John Earl
Jim Moran
Andy VanSchoick
Sarah Ritchie-Crowther
Daniel Crowther
Jack Connell

Upcoming Hammer-In (January 18th)

• Location for Hammer-In redesignated to Valley Falls
• Other locations considered: Glens Falls (original), and Metal Supermarket.
• Registration RSVP to be sent out beginning of December.
• Attendance will be free.
• Rose kits/hands on participation will have a nominal fee (to be determined) to cover supplies.

Next Event after Hammer-In (late March)

• Public event @ Metal Supermarket (pending contact of owner)
• Owner has expressed interest in having us do a public demonstration at the Supermarket
• Andy will contact owner and arrainge a date
• CDBA would like March 21st or 28th
• We will need 4 demonstrators or so
• Demonstrations will be scheduled at specific times in such a way that each demonstrator can see the others if they wish and the public will not have to "miss out" because too many are running simultaneously.

Demonstration @ Maybe Farm (May)

• Sarah will contact John from the Maybe farm
• More information forth coming

Anniversary Meeting @ Burden Ironworks (September)

• Sarah wanted to make sure space was left open in September for a 2 year CDBA anniversary meeting at Burden Ironworks. (Sarah will contact Tom Carol)
• Sarah suggested contacting Ray Ciemny and asking him to do the demonstration

Family Picnic (Fall 2004)

• Sarah once again brought up the idea of the family picnic
• Several voiced concerns that their wives and families wouldn't want to go to a blacksmithing event. To which Sarah countered that, that was WHY it was a picnic and NOT just a blacksmithing event.
• Concerns were then raised by the older members that they went to CDBA events not only for blacksmithing but also to get away from their families and visa versa [their families sent to them blacksmithing events to get rid of them]
• John Earl suggested that another compatable (but not blacksmithing organization) could be invited to add interest and variety. For instance CDBA w/ Buckskinners, Rev War, or an American Civil War group. This way their families could check us out and our families could see their encampments.

Events Notification

• Dan wants all event specifics locked in a minimum of 1 month in advance. This will give sufficient time to send and receive RSVP's and participation fees.
• Sarah wants each Newsletter to contain an upcoming events calendar for the year.

New Event Venues (Canal Fest, Waterford)

• Dan suggested other historical events (such as Canal Fest in Waterford) may be a good venue for public demonstrations
• Jim suggested that such event organizers may even be willing to pay for us to do demonstration for their event.

ABANA Conference Sign

• Sarah suggested starting a CDBA sign/banner project to be brought to the 2004 ABANA conference in Kentucky
• Sarah wanted to field the idea now so there would be time to make the sign and work out the specifics
• It was suggested that Andy could cut out the main logo with the plasma cutter
• Jack suggested that while the logo might be done with the plasma cutter the frame and stand could be made with traditional methods by the group.
• Jim suggested the logo could be done by hand using chasing or repousse.