The convention was great. Maybe next year more of you will make it.
Please try as it's such a great time together. It seems like every
year it just gets better and better. Here's a concise run down of the
schedule of events from my perspective. I hope others will write
about their experiences of the weekend, and post more pictures. Ace,
thanks for posting your pictures so quickly. Good times!

Friday night kick off evening event had 78 of us in straitjackets
while the local TV crew interviewed many of us on live TV. Kristen
performed her dramatic water torture cell escape to an enthusiastic
crowd. She held her breath over 3 minutes and her head never reached
the top of the tank. Kristen's performance really rocked and was
probably why the TV footage got picked up in other states. The TV
crew got such a kick out of us that they stayed the evening and did 3
broadcasts that night from our convention. We left the convention
hall around midnight on Friday.

Saturday had a fun Padlock Picking contest, Kevin Ridgeway's lecture
on "bumping", Bill Shirk's lecture, a Handcuff Picking contest,
Chriss Angel's lecture, and finally our evening show. Good thing Mark
booked a larger hall than last year because the place was packed!
During the show, Kristen and Kevin were presented with the well-
deserved Silver Cuffs Award. After the show, many of us headed up to
Mark and Sheila's room for pizza, soda, and a chance to just relax
together, share experiences, make new friends, and celebrate old
friendships.

Sunday, after brunch at the hotel dining room, there was a "special'
escape contest. It involved S&W model 104's, a blue box, a belly
chain and a Master padlock. Pick the padlock open, remove the chain
and blue box, pick open the handcuffs, and you win $500. Joe Fox flew
through the challenge in 1 minute 30 seconds, with Margarette right
on his heels. Great job Joe!!! Sunday closed with a very interesting
and emotionally moving lecture by Mark Cannon on a Mid-19th century
escape artist named Harry Cooke. Mark must be the foremost authority
on H. Cooke as the wealth of information that he presented was just
incredible. At 11am we all gave our last good-byes, hugs, pictures,
and final book and handcuff purchases as one by one, escape artists
sadly left the convention room. Sad because we were saying good bye
to people we developed a bond with, people who we've grown to love
and respect. People we are very proud to call our friends.

Now there's only 360 days left until the 5th Annual Escape Artist
Convention! So start planning on attending and joining the fun with
us!

Joe