Photo by Erica
Many thanks to the crew that set up the guild booth in Victoria at ANWG 2017, to Erica, who got these excellent photos before the crowds filled the show, and to those guild members who contributed their work to the display.
Photo by Erica
Photo by Erica
The much-awaited 2017 ANWG conference in Victoria was a huge success, by all accounts. The guild booth displays were wonderful, and the vendors plentiful, with many Canadian vendors as well as a few from the U.S. The seminars and classes were great, we all learned a lot. The juried show offerings and instructor displays were astounding. As usual, the fashion show was innovative and displayed a huge variety of works. While not as vertically challenging as the previous venue at Bellingham in 2013, the flat but sprawling campus of the University of Victoria was a workout. I logged 10 km (6 miles) on my fitness tracker on Saturday, checking out all the displays, activities, and class locations.
For those who stayed on campus, the conference was the main focus. But, those of us who stayed in downtown Victoria shared in the spectacular 150th celebration of Canada as a nation, on Saturday. All streets surrounding the Inner Harbour were blocked off to accommodate the street vendors and the crowds that flocked to see the fireworks and participate in the celebration. Several giant cruise ships brought in even more tourists. The excellent BC Transit bus system made it easy to get to the University, with three downtown bus lines running every few minutes to and from the campus, though the schedule got a bit hectic on Saturday night.
Many attendees took advantage of the location to extend their stay and explore Victoria and Vancouver Island, a prime vacation destination, and the weather couldn’t have been better. While others took in Butchart Gardens or other popular tourist sites, Judy and I joined hundreds of locals and tourists to bicycle the Galloping Goose and Lochside Trails on Monday, the official business holiday, Canada Day having fallen on Saturday. But, after 80 km (50 miles) of riding over the next three days, we were ready to head for home and get busy putting our re-energized fiber enthusiasm to work. We’re looking forward to the 2019 conference in Prince George, BC.