Good News for Winchester Steel Guitar Club

[Don Kona Woods]

The Aloha International Steel Guitar Club, the official name, is used less, and so the club has often been referred to as the Winchester Club because it is shorter.

The Winchester club has suffered for many years because of a lack of room accomodations for it's conventions. Many steelers tired of trying to get rooms locally at the Overpass which was always booked in advance and never available, and would call for moving the convention to a larger city. It always fell on deaf ears because, after all, that is where the club started. As a result attendance declined.

Well, tremendously good news has arrived. The following is excerpts from the local Winchester Newspaper.

Construction has begun on a $3 million motel.

Local investors Friday broke ground for a $3 million motel to be built near US Hwy. 27 at the intersection with State Road 32. Randolph Inn and Suites is due to open by June, 2007.

Winchester businessman Errol Klem, one of the investors in the project, said work would begin right away to build an upscale three-story 47-room motel near the Overpass Motel property. The new motel will have an indoor pool and a meeting room that seats 60.

Randolph County Hospitality purchased the 7.5 acre Overpass Motel property Oct. 1.

They plan to make improvements to the existing motel and continue to operate it in addition to the new facility. Recent improvements at the Overpass include high-speed wireless Internet free with all its rooms.

The Randolph Inn and Suites facility will have the capability of possible expansion at a later date if warranted.

If you desire to read the entire article, check below:

The Complete Article

Aloha,
Don

[Ron Simpson]

That is outstanding news Don, thanks for sharing it with us.

Ron

[Gerald Ross]

That is good news.

The lack of housing was the main thing that kept people away from the Winchester convention.

Now let's hope some younger people grab the torch and keep the convention going.

[Don Kona Woods]

What is appealing about Winchester is that it is a small, and a laid back kind of town.

In fact many of the Hawaiian Steel Guitarists from Hawaii have liked it very much because of that facet - small and laid back. It is the Nanakuli of the States. Does anyone need a translation of that statement? See me or ask Jeff A.

Aloha,

[Warren Slavin]

Yes, Randolf County is growing and the motel accommodations have to grow with it. My motel my first year was in Richmond (25 miles south), my second year was in Portland (25 miles north) -- the commuting to Winchester was worth it. Now we can have all attendees at one location.

Also, there is a new chemical company that has also broken ground for a new plant on route 32, the city/county is growing.

Inez Clevenger sent to Carol and myself an earlier article on the new motel -- Inez had been the care-giver to Haleloke for many years in Union City.

Hopefully, the Motel will be complete by July -- in any event, the Overpass is getting some much needed improvements.

Warren

[basilh]

Don 'Nanakuli', I hope not ..
Well at least according to THIS :-

How Nanakuli got its name
But whenpeople travelled through Nanakuli, the people there would act deaf, ... Nanakuli had very little water andthe water they had came from a few ...
www.waianae.k12.hi.us/virtualtour/nananame.html - 4k -

Nanakuli got its name from the phrase that travelers used to describe theirimpression of the people there. The travelers said that they were "ku nana kuli." ku means to stand, nana means to look, and kuli means deaf or knees. Thus Nanakuli means "they just stood there looking deaf" or "they just stood there looking down at their knees."

[Bill Creller]

I wonder what the situation will be with reservations ??

[Don Kona Woods]

Good question Bill, but I guess it is too early for that.

We will need a point-man in Winchester.

Baz that history does not sound very exciting on Nanakuli, so we will change it to Haleiwa.

Aloha,
Don

[basilh]

Yep Don, I thought the "Turning a deaf ear" was not exactly in line with our average conventioneer.
Although I have something to say about them :-
See this :-
Click This

[Don Kona Woods]

Whew!!! I feel relieved concerning "the World's Worst Steel Guitarist," he is evidently from the British Isles, eh? How so?

Some of us could have thought this was about us?

Well back to Winchester, the news about a $3 million motel provides alot of possibilities for the Steel Guitar Forumites to expand their musical horizons and come to the next convention in July. Always the first Thursday after July 4th holiday. It now looks like accomodations will no longer be a problem

The convention offers you the opportunity for new perspectives on Hawaiian steel guitar music from a variety of sources, workshops, the opportunity to be included in a family-like atmosphere by people with the aloha spirit, be entertained with some provocative episode by L.T. "Pilikia" Zinn, enjoy country cooking and homemade pie at Wicks, site of the Pie Making Factory, have an unique experience in the "Garage," and a laid-back Hawaiian type of experience.

Aloha,
Don

[Bill Wynne]

That is good news.

The lack of housing was the main thing that kept people away from the Winchester convention.

Now let's hope some younger people grab the torch and keep the convention going.

I found this while doing Google searches on the Aloha International Steel Guitar Club. I wanted to reassure folks that younger people have grabbed the torch. I am currently the coordinator of the annual convention in Winchester.

Mark Prucha (30) is the current Aloha International Steel Guitar Club president, and yours truly (53) is the current vice-president. Together (with a little help from friends and family) we just pulled off the 50th anniversary of this convention last weekend. We had nearly two dozen avid steelers perform, and in honor of our 50th, not one... not two... but THREE guest artists from Hawai`i - Alan Akaka, Bobby Ingano, and up-and-comer Joseph Zayac (a protege of Bobby's).

Be sure to "LIKE" the Aloha International Steel Guitar Club Facebook page to be informed of new videos that should be popping up throughout the coming days.

And rest assured that the club and its annual festival are in capable hands for years to come.

~ Bill Wynne, AISGC Vice-President

[Gerald Ross]

I will stay in touch. I missed this years. Next year for sure.