From ARS & YOU
American Rose Society newsletter - July 2010:
ARS PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
The American Rose Society has always supported rose exhibiting. We will continue to do so as rose shows are one of our prime tools to educate our
members, non-members and the public. Seeing a wide array of rose varieties at their peak of cultural perfection at a rose show got many of us started in
the hobby. Despite the fact that the majority of our members do not exhibit, we remain convinced of the importance of our competitive rose shows.
Some years ago, in response to a membership survey, the ARS decided to de-emphasize exhibiting information in the American Rose magazine and
instead concentrate it in a new quarterly publication. In order not to favor only the exhibitors, the Mini Quarterly and The Arrangement Quarterly were
also established at that time. This has remained a viable approach for these specific aspects of our hobby. Of late, the Rose Exhibitors’ Forum (which
will be renamed “Exhibitors Quarterly”) experienced a noticeable hiatus, with no new issues coming out in over a year. In response to this, it was
decided to take this publication in a new direction, one that would take advantage of our online ability to display a large number of color images of roses in the publication. It was also decided to forego reporting local show results in order to concentrate on District and National rose shows. We will
continue with articles from exhibitors around the country, as well as other information specifically related to rose exhibiting.
I’m very happy to welcome Louise Coleman as the new editor of the ARS Exhibitors’ Quarterly. Louise’s long and outstanding service to the
American Rose Society was recognized when she was awarded the ARS Gold Honor Medal in 2003. We are fortunate to have her returning to a
publication she initiated and edited in the past.
The new format for the Exhibitors’ Quarterly will be a combination of a website blog and a direct quarterly mailing to interested ARS members. The
ARS website will contain sign-up information for those members who want the EQ e-mailed directly to them on a quarterly basis. In addition, they will
be notified when new material appears on the EQ site. This arrangement was necessitated by the limited file size that can be sent directly, while there is
no limit for material, both text and images, appearing on the web blog.
The ARS website will also include a form for Districts to report their show results, as well as information on submitting digital images of District Show
winners. As mentioned, we want to feature images of winning exhibits, so please be sure to provide photos of winning exhibits from your District show.
I’m looking forward to the first edition of the new Exhibitors’ Quarterly, and again my thanks to Louise Coleman and to ARS staff for their work on
this groundbreaking approach to our quarterly bulletins and our continuing commitment to rose exhibiting.
Jeff Wyckoff, President