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PUGET SOUND KOI CLUB'S 2011 GRANT ARTICLE
The Puget Sound Koi Club
once again staffed a booth at the Puyallup Spring Fair held at the Western Washington Fair Grounds in Puyallup, Washington
from April 14 - 17, 2011. Our long term attendance at the Fair has resulted in a prime
booth location in the main exhibition hall. We shared our booth with Hoshi Koi, a local
Koi and pond vendor that brings products and expertise for interested attendees. This
year’s Fair had excellent attendance with almost 115,000 guests. Tens of thousands
of visitors passed by the booth and hundreds stopped by to see the display Koi, gather information, and chat with the club
members about all things Koi.
Puget Sound Koi Club members
staffed the booth at all times while the Fair was open. President Rick Beasley and
Secretary/newsletter editor Maggie Post served the club well by attending every day and being present when no one else was
available, especially during the work day runs. Many club members took turns and a
good time was had by all. The display tables were filled with club and hobby information
including flyers, brochures, Koi ownership facts, club information, and other offerings for interested attendees. The handouts included information on the club’s upcoming koi show and club membership, PNKCA membership,
pond construction, water maintenance, and manufacturer pamphlets for pond and koi related products. An active computer display was set up showing photos of construction of various members’ ponds, fish, and
associated activities. Many visitors already owned ponds and were seeking information
on proper maintenance and trouble shooting. Booth staffers were rewarded with an endless opportunity
to discuss their favorite pastime with interested members of the public. Many booth
visitors signed up to receive more information and explore club membership. This event
continues to be our best opportunity to interact with the community, promote the hobby to the public, and gain new members. We look forward to continuing this event for many years.
 Northwest Koi and Goldfish Club's Grant Article
 
Each year the members of Northwest Koi and Goldfish Club enjoy the
day talking to the children about koi at Portland’s Japanese Garden. The children come to the Garden on the first weekend
in May to celebrate Children’s Day. This year it was on Saturday, May 7th and even though the day was cloudy
with a slight bit of rain (big surprise!), it didn’t dampen the children’s enjoyment of this fun event. The members
of Northwest Club set up a display tank with several beautiful koi for the children to ask interesting questions about and
we were not disappointed in their inquisitive little minds. Besides enjoying the fish and learning about them, the children
also had fun folding origami koi that the club provided for them and reading about the koi in a pamphlet that the members
handed out.
This year our Children’s Day event was not only a celebration
of the children but also a celebration of koi. We had the honor of participating in the introduction of the new koi that the
Japanese Garden had donated to them this year. The introduction of the new koi came shortly after the renovation of the pond
including excavating the pond to add depth, a new polyurea liner, a new filtration system, pumps, skimmers and UV lights.
It was an exciting event to see the original fish re-introduced back into their environment and the beautiful new Japanese
koi named and introduced into the pond by the donors of the fish. The children and our members had a great time at the Japanese
Garden and all of us look forward to doing this event again next year! The club really appreciates the grant money that PNKCA
has approved for us this year, it helped to make our day at the Japanese Garden a very successful and fun event.
Submitted by:Linda
Montgomery, Northwest Koi and Goldfish Club
Siskiyou Koi & Pond Club's
Grant Article
The 2nd bi-annual Siskiyou
Koi & Pond Club pond tour went off as planned, in spite of the high temperatures that day.
The board members worked on plans for the pond tour for nearly two years and the planning really paid off. There were few, if any, last minute glitches. We were very
proud of the tour brochure which directed the visitors from one pond to the next with a brief write up on each pond. Visitors were greeted at each pond by a club member, and then each pond owner talked
to the visitors and explained and answered questions about their individual pond. The
questions were many and varied. It is always so much fun to talk to people who either do not have a pond and have lots of
questions or those who might be planning to build a pond and are perspective members.
We had one couple who was on the tour that day who took home an application and returned to the barbeque that evening
with their application and joined our club. We are hopeful there will be others
who will join in the near future.
We had 8 ponds on the tour and all but three were handicap-accessible.
There were 4 busses from area retirement homes which brought 28 visitors to our ponds. They came from Ashland, Central
Point, Medford and Grants Pass.
Ponds hosts reported anywhere from
80 to 140 visitors. This was up by about 40 visitors from our first tour two
years ago.
The visitors to our ponds were all
very complimentary and seemed to enjoy what they were seeing. It is a lot of work for the hosting pond owners and all club
members who participated were very relieved when it was over. Following the tour, Ron and Linda Johnson hosted a potluck bbq at their home. Ron barbequed a beef brisket and chicken and everyone else brought side dishes. It was all delicious.
Mid-Columbia Koi Club's Grant Article
Steve Joneli's Showers Filter Seminar
a hit with seminar participants
In a follow-up to last year's spring seminar
on DIY sand filters,
Steve Joneli, of High Desert Koi Ponds of Redmond, OR., made a return engagement on March 25 to an
appreciative audience.
This time his topic was Shower Trays, or how to use them for pond filtration. For several people
in the audience, the idea of a showers filter was a new concept.
The topic even brought visitors from the
Spokane koi club who wanted to hear about this innovative filtration process that helps degas impurities from a pond. Steve
stayed for the weekend, and installed the Cetus Sieve prefilter (the grey box pictured behind Steve on the right) in Carmen's
pond.
Steve Joneli illustrates by way of his laptop a pond with
high amounts of dissolved organics, and thus covered in foam. Steve was explaining how he installs foam fractionators onto
his showers filter system, thus helping to eliminate the foam. Pictured with him is Dianna Lynn Rehn, president of the Inland
Empire Water Garden & Koi Society of Spokane, WA.
Cascade Koi & Goldfish Club's Grant Article
Hughes Water Gardens Held their Water Lily festival August
24th, what a Beautiful day it was. Cascade Koi & Goldfish Club
set up a booth under the shade trees and stayed cool in the 80 plus degree heat.
Club members answered many Koi, Goldfish & pond question. The
amazement was on the vast different types of filter material that we had displayed was of interest from the Gardens patrons.
Linda Montgomery handed out fish necklaces and helped the children fold origami paper, for the children that
walked by.
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