For those of you who are members of a blacksmithing club, ABANA affiliates for example, what steps do you take to attract young people to get involved and how successful are you at it?
I am fairly active in 2 ABANA affiliates, the Guild of Metalsmiths and the Badger Blacksmiths. Membership in both clubs is fairly stable right now. We lose about 15% to 25% of our members each year and gain about that many back. On the plus side, we are seeing more young people getting involved over the last few years, but we'd like to see more.
("Young" is a relative term. Anybody under the age of 40 fits that category as far as I am concerned.)
Pete Stanaitis
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