Judges Council Bylaws

Kingwood Center Gardens

Mansfield, OH

2025 Ohio State African Violet Society Convention/Show/Sale News

Convention Chatter
From the June 2025 issue of The Violet Connection
by Penny Wichman

The Ohio State African Violet Society convention will be here before you know it! It’s hard to believe that it is less than three months away. Our committees are busy planning another great convention.

It’s time to start picking out your show plants and giving them a little extra TLC. We have a lot of special awards this year. Thanks to the generosity of our members, we have a record amount of money to be awarded to our show winners.

Our presentations will once again be held right in the showroom. There is plenty of space for everyone to sit and we might even gain a few extra attendees just by having it in the open where people could see what is going on. It is also nice to have a place to sit and visit during the show.

Terri Vicenzi has lined up some interesting speakers for our three presentations. We will have one on growing plants for show, one on Petrocosmeas and one on a newbie’s perspective after attending her first show last year. Lori Hilfer is in the process of contacting our vendors. We had all of our loyal vendors last year and are hoping for a couple of new ones this year. Since Kingwood Center Gardens has changed their policy on Garden/Horticultural events, we no longer need to charge our vendors for their tables.

All attendees will need to enter through Kingwood’s main visitors’ entrance and as long as you are registered for the convention, you will not have to pay admission. There is no charge for parking. For our exhibitors and vendors, you can now use the service entrance past the visitor center to get right up behind the main building (showroom) to drop off your plants. After moving your car to the parking lot, you can re-enter through the main entrance, since your name will be on the list of attendees.

Kingwood Center Gardens now has a restaurant on site, so you do not have to leave the grounds for lunch. However, since the Columbus club is overseeing the hospitality room, I hear they might have something special planned for our lunch. I’m sure they will still welcome any snacks or drinks that you would like to bring. Our hospitality room is located in the back room of the sales building (aka known as the roost building since it used to house the chickens.) Everyone is welcome to stop by for a snack or drink.

Please plan to stay a little late on Friday evening for our annual meeting. It will be held at 5:00 pm (as soon as the show closes) in the showroom. This is our only meeting of the year, so it is very important that everyone attend. It usually only takes about 30 minutes, but we have some extremely important issues that we will be voting on this year, so please try to attend.

We have a block of rooms reserved at the Hampton Inn, Mansfield/Ontario for $129 plus taxes per night for either two queen beds or one king. They have been going through an extensive renovation so all of our rooms will be brand new. You will need to call directly to get the special rate. The number is 419-747-5353. Our block is reserved under “Ohio State African Violet Society.” The cutoff date is midnight, August 20, so don’t wait too long.

We are once again utilizing the Caterer’s facility for our Saturday night banquet. It is located just a few miles from both Kingwood and our hotel. We are limited to 50 people due to the size of their room, so be sure to get your reservations in early. The menu is listed on our registration form. We will have a cash bar available. Soft drinks coffee and tea are included.

This year’s program will feature a guest speaker. Dr. Jeremy Keene will be speaking and if you heard his presentation last year you will definitely want to hear him speak again. We will also have our silent auction during the dinner. If you have anything that you can donate to either the live or silent auction, please bring it with you. All donations are truly appreciated — and remember, nothing is too big or too small. Mark your calendars, make your reservations, send in your registration and keep grooming those plants.

2025 Convention Show Awards
Thanks to everyone who donated awards for this year’s show. Last year we gave out just over $1100 in cash awards. It is prestigious to win any award at a state show, but having a little extra incentive with a cash award is truly a plus. Hopefully it is a little extra encouragement to grow and enter something that you might not already be growing.

We have a lot “special awards” this year, but we can always use more. You can designate a special award for an individual plant — like “Best Kentucky Gooseberries,” a special award for a certain hybridizer — like “Best Optimara,” a special award for a certain class — like “best in class 44,” a certain type of plant — like best trailer or best Streptocarpus, or just designate “as needed” and it will be used for class awards.

If you would like to contribute to the awards fund for 2025, please call or text 859-240-9057 or email pennypwic@aol.com, or just send it to me at 4807 Petes Lane, Petersburg, KY 41080. Please make check out to OSAVS and put “awards fund” in the memo line. If you donated a special award for 2024 and it was not given out, it will carry over to the next show.

Thank you to everyone who already signed up to sponsor an award at this year’s convention. If signed up at last year’s convention and have not sent your money in yet, please do so as soon as possible. If my records show that we have not received your donation yet, I will be sending out an email reminder. Please do not be offended as it may have accidentally been recorded in the incorrect category or may have even been lost in the mail. Just let me know and we will try to track it down. I’m looking forward to another great show in 2025, with lots of beautiful award-winning plants!!!

See you in September!

Penny Wichman
pennypwic@aol.com

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Constitution and BYLAWS of The African Violet Judges Council of Ohio

Kingwood Center GardensMansfield, OH

2025 Ohio State African Violet Society Convention/Show/Sale News

Kingwood Center Gardens

Mansfield, OH