AVA Convention 1999 Walklist Get-together
So, what is with the funny hat on your Guide, Wendy Bumgardner? Didn't you know she is the Czarina of Walklist?
Walklist is an email group with over 600 subscribers who post information on upcoming walks, reviews of walks, questions and answers about walking and volkssporting. At each American Volkssport Association biennial convention, the group gets together to meet live.
The first meeting was in 1993 at the Austin, Texas convention at a restaurant, and at that time was the "Prodigy Party" as Internet email was not yet common and there was an active forum on Prodigy. Leroy Wright arranged for the meeting spot.
In 1995, Walklist had been active for a few months when the gang met at Elizabeth Ireland's home near Hockinson, Washington during the Portland, Oregon convention.
In 1997 Walklist had grown to over 600 subscribers and Rick Kellow of British Columbia provided Walklist t-shirts for purchase. Walklisters enjoyed wearing them to the convention and meeting live at the socials in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The increased visibility of the Walklisters made them a force to contend with, finally convincing some of the un-computered that the Internet was being used to publicize walking.
At the 1999 AVA Biennial Convention in Muncie, Indiana, the Czarina of Walklist finally received her crown. Wendy Bumgardner (your Walking Guide) is the owner of Walklist and maintains decorum not through debate and consensus but by dictatorial decree that the denizens will be nice and friendly, hence she is the Czarina whose word is final and not debatable. This has kept Walklist a friendly and fun email group for four years, where newbies can wander in without fear of flame.
Walklisters have a new t-shirt for 1999 as well, with the walking computer on the front and back, in slate blue.
The crown is a combination of tiara, princess hat, deely bobbers, and various froo froo, created by Lucy Krupp (seated, far right). Walklisters awarded Wendy the crown at the Welcome Social in the Horizon Convention Center, Muncie, Indiana.
Hundreds of confused un-computered conventioneers shrank back in terror or collapsed into hopeless fits of giggles.
The Walklisters will remain a force to be reckoned with.
Net Links:
Walklist
Walking Email and Discussion Groups
Volkssport Clubs
Volkssporting
American Volkssport Association
Full Disclosure: At the time of reporting of this event, Wendy Bumgardner was an outgoing national officer of the American Volkssport Association, and most of her expenses for attending the convention were funded by the AVA.
