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THE THIRTIETH SHOW

……. And I got to go

(or should that be “Bottles In The Bluegrass” #4)

The Thirtieth Bottle Show of the Mid-West Miniature Bottle Club was advertised in the
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magazine of the Midwest Miniature Bottle Club as the place to be from the 24 to the

26th April 2009. Having been to their show before in 2001 I have always wanted to go
again. My previous trips to the U S A were entitled “Bottles in the Bluegrass” because
on those occasions, my primary purpose was to visit my Daughter in Kentucky, the
“Bluegrass” State. This time I can only justify that title because I was able to include
Kentucky as the result of a quick trip across the border from Cincinnati to a Kentucky
bottlestore. My daughter returned to New Zealand in late 2001.

I don’t know what it is with my offspring but now my Son lives in USA - in San
Francisco. I was immediately made aware of the intensity of the economic downturn in
USA as I arrived at the airport where my Son was awaiting me and also a call from the
company CEO. This call advised him that the company had reduced the Business
Development staff from 25 to 9 - fortunately he was one of the 9 but his territory went
from being San Francisco and environs to now be Northern California, Oregon,
Washington state and Nevada. I spent a couple of weeks with him and his wife,
including a trip to Oregon (what a beautiful state, especially compared to Northern
California) and making them an 8 foot redwood barbecue table while they were at work,
before flying to Cincinnati to stay with Jim and Nancy Crawford for a few days and then
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travelling with Jim & Nancy to St Louis to attend the 30 Annual Show. – I did say at the
end of my previous magazine contribution in 2001 that I intended to return to the show
in 2004 but as we all know, the best laid plans are prone to total collapse and in my
case that is exactly what happened but return I finally did and I am pleased that I chose
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the 30 anniversary. I had heard that the anniversary shows tend to be the better ones.

Well prior to leaving home I had sent about 30 New Zealand bottles to Jim by mail and
took a further 20 bottles in my luggage with the express purpose of selling them to give
me some money to enable me to purchase at the Show. And I had my lists of Bourbons,
Scotch, Tequila and Rums, not having the sophisticated system of our Editor on a
laptop!!

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I travelled to Cincinnati on Monday 20 April, arriving late evening and was immediately
being taken by Jim & Nancy to a restaurant for a most delightful meal. It is a real
pleasure staying with the Crawford’s –They are wonderful Host and Hostess, they have