February 2007 Newsletter

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Upcoming Meeting – FEBRUARY 24 TH , 2007

East Northport Library Meeting 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Bring your Huntington, Northport and East Northport Area Bottles

Directions: From the West, take the Northern State Parkway, the LIE or Sunrise Highway to Rt. 231, Deer Park Ave. and go North. About 500 feet North of the Northern State Parkway, the road forks, you want to go Right or East. Watch for Larkfield Road, there is a traffic light as it is a big intersection. Go Left or North on Larkfield Road. The Library is North of Pulaski Rd. Watch for signs.

From the East, take Sunrise Highway, and get on the Southern State Parkway heading West, to the Sunken Meadow Parkway and go North, or the LIE to the Sunken Meadow Parkway and go North. You could also go on the Northern State and go West to the Sunken Meadow Parkway. Once on the Sunken Meadow Parkway, heading North, watch for exit SM 4 (Pulaski Road or East Northport Road) and go West on Pulaski Road. Watch for Larkfield Road (there is a traffic light) and go Right or North on Larkfield Road. Watch for signs.

Meeting February 24 th East Northport Library

With things heating up for me at work, I turned to Frank Bennett for help with a meeting site for February and he secured the East Northport Library. Our meeting is set for Saturday February 24 th between 2pm and 4pm. The Library is located on Larkfield Road, just North of Pulaski Road. As the format has been so well received, I really want to encourage everyone to bring bottles from the Huntington, Northport, East Northport area, the public loves it! Here are directions, or you can go to the club site www.longislandantiquebottleassociation.org and check the Meeting button, there should be a link to www.mapquest.com which Steve said he put there for everyone to have easy access to directions. Directions are above.

And now few words from the President (or chief bottle nut notes)

Well, a year has passed since the club began this crazy experiment, of moving the meeting site around, and I want to report to you, the membership, and the results of the last 4 meetings. I want to thank George Fisher and Gary Hammond again for their help in getting the Wantagh Library and Cedarmere for the June and September meetings.

Overall, this appears to be working to the clubs benefit, as attendance at the meetings is up, the club has averaged 20+ people at the last 4 meetings. However, attendance by people who are NOT members is fantastic, with over half the average attendance being non-members. This shows that the new meeting format is working, that the club is reaching and attracting non-members, that there are collectors and people interested in bottles out there who want to know more and that some have become members. Yes, that is correct, in this year, we added 5 members. True, that is not a huge number, but, compared to the trend of the last several years, in which the membership was shrinking, it is now growing. That is right; our membership is higher now, than at this point last year. While this one year does not a trend make, I think we can all agree that it is a very interesting & positive development for the club. Let us try and build on it!

Proposed Change to Meeting Schedule

Now, here is something to think about, for everyone. Would it be possible to do 6 meetings a year? This would be February, April, June, August, October and December, or we could do January, March, May, July, September and November. The summer meeting (either July or August) could be some kind of BBQ thing, just for the members somewhere, or??? What do you think? Ideas and suggestions are invited. Does anyone want to try this? I know that this is an increase from the 4 we held this year, but it maybe in the best interest of the club to be a little more active. I have had a number of people who have asked about the club, but who seemed to lose interest when I told them we held 4 meetings a year. In all honesty, I would not want to see the club do more than 6, as this format does require more work than the Ronkonkoma site did. So please think about it, and we can discuss this in greater depth at the meeting if you so desire. If you want to talk about this or any other ideas, my number is 631-589-9027, and I am home pretty much every evening after 5pm. Or you can email me (I myself love email!) at libottle@optonline.net and you should hear back from me in under 24 hours, as I check my email every evening.

Officers Wanted

Also, in terms of something for everyone to think about, the club could use some officers. I would like very much to have someone for backup, as my work schedule involves weekend shifts, and is at best erratic in nature. Truth is told, I do not know for certain if I will be off the day of the meeting until the week of the meeting, and sometimes I do not know until the day before the meeting. I know that at times this seems to be an unpopular request; however, I am sure many of us remember what the club went through in the past. Again, think about it, if you are interested, see me at the meeting or contact me at home. With more people involved we can get more ideas, new ideas, better ideas. The club will only be what we the members make of it.

Meeting sites

As I mentioned earlier, this format does require some effort on our part (meaning the clubs). It is working for us, the club is attracting people, the fun and excitement at the meetings is really wonderful. I wish everyone had been able to make the last meeting, at the South Country Library in Bellport; it was perhaps the best meeting yet. While I was able to answer many questions from the nearly 30 people in attendance, Frank Bennett had the room spellbound with his presentation of area Milk Bottles. The give and take with questions and information was priceless. What a great time was had by everyone!

I have had an offer of a site in Rocky Point; I have not forgotten you Joan and Walter! Also several mentioned the Center Moriches Public Library and the Riverhead Public Library as a possible site. With some help from John Feldman I tried to get us into the Amityville Public Library for our February Meeting, but no luck, a local group ended up requesting the same dates at us, and we were bumped, but I will try again. I would like to see us in Smithtown, as we used to meet there years ago. If you would like a meeting near you, check out your Library, and get in touch with me so we can coordinate things. I would like to see us get a meeting or two out on the Forks, the North Fork in particular. Watching on eBay, it seems that many bottles from the North Fork draw considerable attention, so with the people looking for local bottles, it would be a wonderful thing for the club to get out there and interact with these folks! While years ago we would have a meeting in East Hampton every year, I do not ever recall the club having a meeting out on the North Fork. Does anyone have any contacts out there? How about in the Oyster Bay area? Here is another idea, Kevin; does the Massapequa Library have a meeting room?

LIABA ON LINE!

Attention all computer users! The club has a website! Yes, we on the World Wide Web, or as some call it, and it is correct at times, the world wide wait. Give the clubs site a visit at www.longislandantiquebottleassociation.org. How did this happen? I belong to a hobby site, the Antique Bottles Forum at www.Antique-Bottles.net on which I posted a notice for the clubs meeting at Bellport, and received a reply from a collector, Steve Tedesco. He used to dig at the Whiskey Road dump years back. He made a convincing argument for a site for the club, and offered to set one up for the club to boot. I gave it some thought, and took him up on the offer. So he is the one to thank for putting the club online! Thanks Steve!!!

Membership Cards

I received a note from David Fortuna, asking about the Club having some kind of membership card, and I agreed with Dave, this is a good idea. Years back the club used to hand out membership cards, but over the years the Club seemed to stop this for some reason. Perhaps with the return of the rotating meeting site format, it would be useful to return to the Membership Card format also. In keeping with this, the club will now hand out membership cards! Thanks to my very talented wife for creating these for us.

Promote the Hobby!

Every year I place a display of bottles in the Sayville Public Library, and it is always very well received by all. When we go to remove it, they are right there to ask me what month I want for next time! This year I thought that I would change it around a bit, as each year I have done the same format, local Sayville bottles. I switched it to a more general theme, showing various facets of the depth of the bottle hobby. I used groupings of Label Under Glass apothecary's, milk bottles, blob beers, fruit jars, free blown black glass, local drug store bottles and related publications, such as copies of Antique Bottle & Glass Collector and Bottles and Extras magazines. So check and see if your local library has a locked display case and promote the hobby and your own collection at the same time. Many thanks to my wife for making my displays look great every year and for taking the photos you see here and on page 4. We shall see about adding them and past displays to the web site in the future.

UPCOMING BOTTLE SHOWS

February 25 th at Enfield Connecticut Exit 47W on I-91 at the St. Bernard's School West Campus, 232 Pearl Street. Contact Rose Sokol at 860-745-7688. Nice compact show, and the drive is good, 2 ½ to 3 hours one way, and you can take the Bridgeport/Port Jefferson ferry home! Somers Antique Bottle Club.

March 4 th at Baltimore Maryland Exit 34 I-695 at the Physical Education Center, Essex Campus, Community College of Baltimore County 7201 Rossville Blvd. bottles@comcast.net or website www.baltimorebottleclub.org Bob Ford 410-531-9459

Note here for new members. The Baltimore show is considered one of the best shows, if not the best, here in the Eastern United States, and an overnight stay is the best way to enjoy it. You have 250 to 300 tables of bottles for sale, and incredible displays to view. About 4 to 4 ½ hours one way. Baltimore Bottle Club.

May 20 th Brick New Jersey Brick Elks 2491 Hooper Ave, Brick, NJ. Rich Peal 732-267-2528. manodirt@msn.com This is not a long drive, about 2-2 ½ hours one way. This show used to be in September, and has moved to May. Jersey Shore Bottle Club.

June 16 th Ballston Spa, New York Ballston Spa High School, Ballston Spa NY. Contact the National Bottle Museum at 518-885-7589 or email nbm@crisny.org Ballston Spa is very near (15 to 20 minutes) to Saratoga Springs. About 4 ½ hours one way. If you go, ask about the chicken bar-b-q benefit in Ballston Spa on Saturday night. If they are still doing it, eat there, it is great! Also plan on visiting the Regent Street Antiques Center in Saratoga Springs, if you like stoneware, this is heaven. National Bottle Museum.

Along with go-withs and bottles from the surrounding towns.

Plus of course Whiskey Flasks from NYC, Brooklyn and Long Island.

The Smith's, 10 Homes Court, Sayville, NY 11782-2408 libottle@optonline.net