CNCH 2025 at Asilomar!
by Joan Near
Save the date for our next exciting CNCH conference: April 24-27, 2025, at Asilomar!
Planning is well underway for the conference dubbed “Bound by Thread, Boundless Creativity,” and we’ve put together a stunning lineup of instructors and workshops. We’ll be revealing those details to your guild liaisons soon!
Many times in the past, CNCH conferences have been held at the iconic https://www.visitasilomar.com/ on the Monterey Bay on California’s Central Coast. We return again and again because it’s a beautiful, immersive experience, every time! You show up on Thursday afternoon, and every need and whim are fulfilled while you enjoy the fiber-people you love most, until you reluctantly jump back into your car to go home on Sunday after lunch.
While you leave the wider world behind, and relax with your friends, you can also walk the beach, enjoying the sound of the surf and the salt breeze;
Asilomar Beach wildlife
you can bird-watch on the shore or in the pine grove; you can hang out on the deck outside the Social Hall,
Social Hall fireplace
or inside by the fire; at mealtimes you can find a table with familiar faces or seek out some new ones; you can enjoy the Arts & Crafts era architecture or be inspired by the natural surroundings to sketch or photograph.
The point is, it’s a weekend you won’t want to miss!
Asilomar has a colorful history, if a little bumpy. It was the brainchild of some influential women of the early 20th century, who wanted to bring leadership skills to young women. Asilomar opened in 1913 as a YWCA Leadership Camp, and that first summer, 300 attended. Within a few years, it was open year-round for conferences of all sorts, and could accommodate 500 registrants.
When the depression hit in the 30’s, Asilomar fell on hard times. It took until the early 50’s for the state of California to become interested in it, as part of a program to restore the dune ecologies in the state. Since the 70’s, dunes restoration projects have restored much of the grounds to their origins, and its ecology is now very highly protected.
Of course, one of Asilomar’s crowning glories is its Arts & Crafts style buildings, created by famed architect, Julia Morgan between 1913 and 1928. The style fits perfectly into the natural beauty of the area.
Merrill Hall, designed by Julia Morgan
During its heyday, when summer camp brought hundreds of kids, Asilomar was maintained by college-aged men and women who came from all over for the experience. Some of the young women were heard complaining about menial tasks like doing laundry. So, they were called “Stuck-Ups,” and the label stuck! (Pun intended.) One of the buildings with sleeping rooms is called “Stuck-Up Inn” to this day.
And the boys were known as “pie-rats” because they swiped a lot of desserts! This morphed into “Pirates” and that’s what they were called from then on. The Stuck-Ups and the Pirates held sports competitions when they weren’t working, much to the delight of locals who came to watch the basketball and volleyball games, and swimming meets.
CNCH 2025 is bound to attract many fiber artists like yourself, from all over the state and the nation. So, start by clearing your calendar for April 24—27, 2025 and check with your guild liaison for updates, or keep an eye on our CNCH website conference page, or use this QR code to stay up to date. We can’t wait to see you then!
