New England Builders' Ball!

photo: © Wil Matthews

Waxwing Bag Co. had a successful first outing at the New England Builders' Ball in Thompson, CT on Friday, September 30th. It was a big push to get ready and very exciting to present my work to visitors. Its been a long-time desire of mine to "Attend the Ball" and this year finally felt like the right time and I'm glad I did.

​I used Nancy's Tom Machack bicycle as the model display and had a nice set of duel-colored panniers on the front low riders, a new waxed handlebar bag that joined the bike with a custom Dock-ItTM decaleur. On the back of the bike I mounted a smaller set of rear touring panniers in blue with brown leather trim. Additionally, I had an assortment of handlebar bags and various other types for display on the table. Oh yeah, I also had some nifty carved signs a pal of mine created with a CNC machine, adding a nice professional look to my signage.

To my delight I was positioned between Peter Weigle on my right and Brian Chapman on my left, both amazing constructeurs whose work I admire and take great inspiration from.

It was fun chatting with curious onlookers and discussing the finer points of bag construction and the like. A bunch of folks took my card and a few expressed interest in possible projects, which is largely what I expected.  Looking ahead to next year I would love to have, say, three bikes, each kitted out with their own specific set of bags--improving upon the little-of-everything approach this year.

It was a great evening and I look forward to being back next year!