Announcements:
No birthdays or wedding anniversaries.
Club Anniversaries: Jeff Heimpel 15 years, Rick Bolzon 20 years, and Bill Pegg 5 years.
Mac Graham reminded members about the KW Trivia Challenge to support Hospice of Waterloo Region to be held March 1st at the Crown Plaza. It would be nice if the Club members could fill a table – please contact Graham if you’re interested.
Jack Kinch reminded members about the indoor golf fellowship event to be held February 28th – please contact Jack if you will be attending.
50/50 Draw:
Julie Powell struck on the first attempt, but Jack Kinch hit the Jackpot and now has an additional $248 in this month’s budget. Alison Scott had the privilege of having her ticket drawn after Jack had already won the pot – thanks a lot Jack.
Speaker:
Our very entertaining speaker was Drew Ripley. Drew is a Fine Arts grad who has become a premier balloon artist. Yes he can make the every popular balloon poodle (as he demonstrated), but his art goes way, way beyond that. He’s created some absolutely amazing balloon sculptures often including over 40,000 balloons, for a variety of shows and events across North America. Drew is also a member of Canada’s Twisted Team which has won National and International awards for their remarkable displays.
A good part of Drew’s talk also focused on Kwartzlab, which is a 6,500 square foot ‘maker space’ on Bedford St. in Kitchener, where artists of all kinds gather to create their magic. Drew highlighted not only his own work, but also that of a local costume maker who works with metal, a robot builder (think ‘battling bots’) and a textile artist who does lots of workshops for kids. Kwartzlab is supported entirely with their $60 per month membership fee from their 80+ and growing members, and donations of equipment from time to time from some generous businesses and individuals in the community. They have an open house every Thursday evening from 7:00 to 9:00. All are welcome.
