AAW calendar fills spring and summer with woodturning events

Cindy Drozda’s free Woodturning Tool Talk set the tone for a spring and summer calendar that does not leave much breathing room. The April 24 session ran from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Eastern and was open to everyone, with Drozda covering woodturning techniques, tool use and sharpening, then taking comments and questions in real time.

That same mix of access and name recognition runs through the American Association of Woodturners’ season lineup. AAW is already using its calendar to push both online learning and live gatherings, with a year that moves from Anchorage to Ontario, then to Raleigh, Chicago, Waco, Northbrook and Owen Sound. For turners trying to decide where to spend travel money, the pattern is clear: the biggest payoff still comes from in-person days around lathes, vendor booths, gallery walls and the kind of hallway conversations that never happen on a replay.

The anchor point is the 2026 AAW International Woodturning Symposium, scheduled for June 4-7 in Raleigh, North Carolina. AAW calls it the biggest woodturning event in the world, and the scale backs that up: nearly 100 tradeshow vendors, more than 85 demos and panels, community-building activities, more than 1,000 pieces of artwork in the instant gallery, live music and networking. That is not a thin conference schedule dressed up as a symposium. It is a full woodturning market and teaching floor wrapped into one weekend.

Holding Space, AAW’s 2026 POP Exhibition, adds another layer. The annual international exhibition and auction of small-scale works is on view March 15 to May 22 at the Gallery of Wood Art in Saint Paul, Minnesota, then appears again at the Raleigh symposium. The live and online auction is set for June 6. The entry format is intentionally tight, with works limited to a 6-inch cube, and fees are waived for students in full-time accredited art- or wood-industry-related programs or apprenticeships. That makes the show both a competition and a calling card for the next generation.

Beyond Raleigh, the calendar keeps filling fast. The Alaska Woodturners Annual Symposium is set for May 2-3 in Anchorage. Ottawa TurnFest follows May 23-24 in Nepean, Ontario. Turn-On! Chicago is planned for July 30 through August 2. SWAT 2026, the 34th SWAT symposium, lands August 28-30 at the Waco Convention Center in Waco, Texas. The Segmented Woodturners Symposium is listed for September 18-20 in Northbrook, Illinois, and Wood Symposium 2026 is slated for October 16-18 in Owen Sound, Ontario.

AAW, founded in 1986 and headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota, says it has more than 12,000 members. That reach shows up in the calendar itself: one organization, a lot of dates, and a season that makes a strong case that woodturning still thrives most when people gather around the work in person.