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Papa Jack's Trade Day in Tupelo, MS, 2024

The Cullman Hamfest is a four hour hamfest held on a Saturday morning each July.  This year (as in recent years) it was held at the Cullman Fairgrounds, in one of the ag buildings, which is an un-airconditioned concrete block structure. As hot as that sounds, just read on... The Cullman club borrows swamp fans, and put them around the hamfest area.  These are five-foot tall fans that have water circulating through them, and they keep the area pretty comfortable.  We were dressed for the weather, and it never got overly warm.  Kudos to the club for making that effort! ...

See the photo of the two postal trucks?  The difference is the on on the right is the one we're paying for today, and the one on the left is the one we'll be paying for come July 1.   Everything you order online, or ship online, will now cost more if it ships USPS, and in some cases, a lot more. Our once-beloved postal service has become so good at losing money (having 11 straight years of losses), that they can even overcome their own rosy outlooks.  The USPS predicted it would break even in 2023, but still managed to...

It's mid-June, 2024 right now, and we have two hamfests close enough to be called "nearby" on the near calendar. Cullman, AL, July 13   Cullman is a solid three hour drive from Starkville, but it's a fun, low-key hamfest that is sort of reminiscent of hamfests from the days of yore.  It's held in an un-airconditioned building at the fairgrounds in Cullman, but do not let that dull your interest in going.  The building is alwasy confortable inside (even in July) thanks to large fans spaced throughout moving air in an really effective manner.  The building is split into two...

The Corinth Hamfest (previously called the April Fool's Hamfest) is usually held on the first weekend of April, to coincide with April Fool's Day.  This year (2024) there was a major conflict due to the ripple effect of a scheduling mistake at the Bartlett Municipal Center. How does an error in Bartlett, TN effect a hamfest way over in Corinth?  Turns out, it's pretty easy to do. The Memphis Freefest is held each year in the Bartlett Municipal Center in Bartlett, TN, in May.  This is a huge, well-attended hamfest.  When the Bartlett government person in charge of scheduling the...