Minnesota Dahlia Society

Hello Members

I want to begin with a warm welcome to all our new members that joined the Minnesota Dahlia Society (MDS) in 2007, as well as those who have joined this year. We have lots of opportunities for you to meet your fellow members, learn a bunch, and get your hands dirty at the same time.

Looking back, 2007 was another great year for MDS. Our key fund raising events, the two annual tuber sales, were very successful. We sold out of all our tubers, and you can't do any better than that.

I am amazed at how everybody rallied through some very adverse weather i.e.: tornados, hail storms, thunderstorms, wind, extreme heat and last but not least drought and a few pesky insects. In the end, we had two very well attended shows, and the blooms and arrangements were beautiful. Fantastic job everyone!

Congratulations also go to those of you who went to Chicago for the National Show; the Minnesota members that attended did very well. There were a lot of shows cancelled in other states due to the weather, so you all deserve an extra pat on the back.

Our Trial Garden also had a very successful year, with volunteers helping out, and with 15 entries earning a passing score.

I am also excited about our newly formed Judges Accreditation Committee, which has already begun organizing and getting plans together for the new year. We also have our newly formed Banquet Awards Committee.

In November, we had our 2007 awards banquet, which was very well attended, and everybody was very deserving of the awards, trophys and plaques that were handed out.

I want to say a big warm thank you to all of our Chairpersons, volunteers and members that made all these events and many more that I did not mention successful, please forgive me, without you this would not be possible.

Moving on to 2008, where we will once again have many opportunities to get together, mix and mingle and have fun. We have listed in this newsletter some of the events coming up soon with opportunities to volunteer and meet our new members. Please don't be shy.

Finally in closing if you have computer access, I urge you to check out our fresh new website, where you will find all our opportunities to attend and volunteer for 2008. John Ostgarden and Lowell Gordon have updated and redesigned our MDS website and have done a fantastic job, thank you so much.

If you have received this newsletter as an email, you are already on our website mailing list. If you receive this through the postal service and are interested in receiving MDS emails with membership updates and highlights on new content on the website, please click HERE to be taken back to the home page where you can sign up!

Scott E. Hegstrand