2017 RWCS Convention to be Held at Minnesota State College Southeast’s Red Wing campus

Minnesota State College Southeast Red Wing

RED WING, MN – The Red Wing Collectors Society Annual Convention, July 6-8, 2017 will do some “time traveling”  when the RWCS celebrates its 40^th Anniversary. The 2017 Convention will feature a new location: the Minnesota State College Southeast Red Wing campus.

The Red Wing School District informed the RWCS this fall that due to facility improvements and upgrades, Red Wing High School won’t be available to host the Annual RWCS Convention in 2017 or 2018. We can’t thank the district enough for its past support, as the high school has been a great facility for our event and the staff has been a pleasure to work with since we started holding the Convention there in 1996.

The move to the local college presents a perfect theme for the 40^th Anniversary – “Back to the Future” – as the RWCS held its Convention there from 1979 to 1995. Members who attended in those years have fond memories of what was then called the “VoTech”.

“The college is excited to host the RWCS Convention in 2017,” said Katie Hardyman, Director of Business Relations at Minnesota State College Southeast. “I am excited to be working with the Red Wing Collectors again!” Hardyman is very familiar with the RWCS Convention, as she once served as the group’s membership services staff person. In addition, she also was an employee of the RWCS Foundation prior to joining the college.

The campus has since been renovated and will serve as an excellent venue for activities like educational sessions, hands-on pottery classes, Commemorative distribution and the always popular Convention Display Room. The only events that Minnesota State College Southeast can’t accommodate are the official RWCS Convention Auction on Thursday, July 6 and the Convention Show & Sale on Saturday, July 8. The RWCS is close to finalizing a new location for these activities and will provide an update as soon as possible.

Nancy Lambert, RWCS Historian and Anniversary Committee Chair, has been busy already planning for the 40^th Anniversary celebration with a freshened event schedule as well as the anniversary attendee pin members have come to enjoy. The RWCS has commissioned Scott Draves of Door Pottery to once again create a tile for the club’s milestone event. All RWCS members will have the opportunity to order the tile on their Convention order forms in the February RWCS Newsletter. This unique piece will be offered in addition to the annual Convention commemorative that the organization’s Commemorative Manager, Bob Morawski is busy finalizing.

RWCS members are encouraged to attend MidWinter, February 24-16, 2017 in Des Moines, IA to get all the latest information on Convention! Lambert and Stacy Wegner, RWCS Executive Director, will share more details about the 2017 Convention during the event’s keynote presentation.

Annual membership in the Red Wing Collectors Society costs only $35 and includes six 16-page full-color newsletters mailed to your home throughout the year. The RWCS was founded in 1977 in Red Wing and there are more than 3,000 members worldwide. For more information or to become a member, call the RWCS business office at 800-977-7927, e-mail membership@redwingcollectors.org or log on to www.redwingcollectors.org. You can also follow the RWCS on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RedWingCollectorsSociety and Twitter at @RWCollectors.