We love to cover your events, however, producing these pages is expensive and time consuming. Each edition of the News requires two weeks or more labor to put together. We have spent tens of thousands of dollars traveling to the events covered in the anvilfire news. We have paid for our transportation, motel costs AND registration fees (often for two or more people). As a result we are members of a dozen ABANA chapters besides our local and ABANA membership! On top of these costs we maintain expensive tools for the purpose (digital cameras, laptops and accessories). As of the first of 2000 we are also hosting many of your ABANA chapter websites at no cost to the chapters.

If you want us to continue to cover your events please invite us to do so. In the future if your event is outside of the state of Virginia we may need help covering travel costs.

The benefits to your organization are many.

• We give your event publicity prior to the event increasing the attendance.
• Our coverage is additional publicity that will increase your membership.
• We provide links to your web page and your demonstrators web pages.
• You may link to OUR coverage of your event adding to the value of YOUR page.

In other words, anvilfire coverage of your event is cost effective.
In the future we will cover your events two ways.

#1 - You can send us photographs and descriptions and we will publish them for you. However we reserve the right to reject or edit items as necessary or as we deem fit. Please provide the e-mail address of someone that can answer questions about the event. Photos may be mailed and we will scan them for you OR you may send scans or digitals. You do not need to send high resolution images. We publish images approximately 300 pixels wide in the news (except in special circumstances). If you send larger image we can edit them for you. Please send all images in their native TIFF or JPEG format (no compression). If you want photos returned send an SASE.

The work required is still time consuming and the more organized your information is the more likely it is to be published in a timely manner. Preformatted JPEG images are best. Size to 300x240 if possible and 300x### otherwise. Send captions or paragraphs for each with corresponding numbers or letters to identify which image they go with. All text should be sent as plain ASCII text. I use several word processors but I avoid Microsoft Products as much as possible. MS-Word Docs ARE NOT STANDARD! Please name your images and files so they are identifiable to your group, such as AFC-001.jpg, AFC-text.

We will gladly advertise all ABANA chapter events free of charge. If you create an attractive banner we will find a place for it (see previous news with ABANA, AFC and CanIron banners). We will cover other organizations events but may require a fee for advertising your event. We also welcome submissions from other countries! Anvilfire is read all over the world and we would be pleased to hear from you.

#2 - Invite us to your event, waive entry fees and if the event is out of state offer us (Jock Dempsey and an assistant) a demonstrator/instructor fee to cover expenses. I admit I am WAY out of practice but I can still teach and demonstrate the basics and I LOVE to teach kids. During the majority of my active blacksmithing career practically all I did was demonstrate and teach. I often travel with Jim "Paw-Paw" Wilson who is our anvilfire videographer and operator of Paw-Paws Forge as well as a member of the guru page color guard.

I can also hold workshops on web page design, construction and HTML for your webmasters and anyone wanting to setup their own web page. OR we can hold workshops on Junk Yard Hammer design and construction. Schedule me for a half day (4 hours or less) out of a three day event or several 2 hour sessions so I can still cover your event!

#3 - Better yet! Invite us to your event and cover our travel costs with no requirements other than we cover your event. We travel by car/truck to almost anywhere East of the Mississippi (in the US) and probably would need to fly to points beyond that. Remember, its "cost effective". We will generate interest in your group and event before and LONG after the event.

#4 - We also have a few local "stringers" that report the news for us. Please give them the curtesy they deserve. After attending your event they will spend many hours writing articles, scanning and transmiting them to us. In the near future they will be identified with official anvilfire NEWS press passes.

Anvilfire will continue to report on your blacksmithing events and we DO have future travel plans. We covered CanIron II in Calgary and are sponsors of the ABANA 2000 JYH Event in Flagstaff, AZ. We will be covering other local events as well.

Please inform us of your events.