2022 IPMS Gateway to the West Invitational

Up early yesterday morning (10 September), I packed my car and headed to the Holiday Inn St. Louis Southwest -- Route 66 in Sunset Hills. This was the venue for the 16th annual IPMS/Gateway to the West Invitational scale modeling contest and swap meet.

I arrived at the show site 90 minutes before the Invitational opened to the public. After helping greet vendors and setting up the club display, I assumed my station at the payment desk. Working with Regina Morris, yours truly took attendees' admission and contest registration fees. I also asked attendees where they lived and how they knew of our event. The vast majority have been here before and hail from Missouri and Illinois. I counted 177 attendees.

During a short break in the morning, I entered my three models in the contest: an A6M2 Zero in Aircraft, a USS Alabama in Ships, and a 155mm M1 Gun in Armor. 

Late that morning, my girlfriend Julie came to the show, along with her daughter and son-in-law.  We all got to chat, and they had a fine time with me and with my clubmate Bill Wagner and Wagner's wife, who Julie knows. 

Soon after this, I went to a pizza lunch and a judges meeting. Dave Roeder and I were paired into a judging team, and we went on to judge cars, figures, and miscellaneous. This year's Invitational had a low turnout of contest entries, so we had categories with only one entry or even none.

I checked my raffle tickets and won three kits from it. Julie gave me her tickets before having to leave at midday, but none of them were lucky to win.

Acting for the club's treasurer who was not at the show, I accepted two IPMS/Gateway membership renewals and two new members who filled out membership forms at our club display.

My M1 took second in the Artillery subcategory--the only one of my entries to place. That made me happy, though there were only two entries in that subcategory.

The subcategory awards were placed with the winning models. A ceremony was held to present the Best of Awards. This event concluded our Invitational. After packing up my models from the contest and the club display, I said my goodbyes to people I knew and headed home. Despite the low contest turnout, the day was a success overall.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

Holiday Inn St. Louis Southwest -- Route 66: Route 66 Hotels near St. Louis | Holiday Inn St. Louis SW - Route 66 (ihg.com)

IPMS/Gateway: IPMS Gateway Chapter (google.com)