The 8th annual Genesee Valley Flintknapper’s Stone Tool Craftsman’s Show, held at Letchworth State Park near Castile, New York was another success. Early fears that hurricane Bonnie would attend never came to fruition. There were a few showers over the weekend, but the weather was usually pleasant.

The excitement over the event was evident by Thursday evening, as quite a few knappers and their families were already in camp. By Friday night, the place was jumpin’. These days leading up to the main event are enjoyable, as the knappers have time to socialize before the public shows up. It is also a good time to glean the best stone from the rock vendors!

The "official" knap-in started Saturday morning. By 11:00 the place was packed. This event is more than a knap-in, and there was lots for folks to see and do. In the northeast, the atl- atl crowd is becoming closely associated with the knappers, and Bob Berg started things off with a demonstration on the atl-atl. This was followed by two days of competitions and open shooting, with many visitors trying the spear-thrower for the first time. Several knappers are now quite efficient with the atl-atl, and scored well in the World Atl-Atl Association’s International shoots. There was also a mountain man encampment, and quite a few non-knapper vendors selling Native American art, books and other goodies.

Other presentations were given on Saturday. Craig Ratzat demonstrated spalling techniques, Ken Wallace explained how he makes his wonderful flutes (musical instruments, not fluted points, which he is very good at too!). Greg Haskell talked about bow making, and yours truly gave a short demonstration on pressure flaking slabs and glass. Local knapper Tom Pedlow organized these sessions.

The rock vendors seemed to be doing a great job supplying the stone-starved. Craig Ratzat was in from Oregon with the usual four or so tons of rock! His trailer always seems to be mobbed. Georgian Mark Bracken and his family were there with some Coastal Plains and other stone, regular Steve Berhnes from Louisiana had some beautiful jasper, Roy Miller had the finest from Flint Ridge, Eric Morris from Eric’s rocks and such had a variety of carving stone and various minerals. Several vendors had Burlington, including Jim Readfearn and Jim Woodring.

There were some mighty fine displays of knapped work on hand, but most vendors reported sluggish sales of these items. It is fun to see an individual knapper’s improvement over a year. Our own Col. James A. Woodring, former Exalted National Janitor of the Oogah-Booga Society, had some top-notch points of Flint Ridge on hand that could have easily passed for Roy Miller’s work! The comparison was easy, as Roy had examples of his great work to show, too. Also, Canadian Dan Long had some points on display which were a far cry from the point-style named for him (we all make fat stuff early in our knapping careers, Dan just won some fame with his "Long Points"). Charlie Brumbaugh led the knifemakers with his incredible creations. There were just too many good knappers displaying points to mention them all here. If you are new to flintknapping and feel I have already mentioned too many names, sorry. The knapping community is small, and after a year or three of attending knap-ins and networking you will know most of these folks and appreciate this kind of report!

Saturday night means one thing (at least after lots of good food and beverage is consumed). Oogah-Boogah! Newly crowned Great Chief Dana Klein inducted 40 +or- new members into the Secret Ear Of Corn Society. If you are not yet a member, get your butt to a knap-in and join. It is something every knapper should strive for! Notably absent this year was retired Great Chief Robby Robinson, who had to cancel plans to attend for medical reasons. Better get better Robby, as we will only accept that excuse once!

Sunday is awards day. Actually the Lifetime Achievement "Wall of Fame Award" was awarded Saturday night, as only one of the three recipients was present and had to travel early Sunday. This award recognizes knapping skill and promotion of the craft. The winners, chosen by committee, were Jim Spears, Charley Shewey and Rick Antonelli..

The Howdy Award is given in memory of Howard "Howdy" Lang, who was an inspiration to show founder Ken Wallace and other members of the Genesee Valley Flintknappers Association. All event attendees are allowed to vote for the individual they feel is most responsible for making their visit to the event enjoyable. This year, Bob Marble won the honor. Bob worked tirelessly to set up the show, and then spent all of Saturday and Sunday in the kitchen with last year’s winner, Joe Hewitt, cooking to feed the crowd and raising money for the Association. Hats off to both fellows, and anybody else who gave them a hand.

There were two new knapping awards added to the traditional ones: the best point made at the show, and the best of show, which is chosen from those on display. Ken Wallace won the former, and Joe Olverd won the latter with one of his huge percussed obsidian blades. Mr. Wallace also won the New York Lithics category (nothing like dominating your own knap-in, Ken!). Famed atl-atlist Bob Berg was also a double winner, taking both the Archaic and Paleo Fluted honors. Jim Readfearn from Missouri took Artistic Expression In Stone; Don Hoffner won in Woodland; and Jim Fisher took the Lamoka crown. Judges were Dr. Jack Holland, Paul Trotta and Mary Webster. Brian Krawczyk won an award for the best Mountain Man.

There are far too many people who deserve mention for their contribution to this show than can be mentioned here, but a few must be! Give a round of applause to Ken Wallace for founding such a fine show, and being the "front man" personality associated with it. The Bulk of the organizing and promoting work is done by Dana Klein, supported by Kay Inman. Dana’s extreme generosity and friendliness (and financing!) help make the show what it is; and as Ken Wallace will tell you, the event wouldn’t happen at all without him. Many other folks help with the proceedings, including Howdy Lang’s widow, Jan, who helps out at the GVFKA’s table.

If an Award was given to the knapper traveling the farthest to attend the Stone Tool Craftsman show, Craig Ratzat would have won at a trot. Jim and Anne Overcash, and Jack and Ann McCormack, all from Texas, enriched the show. Jack used his considerable talents as an auctioneer on Sunday to raise money to offset show related costs in an auction of generously donated goods. (Bob Berg was an entertaining auctioneer on Saturday. Jack is the more polished of the two, but Bob sold a chunk of firewood for $40! So choosing a winner would have been difficult had there been a contest for best auctioneer!). Jim Overcash is a friendly and generous guy, who said he traveled the distance because of the friendly folks associated with the knap-in. That is really the essence of this knap-in. Friendship, good will, generosity and happy people are the norm here! Keep the weekend before Labor Day weekend open for next year and head to rural western New York (it is 450 +or- miles from New York City, and might as well be 5,000!). You won’t regret it.