President's Message - Reprinted from the Winter 2006-2007 Merry-Go-Roundup

Fun at the 2006 NCA Convention . . .

By Bette Largent, NCA President


	The Nunn farm was also the site of the annual NCA Auction. Some of the attendees included (left to right), Jo Downey, Barbara May, Jerry Reinhardt, Lorraine Kenfield, Linda McDonald, Sharon Black, and Tom Allen. Photo by Dennis Towndrow.

The morning after our visit to the Nunn's farm, which included dinner, I kept thinking of the song, Who Let the Dogs Out. The dinner served in a "barn," complete with horses, kittens that entertained everyone, and more - after the meal was served, they let in the dogs. Corgis, three of them, just like Queen Elizabeth's.

I had already met the trio a couple of days earlier, so here they came, ready to be everyone's friends. All of a sudden, I had all three of them under my table or sitting on my feet. They don't mind band organ music, or crowds, and greeted everyone.

Diane and Bill Nunn, with the help of friends, as well as Linda McDonald and Lorraine Kenfield, had transformed the area into quite a banquet site. Banks of straw bales, fall mums, pumpkins, and corn stalks were everywhere. There was an outhouse in the corner behind the cornstalks, and I recalled that in my youth, a fun night was tipping such things over. They had miniature trains to ride us around the perimeter of the farm, despite the pouring rain.

And various monkeys and apes were scattered about, including a large one at the entrance that was animated and gave us a big hello as we entered. I asked Bill about them, and he said they were his mother's idea.

Then there was Roger, the horse that entertained early visitors to the stable area. (I made the rounds of the 20-horse stable and found a bay who loved his nose tickled and would also smile. I showed him to the Sharkeys, and after Roger entertained them and got them to talk to him, Bill's comment was, "I've never been this close to a horse in my life!")


	Roger Courtesy of Don Johnston

Roger is a 17-year-old jumper, as well as a clown. He put on quite a performance, especially when he saw a camera in hand. He would nod his head for "yes," smile for every picture, and obviously enjoyed showing how he could stick out his tongue and roll in any treat we might offer.

The vintage buses were fun, as well. They still had advertisements over the seats from the 1940s and 50s, which amused us.

We thought, how times have changed, and woman's fashions as well. We didn't worry about a breakdown, as we were escorted by our own personal mechanic. We considered him our insurance policy; by the way, he used to rebuild pipe organs. He also wanted to see the Nunn's organ collection.

The Nunns have a stud horse that is a Holsteiner, pronounced the German way (stine). And it is white, which fascinated me, as Looff was from Schleswig-Holstein. Was this the breed that inspired all the white horses on his carousels?

Peter and Nancy's presentation on David Lightfoot, and their researching of the fact that Lightfoot carved PTC #33, was fascinating.

We urged Peter to submit it to Roundup for publication, as it is important carousel history. He promised he would, and we hope he doesn't forget.

I would love to see an entire photo album of this convention, like a travel scrapbook, as we certainly did travel and ate a lot of wild rice, but that's another story.