Wightman Open House Update

Though it was an overcast and somewhat cool day last Saturday, the show went on here in Portlandville, NY for our Annual Open House. We had a great turn out for the event and everyone who attended seemed to enjoy their time here.

As in previous years, the main event for the day was the tours through our plant. Visitors were taken through each step of our manufacturing process to learn how our solid wood materials are made. From bringing logs to our facility to milling lumber into finished materials, visitors were able to see up close how each part of our operation functions on a daily basis.

The newest feature on our tour was our new double-cut band head saw located in our sawmill. After many months of preparation, installation and troubleshooting, we were very proud to show off this latest improvement to our plant - a sign that we are always moving forward and thinking of the future.

Our newly formatted woodworking event for this year was a huge success! Through our silent auction, our bidders raised over $1,800 to benefit the Ronald McDonald House of Albany and Springbrook of Oneonta. Talented woodworkers who contributed the beautiful pieces for this event also realized nearly $1,000 in proceeds.

Habitat for Humanity raised money for their ongoing projects through the sale of refreshments - the hot coffee and other goodies were much appreciated by everyone on such a cold day!

CNC router demonstrations conducted by Dan West of West WoodWorks provided many interested learners a great look into the functioning of CNC technology. Many attendees even purchased signs of their own created by Dan that day, and several individuals expressed interest in Dan's upcoming woodworking classes. (To learn more, contact Dan at Dan@WestWoodWorksINFO.com)

The children's activity was a big hit with all the kids who were very excited to build their own toy race car. A special thank you to Mary Peterson from Amazable Science Adventures for leading this fun family event!

Finally, "Just Throw Money" provided great live music and entertainment for everyone throughout the day - thank you to the musicians.

All in all, we at Wightman Specialty Woods enjoyed spending the day with those of you who were able to attend our Open House this year, and we look forward to another successful event in 2010!

If you missed our event and are interested in taking a tour of our facility, feel free to stop in any day, or click here to take our virtual tour!