1st Annual KY Tradfest

[americanhunter7]

Well the 1st Annual KY Tradfest was Fantastic! The KTBA did a great job with this event and I'm glad I got to go even if just for a day. The KTBA did a wonderful job setting up this event. The location....Beautiful. The amount of space for camping, parking, and for vendor set-up...Plenty of room. The weather, (aside from the evil wind, which wreaked havoc on all of the vendors and campers tents), was great, blue skies a few clouds and lots of sunshine. Ok enough rambling and away we go with pics. I'll post a few, then tell a little about them then re-post with more pics. I hope you enjoy.

A view of the Pavillon tent where you could relax, get a bite to eat and sit down for a few.
 

Sign-in Area at the clubhouse for the Mercer Co. Fish and Game club. Also the location of Rod's classroom.

 

 

and to end this post a few pics of how clear the paths were on the ranges, this was range A.
 

 

I hope you enjoyed these pics I'll post more in a few.

[americanhunter7]

Ok so these were a quick few pics to start off with. KY Tradfest also had a ton of bowyers at the event on Saturday. Here are a few pics of some of the bowyers present.

St. Joe River Bows with Bow Man and DocUSN
   

River Raisin Bows
   

Northern Mist Longbows
   

Crooked Stic Traditional Bows
   

Herway Bows
   

   

Hill Country Bows
   

There are a few more bowyers and some other vendors I'll post in the next reply...(Only 8 pics per post and I took A TON of pics)!!!

[americanhunter7]

Ok so here we go folks it's quiz time. I'm gonna show you a pic, you tell me the bowyer. Here we go. Ok first clue...Is Lake....

   

Anyone know yet....(Nope the fella in the pic is NOT the bowyer, but works for him). Ok here's another pic.
   

Anybody recognize the tent??? Ok I'll give you a view from the inside.
   

If you have really good eyes you might be able to see the t-shirts and tell me who it is....No, no one know yet??? Well how about now...
   

No.....Still don't know...Well how bout now.
   

Here he is trading with 202turkey

 

Yes...It's Big Jim! To all of you who knew before this Good Job and Atta Boy's all around. For those who don't know him here's another pic.
   
Thanks for the pic Big Jim(I know, I know I owe you five bucks! LOL!) Seriously though Jim thanks for stopping for five seconds for a quick photo, I know you were SWAMPED all day long!!!

[americanhunter7]

And for those with the really good eyes that saw the pic of the T-shirt, here it is up close.
 

THIS IS ALSO THE T-SHIRT I BOUGHT AND LEFT AT THE KY TRADFEST DUE TO TAKING TOO MANY PICS.

Yes that's right I got too engrossed in the picture taking and talking that I left my Large Gray Big Jim t-shirt at the Tradfest...I was devastated when I got home and realized it was gone.    

I will keep it coming asI get more pics uploaded.

[americanhunter7]

Anyone know who this fella is...I know you're thinking I'm crazy...ANOTHER TG member quiz...YEP!

 

I hear he's a real wheelin', dealin', knife makin', story tellin' heck of a good guy.
 

And it's all true. For those that do not know this guy it's KOGER. I finally got to meet him and he's a great guy. I got to check out some of his knives and they are some scary sharp and nice looking knives. Sadly I was invited to dinner with KOGER (Elk burgers on the fire), but was unable to make it due to my drive-time and a promise to a beautiful lady (MY WIFE), that I would be home at a certain time. Sorry KOGER I would have loved to try some of that Elk, hopefully next time I can join you for dinner. Thanks for the invite.

I'll keep this coming as fast as I can. I hope for those who couldn't make it are able to feel like they were there. Missed all who couldn't make it, but I look forward to getting to meet more of you in the years to come.

[JamesJamison]

My son and I were there, and got to talk bows with lots of people.  We bought a few knives, walked the target course set up in the woods, and got to see some really good shooters, and a few that shoot alot like I shoot,lol.

It was alot of fun for sure, except for that gosh awful wind.

[americanhunter7]

Ok so no more quizes...At least for now....    but here are some of the other folks and vendors at the KY Tradfest. So here we go.

Ace Archery
 

 

Of course I can't forget the FUN of the aerial thrower and that crew...Again more TG members...
 

Big and Lil Jake in the back and Jaime and Desirae, (sorry if I spelled the girls names wrong). Lil Jake and the ladies ran the thrower, well at least they ran it when they weren't shootin' at it (LOL)!!! They were also nice enough to allow me a little time in the Pavillion tent to chat and have a bite to eat with them. Thanks for the company and the hospitality.

[KentuckyTJ]

Thanks for the picts John. It was a fantastic shoot and I for one am looking forward to next year already.

KTBA guys did a fantastic job.

[americanhunter7]

A few more pics of the aerial machine in action.
 

 

 

 

The kids had some fun at the event as well....Meet LuLu the pig!
 
This little girl was just sooo proud of her little pig target that she got from Big Jim. I asked her if she was gonna take it home and shoot at it...Wish you'd have been there for the response it was too funny.

I'm gonna include pics in my next post for all you Foodies. Man was the potluck food good.

[americanhunter7]

So here's a shot of a few of the KTBA member's cookin' up a few yummy morsels on the grill.
 

Here's a close up.
 

The line inside the Pavillion tent.
 

 

And of course here's a pic of Lil Jake tearin' it up!!
 

More to come!!!

[americanhunter7]

After dinner entertainment was great. What's better in the Bluegrass State of KY than Bluegrass??? Not much that I can think of other than some Trad shooting to go with it. I'll add a video as well, (I'll try at least)

 

And here's about a minute of the Bluegrass sorry for the low quality.

   

I'll have just a few more pics and then I'm done posting for the Saturday that I was there. I hope that others will post their pics and comments here as well.

[americanhunter7]

I'll finish my pics off with a few more TG members that I got to meet.

Here's Passthru and Derwood eatin' a little dessert after the potluck pitch-in.
 

And last but not leastI got this pic of Martha K as I was gettin' ready to head out.
 

Thanks to the KTBA for hosting such a great event, and I hope that they'll do this again next year. Thanks to all of the vendors and TG members who helped promote this event, I had an absolutely WONDERFUL time.

[koger]

I am suprised your camera is still alive after taking pics of my ugly mug. Good to meet you John, all my buds and I had a great time, good fellowship, great food, good crowds, and pretty good weather overall. I just rolled in and unloaded my stuff. Thanks for all the customers that bought my knives and assorted other doo-dadds, glad to get to meet so many tradgangers, looking forward to next year already. Sam.

[Benha]

It was fantastic for sure!

[bluegrassbowhunter]

I had a "BIG TIME"...Got to hang with Koger & Jeff Roark ,Eric, Kirby & "D" all weekend..as good a fellars as you gonna meet & some darn good shots...
That Koger is something else..I'm the owner of a new osage knife he made & he sent my son home with a pocket knive & my daughter some homemade summersausage...both my younguns think them fellars are it...Thank ya a bunch Sam...

Was good to finally meet Tom Jenkins & Jake with the aerial launcher seemed to be a big hit as well as his Can Cooker cooking at the pot luck Saturday night.
Really hated to see the weekend come to an end.I've got a few pictures I'll try to get up later..Looking forward to the next one......

[koger]

Mike it was great to see you again, and them two great kids of yours. That boys is a shooter, dis better on the long targets than the short ones, the wildlife is gonna be in trouble soon! And any girl as cute as yours, and who likes summer sausage as good as she does is just alright with me. It is a pleasure to see kids that have been raised right today, especially after the ones I work with. It was great hanging with you and the younguns, and chewing the fat at the campfire. Next time we need knee boots, cause it can get pretty deep around there. Hope you like your knife. Sam.

[Friend]

I am quite disappointed that I couldn't be a part of this.

Thank you for sharing. Must have been a wonderful time.

[KentuckyTJ]

Ok have more time now. It was great to meet you to Mark as well as Doug Catlett. Sorry again about shooting together Doug. I plan on making most the KTBA shoots this year so hopefully we can do it soon. It was also great meeting Bill and Tracy at Zipper. They were like meeting family and I could have talked with them all day. I have to get my hands on a SXT before next year so they will talk to me again. Met a few other TG members and it was enjoyable talking trad stuff. Next year we need to have a meet and greet time set up so we can all mingle. All those folks walking around it's hard to know who's who.

Also need to thank Big Jim for adding the beaver grip to my bow. If I would have known what that entailed I never would have asked him to do that at a show. He had much more important things to attend to but didn't hesitate to do it for me when asked. Good people he and his clan.

[wapiti1997]

It was an awesome event!  Enjoyed shooting with TJ as always..  It was a great time.. I wish I could have camped ans spent both days there...

[ckanous]

Love these get together's!!! I hate I'm gonna miss the CTA shoot I really enjoy the food the most!