The FF@ NorthEast Conclave began in 1994 at the Wilmington Notch Campground in upstate NY. After the 2nd year, it was agreed that the conclave should move around the northeastern U.S. so that other waters could be sampled and perhaps other conclavers (for whom Wilmington NY is quite a journey) could attend. So: while the default NEC location is Wilmington NY some years NEC is held elsewhere. There have been several NECs in Pennsylvania, Ontario, and the Catskills, for instance. And, of course, that one in Durham.... ;)

When NEC travels some folks still clave at the Wilmington Notch campground also. So there is a Lake Placid Clave held at the Notch every year. Placid Claves are usually held the weekend after the observed U.S. Memorial Day weekend.

Yes. But they're good whackos. I have met and/or conclaved with hundreds of FF@ members, and have yet to be axe murdered. Your mileage may vary.

Yes and No. Most FF@ conclaves are family-friendly in the sense that the attendees are decent, pleasant folk and there's a communal village atmosphere that makes it safe for children to roam about the campground with plenty of extra eyes and guidance. Despite the fact that cigar smoking and scotch drinking goes on late into the night, it's done responsibly and mostly after the childrens's bedtime, anyway.

However.....late May/early June weather in the Adirondack high peaks region can be dicey. Rain, snow, chilly winds, bright sunlight, warmth, sometimes we'll get all of those things in a single day. We've had our share of gorgeous spring days, and we've had our share of damp cold spring days. If the weather gets cold and damp, young conclavers can become high maintenance very quickly. So in that sense, Placid Clave might not be as family-friendly as a conclave held later in the year might be. You know your family best, so trust your own judgement.

Speaking from personal experience: do not trust the weather forecast when deciding whether to bring your family.

At the Notch, meals are often community events, and community building is always good. Everyone contributes something to the effort, and what results is often a meal that can't be beat, except by the next one. Often we'll have several people cooking in or near the slum, and a community meal will just sort of happen. It's pretty cool, really. It also helps that we have many talented and generous cooks among the regular attendees. We thus tend to have many creative, tasty entrees instead of too many salads and Jello molds.

Just remember that the "community-building" part of pot-luck dining extends to the cleanup afterwards. Any help is always appreciated. :)

A very frequently-asked question concerns the timing of the pot lucks meals. The frequently-given answer is: I can't give a precise time; as I hinted earlier these things just sort of happen, and it's always at just the right time.

Yes. Forecasts have been altered irreparably within minutes of his arrival at conclaves.

No, you should not avoid them. Nothing bad ever happens in those places.

Dogpatch is maintained by the Finger Lakes Chapter of Hell's Anglers, under the watchful eye of Blake "2 Speed" Werner. Time moves slowly in Dogpatch, and it's a good thing.

The Slum is otherwise known as Base Camp, where the community cooking and pot-lucking generally erupts.

The M.A.S.H. Tent traveled with Sheldon Seale and the late Paul Schlote, and was a safe haven for all those traditional bonding activities like cigar smoking, scotch drinking, bad joke telling, and fly tying. Many a bottle of scotch was tied and many a 22OBA was consumed within the walls of that tent. ;) I don't think the original smelly canvas tent travels any more, but anywhere Sheldon sets up a screenhouse with tying vise we'll call it M.A.S.H.

No. We stopped doing raffles quite some time ago, and see no need to begin again. We had a great time with them for many years, but that era's over.

For those years we had raffles.......they thought raffle prizes should represent a bit of the donor and/or the donor's home region. Inexpensive is very, very good. Homemade is good. Silly is good, too. Stories that go along with raffle donations are very good.

Many, many moons ago my son Aaron donated a ceramic bowl that he made in art class to the NEC raffle. Richard "Dances with Trout" Ross won that prize. Richard found the bowl a useful addition to his tying desk, and in a fit of sheer selfless generosity offered it back up for raffle the following year so that it could serve someone else as well as it served him. The Bowl gots a new caretaker each year, with the caretaker job awarded during the Saturday evening NEC raffle.

In order to participate in the special Bowl Raffle, you had to be a member of FF@ and had to commit to either being at the following year's NEC or else make sure the bowl showed up at the following year's NEC. Drinking a ceremonial toast of good scotch from the bowl was optional. :)

Previous Bowl Caretakers include Richard Ross (of course), Tyson Reiser, Blair Sharpe, Ben Benoit, David Tefft, Sheldon Seale, and Arnold Visser.

The original bowl was eventually lost, and was replaced by Arnold Visser with a bowl full of flies. We raffled that off in much the same way, except it was to come back with whatever flies the bowl guardian didn't use, possibly augmented by the guardian's own flies. And then one year that bowl didn't return, and we eventually quit trying to keep up with it and stopped the raffle. It was great while it lasted.

There is no t-shirt planned. In fact, not much of anything is planned. Just show up and have a good time!