Member
Idaho Falls, Idaho
Teton Shaves has been a part of the wet shaving world only a couple of years but the proprietor there came through the school of Lipripper660 business and he does a fantastic job of sales, marketing, and planning, plus he is a heck of a lathe man. He also happens to be my fishing buddy and oldest son. Anyway, he and I were scheduled to go the the shave meet up in AZ almost two years ago when Covid hit and cancelled everything for the next many months. So when our state’s Covid numbers receded he decided to put together a meet up right here in Idaho Falls. He didn’t figure it would be more than a few locals and had a venue at his regular work in which to hold the event. Only thing is, the event grew legs and it wasn’t long before the venue was too small so he scrambled for a bigger venue and got that acquired. At any rate, from October 1 when he kicked it into Go-mode to November 20th when the event took place, he went to work marketing the event. In a very short 50 days he had an event that had support from Sir Henrys Sundries, Gentleman’s Nod, Stirling Soap, Murphy &McNeil, and Cherry City Shave Products and Opus Brushes. He also had attendance and support from Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements, Rich Man Shaving, Vincent Edgeworks, Bubbles and Bows, and 345 Soap Co who also did a special meet up soap and splash.
Friday night 16 of us met for supper at a Tepanyaki grill and wow did we get some odd looks. Teton Shaves had banners welcoming the wet shavers and as I stood waiting for people to come, I got to hear the funny comments about “wet shavers”. Pretty funny stuff. At any rate it was fabulous to people I had heretofore only known from the forums and social media. It was good to see others who had a whole closet full of shaving kit and weren’t embarrassed to be seen in public!
Saturday we vendors all got to the venue and set up. As this was the first NW event, and Idaho Falls has a population of 60k, none of us knew what to expect so when the doors opened and folks flooded in I/we were ecstatic. About half who came were new to traditional shaving and between the epic PIF table and the hobbyist attendees, the new folks often walked away with a whole shaving set up and a rudimentary idea how to proceed. There were two barber colleges that attended and brought all the students with them. So fun talking to them ad showing them how they can use traditional shaving as another income stream. I was shocked at the number of ladies in the crowd and most of them were avid wet shavers. There were even several father/son attendees and it’s alway fun watching that dynamic. There were even a couple of news organizations in attendance. Pretty sure that would not have happened in a large city market!
My takeaways: without new blood our hobbyist numbers shrink. (I’m not getting younger) and except us old timers reach out to assist the newcomers, all our tribal knowledge will be lost. More numbers mean more choices and money to keep things floating. More numbers mean a more vibrant forum and for heavens sake when they come here if we gently help them choose blades and soaps and razors they will take care of our hobby and our favorite artisans. And new folks breath life and excitement back into a hobby that can sometimes focus too much on just high end stuff. And the PIF table helped me clear a lot of clutter.
All in all an awesome and fun event that with more time ought to be even better. Hope to see some of you there next year because he told me he is already planning the event.
![[Image: DUzDhHE.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/DUzDhHE.jpg)
Friday night 16 of us met for supper at a Tepanyaki grill and wow did we get some odd looks. Teton Shaves had banners welcoming the wet shavers and as I stood waiting for people to come, I got to hear the funny comments about “wet shavers”. Pretty funny stuff. At any rate it was fabulous to people I had heretofore only known from the forums and social media. It was good to see others who had a whole closet full of shaving kit and weren’t embarrassed to be seen in public!
Saturday we vendors all got to the venue and set up. As this was the first NW event, and Idaho Falls has a population of 60k, none of us knew what to expect so when the doors opened and folks flooded in I/we were ecstatic. About half who came were new to traditional shaving and between the epic PIF table and the hobbyist attendees, the new folks often walked away with a whole shaving set up and a rudimentary idea how to proceed. There were two barber colleges that attended and brought all the students with them. So fun talking to them ad showing them how they can use traditional shaving as another income stream. I was shocked at the number of ladies in the crowd and most of them were avid wet shavers. There were even several father/son attendees and it’s alway fun watching that dynamic. There were even a couple of news organizations in attendance. Pretty sure that would not have happened in a large city market!
My takeaways: without new blood our hobbyist numbers shrink. (I’m not getting younger) and except us old timers reach out to assist the newcomers, all our tribal knowledge will be lost. More numbers mean more choices and money to keep things floating. More numbers mean a more vibrant forum and for heavens sake when they come here if we gently help them choose blades and soaps and razors they will take care of our hobby and our favorite artisans. And new folks breath life and excitement back into a hobby that can sometimes focus too much on just high end stuff. And the PIF table helped me clear a lot of clutter.
All in all an awesome and fun event that with more time ought to be even better. Hope to see some of you there next year because he told me he is already planning the event.
