Fifty years later, the hobby keeps sticking with local philatelists.
The Strait Stamp Society of Sequim celebrates its 50th anniversary on Aug. 5 with its annual show at the Guy Cole Event Center.
“I never get tired of talking about stamps,” show chairman Cathie Osborne said.
Osborne was one of three stamp collectors who met in October 1973 during a ferry ride. They agreed to seek more collectors and held their first meeting in December 1973 in Elmer Dunn’s house.
The Strait Stamp Society grew in membership and moved to bigger spaces leading up to the group’s first official show in 1994.
This year’s show runs from 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. in Carrie Blake Community Park, 202 N. Blake Ave., with fun for all ages with door prizes for philatelists and non-philatelists, vendors, the U.S. Postal Service on premise, and a cachet and cancellation commemorating 50 years of the club.
They’ll hold a cake cutting ceremony at 11 a.m.
The show will also feature free stamp publications, novelties, folders, pages, albums and more.
Club member Judy Newblom said visitors come annually strictly for the vendors because the area doesn’t have many offerings like this for collectors.
Local artists also come looking for vendors with mint stamps without postal markings to use in cards, prints and mixed media, Osborne said.
Club members and vendors welcome the public to bring in family stamp collections passed down through the years for appraisal.
Occasionally a vendor will say they have some good finds, Osborne said.
Each year, the club receives collections from local family members after a loved one has passed away, too.
This year, the public can also vote on various displays, including the most attractive and most unusual.
Unlike more formal stamp shows, Osborn said these display frames in Sequim are more about showing off collections and interests rather than the rules.
“What good is a stamp collection if it’s in boxes?” Newblom said.
Osborne, known in local collecting circles for her stamp collection focusing on bells, said the hobby kept her sane while raising her children.
“It also enlarged my world finding friends internationally as well as over the U.S.,” she said.
“It kept my mind active and I’m always learning.”
With so many interests among the club, Newblom said they’re always on the lookout for each other at shows, searching the web and in their own collections.
“The club is so giving,” she said.
The public is invited to the club’s meeting at 6 p.m. the first Thursday of each month at Sequim Bible Church, 847 N. Sequim Ave. It offers a show and tell time where club members share something from their collection from a letter of the alphabet; the Aug. 3 meeting covers the letter “W.”
Strait Stamp Show
Celebrating Strait Stamp Society’s 50th anniversary
When: 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 5
Where: Guy Cole Event Center, 202 N. Blake Ave.
Featuring: Free entry; with free stamps for children, door prizes, exhibits, penny table, postal service, dealers, snacks
Image courtesy Strait Stamp Society Sequim’s Strait Stamp Society started its annual show in 1994, pictured here in 2002, and celebrates the club’s 50th anniversary on Aug. 5.
Image courtesy Strait Stamp Society/ Cathie Osborne, a founding member of the Strait Stamp Society, stands by some displays in 1981 during a club meeting. She continues to organize the club’s annual free show set for Aug. 5.
