From the Helm

WOW! – We’re four events into our year. How quickly the months fly by. I’ve seen many of you at these four events and hope to see many more of you at Beaver Lake or GrandLake. The Garvan Gardens event was wet yet fun. Wichita had its largest turn out and Table Rock the largest attendance of its history. A round of applause to all the show committees that work to make these events a reality!

2008 Events –
Only three Heartland events left this year – mark your calendars so you don’t miss the fun!

Beaver Lake Cruise – Rogers, AR - July 19
Grand Lake Boat Show – Grand Lake, OK - September 11 – 14
Heartland Classics Annual Meeting – Little Rock, AR – early November

Grand Lake Volunteers– The September 13th boat show is on track. With the Grand Lake Rally marketing us, in addition to our marketing, we anticipate a much larger crowd this year. If you haven’t already made your reservations, you should make them today. The increased attendance is good news but makes it all the more important we have more volunteers than we did last year. Our show has grown each year but the number of volunteers has stayed static with the same people handling more and more of the work load. The Boat Show Committee will soon be developing the Volunteer Schedule. We need your help - Please reach out to me at (jwatki@sbcglobal.net) jwatki (at) sbcglobal (dot) net if you would like to be a volunteer at this year’s show.

Website– If you aren’t regularly checking www.heartland-classics.org then you are missing out. Kathy Parker is continually updating the site with new pictures and content. Try visiting the site every few weeks. You’ll be glad you did.

Newsletter – We need your stories and pictures of your recent trips and adventures. Please send content to mahoganyandchrome@gmail.com

2009 Workshop– While the final date for the 2009 Workshop is not yet set, we need to start planning the agenda. Do you have a subject you’d like to learn more about at next year’s workshop? Please send your ideas to Kyle at Kyle6@cox.net


I hope to see you at a Heartland event very soon!

Stay safe.

John Watkins


Please note that I have a new email address: (jwatki@sbcglobal.net) jwatki (at) sbcglobal (dot) net