Page 15 - BSAM 2017 Q4

our May Exhibit and two workshops at the August Exhibit. At the workshop (for a nominal $10 charge) kids pick out a tree and a small pot. Frank styles the trees and our volunteers help by adding wire and soil to make a fnished Bonsai planting. Te children love it. We are averaging 40 to 60 children over each of the two exhibits.Tis year Frank expanded his workshop in South Korea at the ABFF, Asian Pacifc Bonsai Friendship Federation’s biannual convention. ABFF is the Asia Pacifc region of WBFF (World Bonsai Friendship Federation). Te event was held in Mokpo, South Korea and hosted by the Korean Bonsai Growers Co-operative, a BCI Member group.As many students of Bonsai throughout the world grow older, we hope that the number of new young students interested in the subject will increase. Frank has gone beyond hope and turned it into action. With each tree a child takes home there is spark or experience in their life that may lead them back to Bonsai as they grow up. Frank’s book Bonsai for Kids is now available in Spanish, German, Italian, French and Korean. We know that most of these small trees will not survive the next few years. Yet every year at our exhibit we hear from parents about how their son or daughter has kept their tree alive for two, three or four years. Tat is when we know that a seed has really been planted.Tere is a message here for everyone who hosts a Bonsai Event anywhere in the world. If you cannot bring Frank Mihalic to the event to do his Children’s Workshop then create your own workshop. The opportunity to spark interest in Bonsai at a very young age is one that should not be wasted. About the Author: Larry Stephan, Business Manager of Bonsai Clubs International, Vice President of Special Events for the Midwest Bonsai Society, and a continuing student of the art of Bonsai.Every year we hear from parents about how their son or daughter has kept their tree alive for two, three or four years. That is when we know that a seed has really been planted.Korean children holding Frank’s book, Bonsai for Kids, that was translated into Korean for the recent workshop for children at the Asian Pacifc Bonsai Friendship Federation’s biannual Convention hosted by the Korean Bonsai Growers Cooperative, a BCI Member group.