FALL 2021

50 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S

50 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK MID-WEST FASTENER ASSOCIATION PO Box 5, Lake Zurich, IL 60047 TOLL-FREE 1-800-753-8338 TEL 847-438-8338 EMAIL mwfa@ameritech.com WEB www.mwfa.net FSTNR WEEK - AUGUST 16th-20th HOSTED BY MWFA - DELIVERS by Nancy Rich FSTNR Week promised Fastener Show, Training, Networking, and Recreation and all was delivered. Fastener industry personnel gathered for the first major event in nearly 18 months. The show, hosted at Belvedere Banquets in Elk Grove, IL, was restricted to 78 exhibits to allow spacing for the exhibits and wider aisles. The fourhour show created a great industry gathering allowing the industry to catch up, revisit sourcing, and discuss industry issues. Besides other safety measure taken exhibitors and attendees had the option to tag their badge with a red, yellow, or green dot to indicate their comfort level of contact. This saved the question of how to approach old friends. The exhibit hall seemed to buzz of excitement of being together again at a show. So many of the participants expressed their appreciation for the opportunity to attend an in person event again. It was difficult to determine when to hold this year’s show but apparently August ended up being the perfect time, before mask mandates returned in Illinois! Thank you to our many exhibitor and attendees for participating in this show. Training went on throughout the week with the Certified Fastener Specialist Class running the week as well as a Basic Print Reading Class, taught by Mike Henry, on Monday. Fastener industry training has always been a mission of the MWFA’s and they took this opportunity to provide education for the industry. Over 40 industry personnel took advantage of the training programs. Beyond the networking at the show, over 200 attended the MWFA 75th Anniversary and Hall of Fame Dinner, at Venuti’s Restaurant in Addison, IL, which provided an amazing networking opportunity. The night opened with music during cocktail hour provided by Strings for Events, while attendees entered on a red carpet for photos. Cocktail hour was followed by dinner and Hall of Fame presentation. Although the MWFA Hall ASSOCIATION ARTICLE of Fame was started many years ago, it had been dormant for several years. The Historical Committee (George Hunt III of Brighton- Best International, Glen Brin of Innovative Components, Paula Evitts of Avante Imports, and Jill Lewis of Integrated Packaging & Fastener Inc.) were instrumental in bringing back the CBNSA/MWFA Hall of Fame. Inductees into the CBNSA Hall of Fame included: Alina Agresto, Richard Binder, Martin Binder, Tom Blakley, Henry Chernow, Craig Cohn, Nick Couzin, Arne Henriksen Sr., Arne Henriksen Jr., Kevin Kaihara, Bill Lang Sr., Howard Langdon, Mark Novak, Don Nowak, Bob Obeler, Nancy Rich and Wally Olczak. Two companies were inducted into the MWFA Hall of Fame: Wrought Washer Mfg. and XL Screw Corp. All these inductees have been instrumental in the success of the CBNSA and MWFA. The evening continued with a presentation by Matt McMillin, head chef of Cooper’s Hawk Winery including a lesson in making a couple of cocktails. Attendee were presented with CBNSA/MWFA 75th Anniversary wine stoppers and bottles of wine with gold etched 75th Anniversary logo. The evening was definitely a memorable evening for the MWFA and the fastener industry! The next day 128 golfers gathered at Chevy Chase Country Club to enjoy an awesome day of golf. With the great support received, there was a contest on every hole. Golfers began their day with lunch and ended with prizes and dinner. Congrats to the top two teams. First place: John Butler, Tom Buddenbohn, David Bryne, and John Wachman. Second place: Oliver Baumann, Brian Christianson, Wes Grobelny, and Andre Lizano. Thank you to Crescent Manufacturing, Rich Cavoto (Metric & Multistandard), Chevy Chase Country Club and B&D Cold Headed Products for donating raffle prizes in addition to those provided by the MWFA. CONTINUED ON PAGE 128

MID-WEST FASTENER ASSOCIATION TABLE TOP SHOW ELK GROVE VILLAGE, IL - AUGUST 17, 2021 CONTINUED ON PAGE 84