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Hello from Winnipeg,




             where it’s Cold Outside



                and Funny Within...







                                                    Cliff Hartmier


          With  the international borders less                                 So the  Winnipeg  group  gets together
        hassle-free to travel than in 2022, I was                             about once a month. The theme for the
        able to attend the annual convention in                                last meeting was to bring something to
        Orlando which  brought  memories of                                    present. One of the long time clowns
        the 2016 convention. During the plan-                                   "Gary" decided to have the group cri-
        ning stages, I recalled that a member                                  tique him on a skit that he is working
        of the executive board back in 2016 had                                on. It was done well and the group
        rented a vehicle to have handy if needed,                             provided feedback thus making it ed-
        for arriving members. This was her                                      ucational for all. Another of the new
        personal endeavor back in 2016                                              clowns showed their musical tal-
        and after  querying the exec-                                                  ents on  the  ukulele.  It  was  a
        utive, I undertook it as my                                                       small crowd at the meeting,
        personal    contribution.                                                           but it is still an opportu-
        Numerous      members                                                                 nity to perform in front
        requested the service                                                                  of others. There was
        and It was enjoyable                                                                    some  rebutting  go-
        for the one on one                                                                       ing  back  between
        informative    con-                                                                      the  player and  her
        versations with the                                                                      mom.  Initially,  the
        riders. It should be                                                                     mom  started play-
        noted that due to                                                                        ing  but  the  daugh-
        liabilities, this had                                                                    ter showed her up
        to be a personal un-                                                                     by being the bet-
        dertaking  instead  of                                                                  ter player. Anoth-
        a WCA service.                                                                         er well known cur-
                                                                                              rent WCA executive
          The  first  WCA  con-
                                                                                             was also in attendance,
        vention that I attend-                                                             Charles  "Sleepy" Laud-
        ed  was  back  in  2000 with                                                     er.  He brought his compact
        Deanna and my step daughter                                                   plate spinning  suitcase and  ev-
        in Toronto  Canada. I could men-                                          eryone tried their hand at this skill.
        tion that  we  did  try to arrange our                               Personally, it was my first real attempt
        wedding  to happen  at the  2000 convention                 at plate spinning, but another segment of this eve-
        but  scheduling became a challenge. Since then, the     ning meeting. The group had a first timer and we all
        core of Canadians that have been visible and active for   enjoyed a demonstration on LED POIs. These are LED
        WCA have been from Winnipeg. The Winnipeg group         lit balls on strings. Although there was no individual
        has been since the early 1980s. It did start as a COA al-  practice, it did serve to enrich our minds on something
        ley and later became a WCA /COAI alley. Currently, we   that tended to be fascinating. Our very own WCA Past
        are just a WCA alley.

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