Blenko Birthday Event - Photos and Comments by Phani

A Texas Collector (Phani) was kind enough to send these photos and comments.
Thank you to everyone who allowed the photos to be taken.
Blenko Collectors enjoy being together. If you didn't come to WV for June 20th celebration this year - plan to do
so next year. The glass grows in value, you make great new friends, and who knows what wonderful stories you'll hear.
HJH
ps Thank you Phani for being our reporter in 2010 and 2011.

Top 20 for the Blenko Birthday event. These are the Blenko BD piece 2011 buyers in numerical order:



20. Randy Layneclark: Lives in Hurricane; 1st time to blenko BD event. He is getting this piece for his son.

19. George Jackson: supports his wife Brenda and made it this year with his grill. See pic attached.

18. Brenda Jackson: First time to BD event. Lives in Scott depot. Been collecting blenko for 10yrs and has over 30pieces. Lived in WV for 5yrs.



17. Larry Burley: His first BD event. Lives in Huntington, Wv.



16. Danny Dawson: his story and pic is published last year.

15. Danny Dawson's Wife: (no pic)

14. Scott Sharp

13. Cindy Sharp: was #11 last year and her husband Scott Sharp is #14 this year and #13 last year. Her story and pic along with her husband is published last year.

12. That would be me (Phani). Was on vacation and timed the event as a part of my vacation.

11. Mart Greathouse: Lives in South Charleston; he collected 9-10 BD pieces till now and been collecting Blenko for 16yrs.

10. Patty Stewart: Sis-in-law for Mary Douglas, is also #10 last year.

9. Mary Douglas: Who was I believe #9 last year as well and her story was published last year in June or July 2010. She is back this year for the BD piece.

8. Matthew McDonald: Freshman (9th grade) and from Milton, WV; first time to Blenko. His sister works at the visitor center. Its his first time to the BD event.


7. Debbie Deweese: She is a dedicated collector; She needs 1981, 1983, 1984 & 1987 Blenko BD pieces to complete her BD collection. If anyone is
interested, they can send info to Hillary or post it in the blog. She lives in Columbus, IN. She came with her Daughter last 2 yrs and now her daughter
is in Yale for College and Debbie is a proud mother.

6. Chris Shifflett: Bought a jug on yard sale and got interested in Blenko. First time to Blenko BD event.

5. James Shifflett: first time to Blenko; From Charlottesville, WV

4. Christian Kimworthy (Leslie's Husband)

3. Leslie Kimworthy (#1 last year); arrived 11:30pm 16th June with her husband Christian. Her story is
published last year. She is a fan of Blenko.

2. Ralph Borror (No pic) Pertersburg, WV; Same time as above.

1. Abbey Borror (No pic) Petersburg, WV; arrived 6pm on Thrusday 16th, June.

Arlon Bayliss came back and most of us didnt know who he was until he told us that he was the designer. He was working late that day and was just leaving and came by to greet us all and kind enough to let us take his picture. You can see couple of pics with Chris Shifflett (#6) in couple of the pictures. I asked Mr. Bayliss about the inspiration behind the colors and the design: His comments were, the colors represented WV tangerine and cobalt and the design was a tilted guitar and which represents Appalacchian music theme. He wanted it to represent a guitar but also wanted to make sure its still glass art and not just guitar itself. He said he was lucky enough to have the opportunity to design the BD glass which is unique in this country. He also came back the next morning and signed the BD cards.


Scott Sharp and Danny Dawson brought in Corn hole game to pass time at the parking lot. Couple of pics are attached. They also brought it a grill on which they made hot dogs on 17th evening and were kind enough to make b/f sausage sandwiches on English muffin's the next morning. The top 20 recognized each other from the last couple of years and had stories to share and jokes to laugh at. It was fun evening at the parking lot with ducks on the back and stars to keep us company at night.