffy scrabbled eggs with fresh herbs, chicken apple sausage and breakfast potatoes with sautéed bell pepper and onion. Yum. Great way to start the day. You see, the educational seminars followed within the adjacent Club Ballroom A & B. Later, at 12:50 pm, was the planned Ribbon Cutting Ceremony as the show officially opened for early admission at 1:00 pm.

T H E   M E E T I N G

Federation president, Ferdinand Meyer V opened the meeting by introducing Board members in the audience. This included Eric McGuire, Sheldon Baugh, Louis Fifer, Val Berry, Jim Bender, Linda Sheppard, Steve Ketcham and Elizabeth Meyer. It was announced that ballots were being counted during the meeting, per Federation bylaws, and that the 2016 – 2018 slate of officers would start their positions after the Sacramento National Antique Bottle Convention & Expo. This includes Alicia Booth, who was in attendance, Bob Strickhart and Brad Seigler.

President Meyer next gave an overview of the previous days events and events scheduled for the day including educational seminars, the ribbon cutting ceremony, the official show opening for early admission, the displays and the cocktail party and awards banquet planned for in the evening. Next, Jim Bender was introduced as the FOHBC Historian and Co-Chair, with Bob Strickhart, for the FOHBC 2017 Springfield National Antique Bottle Convention & Expo. Jim gave an overview of the convention, announced the Watson One auction and stated that table, event and advertising sales had commenced on 28 July 2016. Jim Bender also noted that a Springfield National table would be set up at the Sacramento National and staffed by himself and Jim Berry. He welcomed all to the table noting that 8% of the tables had already been sold.

President Meyer next introduced Louis Fifer who is the FOHBC Conventions Director and Co-Chair, along with Matt Lacy, for the FOHBC 2018 Cleveland National Antique Bottle Convention & Expo. Louis preceded to give an overview of the event and noted that a task team had been assembled. Louis also noted that the Request for Proposal (RFP) had also been sent out to the Southern Region club contacts for the 2019 FOHBC 50th Anniversary National Antique Bottle Convention & Expo. Meyer noted that Houston, Shreveport and Augusta had expressed early interest in hosting the mega event. Proposals are due in by the end of September.

Next, Federation Secretary Jim Berry approached the stage with the counted ballots. As noted previously, the new slate of officers will take effect after the Sacramento National. Jim Bender was in charge of this years voting process.

S p o t t e d   i n   t h e   C r o w d