Central Ohio Woodturners set for season-ending May meeting and officer election

A potluck, a swap table and a financial report will frame Central Ohio Woodturners’ season-ending gathering, a meeting built to do more than close the calendar. The club’s May meeting is set for Tuesday, May 12, 2026, at Holy Spirit Church, 4383 E. Broad Street, Columbus, OH 43213, with swap and shop running from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. before the club meeting from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The agenda shows how local chapters keep a craft community moving. Along with dinner, members will handle the election of officers for 2026-2027 and hear a financial report, the kind of housekeeping that decides who leads the club, how money is spent, and what programs can keep coming back. A similar May meeting format in 2025 included a president’s annual report, election of officers, an audit report, turning gallery or show-and-tell, special items for auction and a preview of summer activities. For an ordinary turner, that means more than business formalities. It means a chance to bring work, talk shop, buy or trade tools and blanks, and leave with ideas that can go straight to the lathe.

Central Ohio Woodturners says it has about 200 members and describes its purpose as providing information, education and organization for people interested in turning wood. The club says it is a welcoming community of makers in Central Ohio, with demo nights, mentoring sessions and a gallery table where members can show finished work. That mix is the real value of a chapter meeting like this one: newer turners can pick up technique, experienced members can compare notes, and everyone gets a place in the conversation about where the club goes next.

The group’s roots go back to July 1992, when 12 people met in Freddy Dutton’s basement. On April 9, 1996, the club voted to become a local chapter of the American Association of Woodturners, and the annual membership fee was set at $15 that year. The AAW later listed the chapter as founded May 24, 1996. Today, the association says local chapters are independent groups of makers who gather to learn woodturning and enjoy fellowship, part of a nonprofit network with more than 12,000 members worldwide. For Central Ohio Woodturners, the May meeting is the annual proof that a club stays alive by mixing food, tools, votes and open books around the same table.