37 12 W. SCENIC AVE., MEQUON, WISCONSIN 53092
Phone: (262) 242-3 131 OR E-mail: Bedvibr8or@aol. com
Message from Our President ...
new 4-page fu ll-color flyer, display ads in Antique Week and
Antique West, and a ful l-color postcard highlighting our new
website that we're mai ling to past members. Our efforts are
working and we've gained 30 members in less than 60 days
to bring our membership to 685 as of this writing. If you
would like to help out by placing flyers or postcards in your
coin-op business or show setups, or know of publications
that we should consider for additional advertising, please let
me know.
Marsha Blau, our Convention Chairperson, has final-
ized plans for C.O.C.A.'s ninth annual convention being
held August 17-19 in Minneapolis Minnesota. With the help
of our hosts, Larry and Ryan Gustafson, Marsha has put
together another great weekend of events. The collections
of DuWayne Bakke, Larry Bieza, Larry Gustafson, Ryan
Gustafson, Kevin Hammerbeck, Rob Lahammer, and Bill
Nunn will be available for viewing. Room to room selling is
scheduled, a no-fee auction will be held following Friday 's
dinner at the hotel , and Saturday 's banquet will once again
be a major highlight of the convention . This year, Marsha
has scheduled the banquet on a Mississippi River cruise, a
chance to see the M inneapolis skyline from the water, com-
plete with great food and live music. Time is running out
quickly to make reservations, but if you would like to attend
the convention, Marsha should still be able to fit you in .
As we move through the summer months, I hope all of
you are finding new and exciting treasures during your vaca-
tion travels.
Hello again, and welcome to all of our new members. I feel
that great times are ahead for our hobby. With coin-op de-
vices being featured on popular TV shows such as American
Pickers, American Restoration, and Pawn Stars, interest in
collecting coin-op is sure to grow as viewers are exposed
to these appealing, fascinating and nostalgic machines. With
coin-op devices having been widely used for more than a
century, for most people they have become a part of ev-
eryday life and aren't thought of as collectible, but shows
such as these are giving coin-op devices a fresh look. Hav-
ing been built for such diverse purposes as gambling, vend-
ing, weighing, playing music, challenging our abilities, and
entertaining, and with themes related to almost everything
imaginable, our hobby has something for everyone.
Our spring meeting at the Chicagoland Show was once
again a big success with the program dedicated to bring-
ing our members up to date on two of the club's recently
changed programs. Bill Petrochuk guided us through an on-
line tour of what the redesigned C.O.C.A. website has to of-
fer, focusing on the expanded content sections for articles,
an extensive calendar of upcoming coin-op events, links to
member's sites, auction catalogs with prices realized, use-
ful coin-op resources links, and member 's profile pages.
Bill also encouraged members to become more active in us-
ing the free classifieds and gave a demonstration of how to
post ads and upload accompanying photos, which is a fea-
ture that has greatly improved the classifieds section . The
ability of both members and non -members alike to both list
and view our website classifieds provides a very useful tool
for those of us seeking or selling machines and parts. Con-
tact information in the ads is only visible while logged in,
so non-members do not have access to seller 's information
without joining the club. Maintaining an active classifieds
section will almost certainly drive up our website usage and
attract new members. Along with Bill 's presentation, I gave
a short presentation on how we plan to market the club go-
ing forward. We ' ve already begun to make changes with a
Happy Hunting!
Doug Cain
COCA President
330.837.2265
president@coinopclub.org
DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE: August 10, 2012
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