Fotia Posted January 1, 2017 Posted January 1, 2017 Wanting to see if there are any fellow pyro's in or around the TN area (I'm south-east) that may be intrested in starting a pyro club or at the least getting together to share ideas & projects.
OldMarine Posted January 1, 2017 Posted January 1, 2017 There's two of us in middle Tn. Boophenix and myself.
Fotia Posted January 1, 2017 Author Posted January 1, 2017 I have contacted a couple of more thanks to Mumbles, so let's get this party started! Oh BTW that was my phone that screwed up the title, but at least you got the intent. For those that don't know there is a Pyro supply shop in Loudon, TN called pyrocreation.com. I placed my first order with him the a few days back & there was no problems at all.
dynomike1 Posted January 1, 2017 Posted January 1, 2017 (edited) Count me in ( west Tn.) We can gather at the river. I buy a lot of stuff from Pyro creations. Is Pyroshow still down there Paul Edited January 1, 2017 by dynomike1
Fotia Posted January 1, 2017 Author Posted January 1, 2017 Never heard of them Mike. Maybe they are the people that do the show for Riverbend festival? Just tried to look them up & Google maps isn't working on my phone.
BlueComet24 Posted January 2, 2017 Posted January 2, 2017 Just throwing this out there as an interesting fact... Although you and someone else are both in Tennessee, you might not be very close together. Bristol, TN is closer to Canada than to Memphis!https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--HbFBJgBhx0/UBKddMAcOJI/AAAAAAAAAR4/T74X7oluZmo/w530-h417-p-rw/Google%2BEarth%2Bsnapshot
dynomike1 Posted January 2, 2017 Posted January 2, 2017 Yep Bristol is like the other side of the world from here.
Boophoenix Posted January 2, 2017 Posted January 2, 2017 We're a scattered group in TN for sure. There are a fair amount of pyro guys in east TN. Quite a few are just shooters. We have a few to the west and so far it just seems like me and Patrick in the middle as far and the hobby of manufacturing interests go. I've tossed the club idea around for a couple of years now as it seems from middle TN the closest event you can attend is an 8 hour drive on the manufacturing side of things. I've been to MFF a couple of times and am currently a member of PGI and FPAG as of 2016 4F event after attending a the previous year's events. Here is where we stand on doing something within our own area. Location, legalities, and insurance once we get past a couple of people gathering to tinker around a little. I have yet to find a licensed hobbiest in our area and have been toying with the idea of trying to do it. I'm currently trying to get all of the bases covered to approach that idea. I have gotten information that PGI offers about starting a club. The rumor is they'll help a little on the front end. My personal opinion is that if we can't do it on our own we shouldn't burden them to try to help. If we can get it off the ground though I don't see any reason why we couldn't inquire further though. I did find a host last summer willing to host us an event that can provide license, permits, and insurance to include some building. I can't share any information about this host till he gives me permition to do so though. A very few people are aware of the his arrangement and if they read this I'd appreciate they respect the intended hosts privacy till he's ready to announce it. The only issue is it has to be done around his schedule. Since he's kindly offered to possibly do this for us I have not pressed him hard to nail a date down. I think as sparse as we are as builders we have to include the shooters and personally I like just shooting sometimes as well as manufacturing. If we can't service the intire field of pyro I don't see the point in trying to form a club. The best way to proceed with just manufacturing is just have some small gatherings as I don't think there to be even a dozen of us. I've spoken to a few people about the possibilities should the location work out. I've inquired to a past PGI Grand Master about attending and a past professional manufacture and both showed interest in possibly attending. So we may could have some classes out of the gate for beginners. I know some guys who shoot commercially that are interested in the idea as well and offered some degree of sponsorship. I haven't asked to what degree till we can get a gathering out of the way and judge the interest and participation. I don't see any of this being easy once we pass a gathering of people to a club. It will require a lot of work and time by a few individuals. I know a couple of out of state builders near by who would enjoy attending an event within their travel distances. That's kind of where I've made it to in the hunt to gather and see what happens. If anyone else has some ideas, options, or opinions I'd be interested. So far past conversations and possibilities we've not completely secured any location that can support a gathering legally. I do hear rumors there was a shooters group some years ago. And I'm not pointing fingers or any blame as I don't know any full details of the situation as I wasn't a part of it. This is just little pieces of what I've heard. They had some gatherings and public discussions and caused some ruckus with the powers that be, vendors, and maybe themselves. So without the legal hurdle being overcome we should tread carefully. This is why I travel to legally sanctioned locations to get my pyro on.
Boophoenix Posted January 2, 2017 Posted January 2, 2017 Maybe we should try to set a gathering up of people interested in pursuing this idea and just discuss it? I feel awkward trying to set it up convenient to my area, but it does seem feesable being in middle TN. Toss some ideas out about getting together to see if we can wrangle enough interest to get past just gathering and talking about it to getting some fire in the sky and some smoke in the air! So long as we stay within and 8 hour range I can probably be there which covers the whole state easily from here. Mike Bristol area is a pull for you if I'm not mistaken that's nearing my 8 hour mark for you. I'd like to see if we can pull it off that we can move back and forth across the state to include everyone someday. It wouldn't be right to ask Mike to travel to Bristol for every event nor would it be right to have the Bristol area fellas have to travel to the west every time. FPAG travels a little threwout FL and it excludes some members because of distances, but it makes it easier for them to be included when the events get closer.
Fotia Posted January 2, 2017 Author Posted January 2, 2017 (edited) Bluecomet: as stated in the original post I said in or around the TN area. But it as Boo said there is, as far, as I known, a small & scattered bunch of people in TN. I tried talking to a guy at PGI that was in a club near Atl,GA but he acted like it was an exclusive club so I just let it be. If there are others in say KY & Ala. I'm all for inclusion; but with that said as Boo stated, we may be limited to locations. Boo: Wow, it seems you have the 411 already. Yes, I kind of figured the first meeting or 2 would be pow-wow sessions. I haven't made much because when I first joined PGI I was still in the middle of setting up my machine shop. I've made a couple of things but nowhere near the amount of tooling some guys have. As for a list, here is who I've talked/P.M.ed...Old MarineShuntDynamike Boo& myself make 5Plus maybe a guy named Joe about 3 or 4 hours north of me. I was thinking something under a 5 hour travel time myself. Some locations in the central TN area that way it was equal/fair to all. Not to leave out other states, but there are clubs in the surrounding states or you can be in as many as you want. It's up to you & how far you can stretch those $$$. I just wanted to give fellow TN people a chance of having more than a 1 time opportunity at PGI, but if you live in another stae, by all means, throw your hat in. These are all things that would need to be dicussed. Edited January 2, 2017 by Fotia
Boophoenix Posted January 2, 2017 Posted January 2, 2017 There are some gathering in southern GA. I'm not sure how open it is to anyone. I've been there, but we know each other from FPAG. There is a Blue Grass Guild that got me all excited when I saw the name since KY is the blue grass state. They tend to stay way north though. I've head mention they've considered a gathering Bowling Green though. Not really the 411 just did a lot of searching over the past couple of years. Even finding our local guys is difficult. I just found Mike in early summer I think it was threw a mutual friend. The worste than can happen is we make some efforts and can't pull it off. Which I hope isn't the case.
Fotia Posted January 2, 2017 Author Posted January 2, 2017 Bowling Green wouldn't be a bad haul. I'm probably going to miss PGI this year because Fargo is quite a ways for me. So what would you consider to be an good number of people to form a club? And BTW, I don't really care about all the politics, though I know some people will have to be responsible for certain things. I just want to be able to hang with like minded pyros & share some of things we come up with in person, but not have to pack like I'm moving & driving like I'm being hunted.
dynomike1 Posted January 2, 2017 Posted January 2, 2017 (edited) Looks like middle tn. might be the starting point. I am sure there is some private ground we could shoot on up there i see a lot of pasture ground up that way. If you talked to land owners 1 of them would go along with us. From what i have seen Boo you are pretty secluded, i may be wrong. Nothing is going to happen till we get together. I know Greg and Merlin or was it wizard are in range even though there in another state.,i dont know how they feel about it. Exclusive club? Fck that. I am not doing this to be exclusive. You never know how many pyros may show up if we get it going. Seems like everyone down here is scared of manufacturing. They rather watch me shoot. Hell roam wasn't built in a day. It will take discussion and time. I also would like to be around people that know a lot more than me, but 10-14hr. drive time? not into it that much. Just my dumb thoughts. Edited January 2, 2017 by dynomike1
Fotia Posted January 2, 2017 Author Posted January 2, 2017 Yep, I was thinking Nashville, Knoxville or Jackson area or somewhere in between that way everyone would be able to have a decent drive time. Jackson to knoxville is 4 1/2 hours. Also would have to be in a county that allows such things. Mike, that was my feeling as well, people around here look at me like I'm nuts when I tell them making pyro is one of my hobbies. Not looking to be exclusive or as big as PGI because sometimes I feel lost with so much going on at PGI, but hey if it ever grew into a mass of people, who am I to say no. Well Boo, where do we go from here?
dynomike1 Posted January 2, 2017 Posted January 2, 2017 I dont mind driving from here to nashville, or a little further sometimes.
Boophoenix Posted January 3, 2017 Posted January 3, 2017 Y'all seem agreeable to a meet and just sit down at a table and discuss things to see what we can do. Pick a date and we'll find a place in the Nashville area here we can gather to see what we can arrange. Mid Feb I hope to be headed to GA so that's off the books for me. First of March somewhere in there is 2F in FL which I'm not set to go to yet at 13+ hours to southern FL. Past that I think I'm open. I think we need at month to get the word out to each of the groups in pyro that might participate to try to get a good turnout. I don't wanna be exclusive either, but if we do it the members will have to decide the path the club takes. I've been trying to arrange something for a while and since I don't own a location suitable I have to rely on someone else's I won't do any live activities without all the ducks in a row. Trying to line that up isn't the easiest. The other option is the handful of us start getting together and hang out and see if the idea of an actual club grows. I do know the shooting bunch would like to have a club and there are more of them than us in east and middle TN even some southern KY fellas. I don't know if either of the main commercial pyro companies would want any involvement or not. I've worked with one from West TN, but not with Pyro Shows from east TN that kind of dominates our market. It would be nice if they had some interest as they already have some of the inside track on the people to know and work with. I do think some of the smaller companies would be interested as one of those I've worked with has already expressed by interest. So we're back to a date and get together and see what happens. I think I might can find enough of the interested people I've already discussed this with to find a suitable location to rent to get us out of the weather to get the ball rollng when ever we can nail a date. I can start looking for a place to have the first gathering if y'all would like? Shouldn't be hard to find a place near Nashville that can handle 20 to 30 people optimistically. I wanna rent a place and will take care of that so we can have a good conversation without the background noise of a restaurant or something.
dynomike1 Posted January 3, 2017 Posted January 3, 2017 (edited) Right now my best time is any weekend in Feb. March might work to. When i said about to shoot i meant club shoot not an open shoot. I know some are shooting down here, but i dont know who they are. Edited January 3, 2017 by dynomike1
Boophoenix Posted January 3, 2017 Posted January 3, 2017 Ok that narrows things a little. 25th of Feb sound good to everyone? If that works I'll start looking for a place.
Fotia Posted January 3, 2017 Author Posted January 3, 2017 That sounds OK as long as work doesn't throw a wrench in the works as they sometimes do. I "WILL" let them know that I will have to have what ever weekend free & clear for a personal thing. I'll contact the others on here to see how they feel. Mike I agree a "club" shoot would be less liable than an open shoot.
OldMarine Posted January 3, 2017 Posted January 3, 2017 That date would give me plenty of time to make sure my work schedule is clear. Brad, are you going to holler at Cherokee or should I?
Boophoenix Posted January 3, 2017 Posted January 3, 2017 Go ahead and let him know Patrick. I need to try to get an idea of what attendance might be to try to plan it correctly. I've posted at pyrofan and will post at Ned's later 1
OldMarine Posted January 3, 2017 Posted January 3, 2017 I sent him a PM and told him to get with you if he's interested. I hope we can figure something out on this!
Fotia Posted January 3, 2017 Author Posted January 3, 2017 Just got a PM from OldMarine & he says he's down for that date & is going to talk to a guy he knows at fireworking.com
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