Back In The Day, Part 37 - The Citadel Mall Rocketry Display

 In 1979, the Skywatchers Model Rocket Club of Colorado Springs set up our largest indoor static display ever in the city's premier shopping mall, The Citadel. 

This event was actually my brain-child.   I had worked for a couple of years on the maintenance crew at the mall, so I was well acquainted with all the folks in management.  I floated the idea to them of allowing the Skywatchers rocket club to set up a well-publicized display in the main hub of the center.  The mall management went one step better and suggested expanding the event into a mall-wide hobby show extending over an entire weekend! Of course, I didn't hesitate to volunteer to contact the various hobby clubs around town and get the whole event organized.  The mall manager would schedule the date and take care of advertising and press releases in the local newspapers.

There was a lot of work to be done in the intervening weeks.  The club set to work designing and building the display boards and table layout. I began calling the various hobby clubs around town.

When all was said and done, I ended up with several organizations who committed to participating in the event:  an R/C model airplane club, an R/C model boat club, an R/C car group, a miniature military replica club, the local coin collectors' club, and even a couple of local artists.  Sadly, the nearby model railroaders declined to join us, citing the difficulty of setting up a working rail layout in time for the show.

Here is a hand-drawn flier I put together, made copies, and posted in all of the Springs hobby shops:  

Following are some pictures I took at the event:

A table showcasing some of the members' sport model rockets.

Club president Glade Gordon at the scale model display 

showing off a Saturn V to some interested visitors.

A display table with posters explaining all about model rockets, how they work, 

and an introduction to our club and the NAR.

A table showing the technical aspects of model rocketry.  Included in the display 

were a Cineroc movie camera and an Estes TransRoc transmitter.

A display showcasing the various aspects of competition model rocketry.

The show turned out to be a great success, drawing considerable crowds throughout the weekend.  All club members were on deck to man the displays and hand out club promotional material. As a result, the Skywatchers club enjoyed a decent surge of interest in club membership soon after. 

Most of all, it was highly enjoyable opportunity to show off and talk about our great hobby to a lot of folks who were unfamiliar with model rocketry.