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Colorado Springs Chapter of the GPAA
With so many great places to go for gold in Colorado, it was an easy decision to start a local chapter of the GPAA in Colorado Springs. The biggest challenges were how
and where to do so. After a call to GPAA headquarters in Temecula, CA the paperwork was soon in my mailbox, and the UPS guy was bringing boxes of goodies. This solved the "how" part of the challenge.
Now, as for the challenge of "where" to hold our meetings the biggest dilemma was not knowing how large a place we would need. Would there be twenty or a hundred
members? Then, it hit me! We could meet where I work, in the employees' lunchroom. There was room for about thirty or forty people. This would be a good starting place, and as we grew, we
could always find somewhere else. This was fine, so we arranged to have our meetings on the first Wednesday of each month at Toyota of Colorado Springs in Motor City. Our first meeting was held September
6, 2006.
People who attended the first meeting were aware of it because of our notice in the Gold Prospectors Magazine. The notices that were supposed to be sent to all GPAA members by the
GPAA headquarters didn't go out for over two months. When they finally sent out the info, we had a huge crowd, and knew we would have to have our meetings elsewhere, hence, we moved our meetings to the Las
Palmitas Mexican Restaurant on the North side of Colorado Springs, which can accommodate about 40-50 people and the best part is the club is not being charged to use this location.
Our first meeting at Las Palmitas was for our 1st Annual Christmas Party in December. We had around 83 people in attendance and it seemed like everyone had a real good time and want us to do it again every year.
Since the club was formed four months ago, we have elected officers, created a newsletter, created a website which is almost complete, and our Outings Chairman has appointed three
committee members who will be going into the field and scouting areas for us to have outings, as soon as the weather permits.
We learned that you can't go prospecting in August in Las Vegas, or Arizona in the summer, and you cannot do it here in Colorado in the winter as Mother Nature has other plans.
With the support of our members, we will make the Colorado Springs Chapter of the GPAA one of the best clubs in the U.S.A.
If you haven't been to one of our meetings, or didn't know we existed until now, why don't you try us out? You might be surprised. I think you will be glad you did. Hope to see you soon.
Please be sure to visit our various web pages to view previous newsletters, meeting location and information, as well as details regarding outings and events. We are open to any
suggestions you might have to make this club and our website the best it can be.
Your fellow prospector,
Ron Woods President
Updated January 2007
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