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The Fourteenth International Small Scale
Steamup and Arts Festival
Dear Live Steamer,
Where to start ? We spent almost two weeks at the hotel , part of the time grousing ,
but more of the time smiling. Those wonderful Canadians arrived three days after New Years
and were chomping at the bit to get the tracks put up. Carol Homuth , Ed Cook , David Hamilton ,
Emily Kaldestad , and Bob Maas came down to make sure that we all had a track on which to play ,
and Diamondhead’s own John Hickson pitched in as well.We had everything tuned and ready to run
on Friday , a full week before the advertised dates. The Michigan Live Steamers showed up en
masse and put the Simpson track together to round out the atrium. With all of the Katrina warts ,
it still looked good.
Because of the slow recovery from the storm , we had people staying in three back-up hotels ,
but it didn’t seem to make us any less jovial. The number of smiles and the hugs were beyond
my ability to count , but it was a major feel good event by any measure.
The Clack Valves and Cornets Steam Band concert was well attended , and Joe Hall was our bandmaster .
We topped off the concert with our Saturday Night at the Movies , hosted by Vance Bass. It was a
Saturday for the Arts and the rails took second place for a few hours .
The Steam Flea Market was a huge draw and Carol and his assistants were busy most of the time.
The total number of locomotives and associated stuff changing hands was significant and it
really added a sense of bazaar to the surroundings.
Here are some numbers for those of you who enjoy this sort of arcania :
We had 214 steamers show up and about 40 spouses came along. The 32 no shows
would have had us setting a record if they had arrived.
We came from 34 states and 6 countries to play with our trains over a period of 9 days .
The following tabulation does not include walk-ins , but it does give one the feel of it all :
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Where did we all come from?
The local economy was boosted by our patronizing the restaurants in the area. It seems that
the relocation of many of them made them even better that in the past . Our Saturday brunch
was a smash from all of the reports and we’ll do it again next year. Having our brass quintet
play during the luncheon was over the top !
The bad news is that the Steamup will cost you more next year. The increase in the registration
fee has not kept people from registering early and it is needed in order to cover the ever
increasing costs that we incur , this without diminishing the event as we have come to know it.
Thank you for coming to Mississippi , and I hope that you get back here for 2008.
Take care,
Jerry
Countries : 6
Attendees : 214
United States
181
Canada
16
United Kingdom
14
Japan
1
Trinidad WI
1
Mexico
1
States Represented : 34
Attendees :
Florida
17
California
13
Texas
10
Michigan
10
Colorado
9
Louisiana
9
Washington
7
Georga
7
Maryland
6
Virginia
6
Alabama
5
Missouri
5
Illinois
5
New York
5
Tennessee
4
New Jersey
4
South Carolina
4
Mississippi
4
Pennsylvania
4
Arkansas
3
North Carolina
3
New Hampshire
3
Ohio
3
Utah
3
Wisconsin
3
Arizona
2
Massachusetts
2
Oregon
2
Kansas
1
Kentucky
1
Indiana
1
Iowa
1
Maine
1
New Mexico
1
We also were visited by the California track cleaner monster , courtesy of Sonny Wizelman
If you missed this demonstration it means that you were out of the hotel - it was amazing
( and loud )!