GBACG Open House 2020 Review

By Christopher Erickson
GBACG Board Member-At-Large

The Greater Bay Area Costumers Guild (GBACG) recently held their 2020 annual open house on Sunday, January 26, in the Albany Veteran’s War Memorial Hall in Albany, California. As it is also the 30^th year of GBACG organizing events, the open house had a few special arrangements this year including a catered lunch. As per usual, raffle tickets were sold for multiple chances to win donated items ranging from uncut patterns, books, fabric, shoes and outfits. There was also a silent auction with a number of high-quality donated items.

The President of GBACG, Frances Lopez, gave the keynote address welcoming everyone and looking forward to the coming year. She emphasized that GBACG is an inclusive group regardless of sewing ability, costuming resources, ethnicity or gender identity. The other board members also gave their reports. The Treasurer, Cynthia Howell, reported that guild is financially stable. The Membership Coordinator and Acting Secretary, Kathe Gust, reported that membership numbers are strong and she asked people in the packed hall to identify themselves as she called out different lengths of time they have been members (one year, five years, 10 years, etc.) all the way back to people from the beginning. The Webmistress and Social Media Coordinator, Lauren Moyer, highlighted the different platforms that we use to promote events. The Finery Editor, Jean Martin, highlighted that there were 15 published articles since she and I took over blogging duties as of May last year. She also requested contributions to Finery and said that ideas for submissions can be sent to newsletter@gbacg.org.

The Fashion Show was the centerpiece event of the day with guild members modeling samples of different outfits that can be worn to several upcoming GBACG events as shown below:

After the Fashion Show, the silent auction was closed and then the raffle winners were announced. After several rounds of winners made their selections, the event ended and volunteers stayed to help clean up and put back the tables and chairs.