RMS 2011 CONVENTION REPORT by Joe DeGennaro   The 2011 RMS Convention is in the books and it was a most enjoyable one.  It seems that all of the conventions I've been to in Ohio are always well planned and well executed.  That's because there are a lot of great collectors in the state as well as some terrific clubs like Tri-State Cardinal and Forrest City and Penn-Ohio, this year's sponsoring clubs.  They can be very proud of a job well done.   There were 167 registered.  Add to that many spouses who attended and you have a really nice turn-out.  27 states were represented with the most,  43,  coming from Ohio, followed by Pennsylvania with 21 and Wisconsin with 8 and Michigan with 7.  There were 21 attendees from Canada and two from England. 19 were first time attendees.  The Convention bag was one of the best I've seen in a long time and mine contained three features. I wasn't there for the two trips on Monday and Tuesday but I'm told they were both well received and most enjoyable, especially the Tuesday one which had a great tour guide.   A very large ballroom housed 11 dealers, which seemed to me to be the largest number of dealers in recent years.  The registration and grab tables were located in the same room and Bob Hofacker kept the grab tables well stocked with many treasures to be found.   The Display room was chocked full with a wealth of wonderful entrees to be viewed and enjoyed (and in many cases drooled over).  There were 115 displays entered by 31 collectors.  Bill Evans was the big winner once again with 8 RMS awards (including 3 Firsts) and 3 local club ones plus the People's Choice and the Best of Show Awards.  His "Big Bands" display, which won those last two major awards, had many tempted to try and sneak out with it.  Marc Edelman and Ellen Gutting each won 4  plus 3 local club awards and Jim Benes won 3.   There were so many great displays but, besides Bill Evans "Big Band" one, my favorites were Bill Bias's "Tucker Display" (complete with a beautiful red model of the car) and Helen Hollmann's "Lindbergh".     There were four auctions with Wray Martin and his crew doing their usual top rate job of selling a lot of great lots that Pat Shappell and her helpers had put together for them.  There were many bargains to be had but the 4 auctions still brought in $18,380 with the local club's share being $3,675.50.  Not to shabby! The “Night at the Races" Thursday night event was very well put together and had a lot of people having fun and behaving like the fake paper money we were given was real.  The betting windows added a nice touch and, at the end, the money we won could be turned into raffle tickets which were then drawn for real money prizes. There were 90 people at the final banquet with a very nice meal served.  Since the RMS awards had been awarded by being placed with the displays in the display room this helped to shorten the presentations.  After a most enjoyable meal many of us adjoined to the bar where John Woods, in his usual tradition, toasted and wished everyone, not goodbye, but until we meet again next year in Niagara Falls. We headed home not only with lots of matches but with a lot of new memories to cherish.

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