On Saturday March 31 we will celebrate the 25th year of Bay Area Woodworking Association (BAWA). Twenty five years ago in January 1982, BAWA was formed from the desire of Philo Bemis to share his experiences with other woodworkers. After moving to San Francisco from Northern California, he found himself alone starting a wood working business with no one to share experiences with. He talked to John and Carolyn Grew-Sheridan and they shared his desire to form a group that could share their experiences. Many professional woodworkers were also interested and very quickly a group was formed and they started to meet in San Francisco on the third Thursday of the month. Among the early members of the group, we see the name of Tim Kennedy, Sas Quin, George Rezendes, Don Segale and others. In the early days of the group meetings, a tradition of bringing in a plentiful supply of beer and donuts attracted many woodworkers.

After nearly 25 years, mostly cookies are still present at most of our meetings. A newsletter was started with Marty Freeman as the editor and bylaws were established. At first, meetings took place in member's shops. Most of the members were located in San Francisco and Oakland. As the organization grew, it was necessary to find larger meeting space. Meetings were then held in larger furniture and cabinet shops. By 1991, meetings were mostly held at the Mainliner club in San Mateo. Non-professional woodworkers also joined and BAWA became more formal with the establishment of officers and later on, special purpose committees. Meetings continued to be held in larger shops throughout the Bay Area. Renowned furniture makers from all over Northern California were invited to give seminars in conference rooms rented by the organization.

The BAWA membership has continued to expand and in 1983 there were 149 members. By 1991, membership was down to 75 but then a rebirth started and by 2005, membership reached a peak of over 100 people. The large growth challenged the organization to find large meeting space and making it more difficult to visit small furniture and cabinet shops. In 1988 the 2x4 contest was started and BAWA began to advertise at woodworking shows. In that same year, a contest was held to build newsletter racks that were then placed in lumber yard and hardware stores front counter in the South Bay and SF. Through the years, the club was a thriving, dynamic, action oriented group. It has not changed today with our Toy Workshop activities, our Plane seminars and other activities.

Today BAWA's membership has very diverse interests ranging from fine crafted furniture to musical instrument making. BAWA continues the desire of our founders in coming together to share knowledge and experience and to promote the art of fine woodworking. Please join me and your fellow members on March 31 as we celebrate the 25 year anniversary of our organization.