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History of the Duneland Woodcarvers Club
The club was started in the fall of 1973 by Bill Fairchok, Irv Lansing, Al Ludington, John Nichols, and Vern Schrader with meeting held monthly in a different person's home. The first show was held in the spring of 1977 at Marquette Mall in Michigan City, Indiana. It was at that show that the "John Nichols Best of Show Award" was first presented. The first people in charge of putting on the show were Carl and Kay Hinderer whit Bill Fairchok acting as co-chairman in 1978. The show continued to be held in the spring of each year at Marquette Mall with Bill and Terri Fairchok acting as show chairpersons through 1991. In 1982 the "Irv Lansing Award for Best Table Display" was started. In 1989 the "Al Ludington Award for Best Whittled" was started. These awards, as well as the John Nichols Award, were named after these founding members died. The show continued to be held at Marquette Mall until the spring of 1994. At that time the show was moved to the Porter County Expo Center in Valparaiso, Indiana. The show continued to be held at the Expo Center each Spring through 2006. In April, 2007 the show was moved to the Grand Hall of the Woodland Park Community Complex in Portage, Indiana. While meetings have always been monthly and that, generally, being the third Sunday, the location has changed over time. The growth of members necessitated moving the meetings from people's homes to places that could accommodate a greater number, Currently, the meetings are being held at the Chesterton Art Gallery. Additionally, weekly meetings started, first at someone's home and eventually, in 1990, they also needed a place that could accommodate a greater number of carvers. The club started holding the Tuesday morning meetings at the Senior Center in Porter, Indiana. Tuesday morning meetings were held at the Senior Center until September, 2005. At that time the Club was told it was no longer welcome. Since then the Tuesday morning meetings have been held at Woodland Park in Portage, Indiana.
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