Hundreds help showcase the joy and fun of philately
By Dennis Sadowski
You could say young Mary Ostrowski stole the hearts of many March Party show-goers. The 8-year-old from Mount Sterling, Ohio, not only got to go home with treasurers from the Beginners’ Room, she led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of the first day ceremony the show hosted this year.
For her efforts, Mary received a framed color print of the five Vibrant Leaves stamps to take home. She attended the show with her parents, Maggie and Shane. Maggie said she has been using stamps to supplement her daughter’s education to learn about the world.
The Ostrowskis were among 639 people who walked through the doors of the Best Western Plus hotel in Strongsville during the show’s three-day run, March 14-16.
Show attendance increased 5.5% overall from 2024. Friday, the opening day, saw a 19.8% jump in attendance.
Visitors arrived from as far away as Arizona and Alabama, demonstrating the show’s wide appeal to collectors.
Chris Lazaroff, past president of the American First Day Cover Society, emceed the unveiling of the new stamps. Speakers at the ceremony included Jacshica Laster, U.S. Postal Service, manager of customer service operations, Ohio District 1 in Cleveland; Shirley Goldberg of the Western Reserve Post Card Society; and Bill Brooker, a member of the Ohio Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture.
Dealers reported strong sales throughout the show. Visitors to the 38 booths were able to take home much sought after items and identify unexpected finds among the top-notch offerings.
The annual meetings of the U.S. Stamp Society and the Civil War Philatelic Society helped boost attendance. Presentations by Civil War postal history experts highlighted some of the behind-the-scenes events of the long war in the 1860s.
At the awards dinner Saturday evening, the Garfield-Perry Players kept the audience laughing and rolling their eyes with a hilarious spoof of “The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson.”
Ken Nilsestuen, March Party co-chair, played Carson in welcoming stamp collector guests Gary Burghoff who played Radar O’Reilly (portrayed by Tom Bieniosek) on the long-running “M.A.S.H.” television series, and Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula (portrayed by Bill Ullom). Alan Hanzl played Carson sidekick Ed McMahon while Jere Dutt, as band leader Doc Severinson, “directed” an orchestra during musical interludes.
Nilsestuen also resurrected Carnac the Magnificent, the sage prognosticator who provided humorous answers to questions in “hermetically sealed” envelopes — some philatelic and some not.
Sadowski can be reached at sadowski.dennis@gmail.com.