Another ARS Chapter "season" has started.  I hope to see all of you at some of your meetings throughout the year.  Those of you who didn't make it to the Fall Regional in Harrison Hot Springs missed a very good conference – and beautiful weather for a boat trip on Harrison Lake.

Of course I was there also for the ARS Board meeting and I have few things to report from that. First of all, I was nominated for the position of Western Vice President, replacing Fred Whitney, who will become the ARS President at the end of the spring annual meeting in San Francisco.  That means, too, that we need to find a new District 2 Director and Alternate.  Please consider your involvement in the ARS and if you would like to have a greater say in operations of the Society, let your chapter president know of your wishes.  I can tell you from my limited experience, you will meet new friends and see get to travel to exotic locations – Cleveland, Ohio for next falls' board meeting and Tulsa, Oklahoma in the spring of 2008.

If you have not renewed your ARS membership, be advised that the date for renewals to be received by the ARS office has been moved up to November 15^th in order to have them processed so the Journal printer has mailing labels for members by December 1^st. If you renew late, you will not get a winter edition of the Journal.

As you can probably understand, quite a bit of the board's discussion is around the budget and financial standing of the ARS.  The ARS is currently in pretty good shape, but the biggest income item is memberships.  And membership is continuing to decline and will continue to as the average age of members gets older.  Think of a gardening friend or a family member who might be interested in a membership.  Consider giving a membership as a gift.  Sure, we are the Rhododendron Society, but we are gardeners and grow other plants, too.  I would like you to talk about the social aspects of the Society.  I have met so many new friends in my 12 years and we get together we talk about lots of things other than rhodies – we just have a good time.

District 2 will the host for the 2009 Annual Spring ARS Conference.  We need help! The conference will be held at the Everett Holiday Inn, April 30 – May 3, 2009. Help is needed for working out the contract with the hotel.  Help is needed to determine a theme for the conference – your ideas are wanted.  Once we get a theme, we will want to get a pin designed – are you artistic?  As we get closer, we will need committees for Tours, for Speakers, for Catering, for Public Relations and Publicity, and for Gifts and Silent Auctions.  Where can you help?  Don King and Prudence Holliger have volunteered to be registrar and treasurer.  Dave and Joan Hammond will be the plant sale chairs, but will need lots of help.  Diane Thompson and Laura Kentala will be handling book and souvenir sales.  Bill Heller will be in charge of Audio Visual arrangements.  If you have expertise in any of these areas, these people can use your help.