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| This Yellow Blossom Fairy took first place in the large sculpture competition at Camp. |
Over 500 attendees strong in 2006, Balloon Camp has completed its fourth year. Being able to go from a small regional convention only a few years ago to this size says a lot for the organizers. Dave Scott and Steven Nelson, along with their crew, have put a lot of time into a wonderfully diverse program.
Diversity is one of the strengths of Balloon Camp. There's an amazing variety in the attendees, instructors, and classes. If you were interested in decor, twisting, performing, gift baskets, or a variety of other things, there were more than enough classes to keep you busy. The same can be said for the parties. New things are tried every year to make things fun for everyone. As the convention matures, new things are tried in order to find the right mix to make it an event for every member of the balloon industry.
On a personal note, there was one downside for me, and it was significant enough to make me not return to Camp if it's in the same hotel again. My experience with the Tuscany Hotel was just about the worst hotel experience I've ever had. I've encountered buildings with problems, confusion at check-in, and a host of other issues that just happen in large facilities when there are a lot of people with different needs. But never before have I run into the mis-treatment I encountered at the Tuscany. To make things even worse, they refused to even acknowledge that they had unhappy guests. I was under the impression that the safety of guests was paramount to the success of a hotel. Apparently I was wrong. The hotel staff seemed to hold the opinion that the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) didn't apply to them. My hope is that after they're found in violation of ADA rules, all of their staff members are forced to go through sensitivity training. They were completely unaware of how to treat someone in a wheelchair and the accomodations were not satisfactory for that.
Aside from the hotel issues, I still enjoyed Camp and I look forward to taking part again in a new location. The fact is, the hotel problems I encountered would not have had an impact on most people. The producers of the event should not in any way be held responsible for poor hotel management. The event is, without a doubt in my mind, one of the finest the industry has seen. No other event has ever been as open to the various members of the industry as this one. Everyone that attends is made to feel welcome and the education really is diverse. It's always been a desire of mine to see more cross education between twisters and decorators and this one event is succeeding at making that happen.
If you haven't already, make sure to visit the Balloon Camp 2006 photos.
BHQ members that are enjoying our spam filtering through Postini are now seeing an improved interface for managing that spam. There are now some very nice features that will make it easier to get rid of your junk email.
First, clicking the delete button doesn't immediately delete a message. It moves it to a trash folder. If you accidentally move a message to the trash that you wish to get back, you are able to do that by just opening the trash folder. Another significant change is the ability to choose the sorting order of your junk messages. If you know something was sent to you from a friend that you never received, sort your junk mail by the From address and look for your friend's mail that way. If you want to look at things first that Postini isn't quite sure is spam, sort by it's junk rating.
If you run into any problems with the new system, please let us know.
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| A couple of mallards exploring the world. |
Patrick van de Ven can be found in The Netherlands adding a great deal of realism to small twisted sculptures.
See Patrick van de Ven's BHQ Portfolio.
