Youth Stamp Fair a Huge Success

The 20th Annual Ventura County (California) Youth Stamp Fair was a huge success with dozens of enthusiastic children learning about the hobby this past weekend.

Children received a 'philatelic passport' which was stamped at each of the tables where members of the Ventura County Philatelic Society and others explained how to put together a first class collection.

The event was also open to adults. Several came to find out what their old collections were worth and rediscovered the magic that is stamp collecting.

John Weigle, stamp columnist for the Ventura County Star and chairman of the Youth Stamp Fair, pointed out in a recent article, "Many of our visitors have attended for several years, returning to brush up on their knowledge, get new stamps for their collections, make stamp bookmarks, take part in the cachet (pictorial envelope) contest and hope for one of the many door prizes."

He went on to say, "While the most popular part of the event is no doubt the boxes of free stamps to search through, members of the adult club will also show how to safely get stamps off paper (and why you might want to), how to store and mount stamps and covers, how and why to find watermarks and perforations, how to identify stamps, and collecting covers and topical stamps. There are also stamp games and, for the first time in several years, we expect a Boy Scout Merit Badge counselor to be available for Scouts working on the badge."

A tip of the tongs to John and everyone else involved in putting together this great National Stamp Collecting Month event! Well done folks!

To read John's article, click here.