The St. Tammany Woodworkers Guild is a group of amateur and experienced woodworkers who meet monthly to exchange information and ideas about woodworking, to answer questions or get help on woodworking problems, to display and explain recent projects, and to enjoy demonstrations by members and guests.

One of the Guild's most enjoyable special events is the "Boats for Kids" tent sponsored each year in the fall at the Madisonville Wooden Boat Festival. At the tent, children of all ages demonstrate their creativity by designing boats to be built from the piles of raw materials on hand.

Each creation begins with child selecting a foot-long mini boat hull and two pontoons (added for stability). Like Mardi Gras Krewes, the Guild begins preparations of those components long before the event. About April, they receive the raw lumber (donated this year by the Poole Lumber Company) and begin long work sessions to cut and shape it into the 1200 to 1500 hulls that will be required. Additional material donated by the Guild is prepared for masts, topsides, sails and flags.

The child continues his or her boat design by selecting additional pieces of wood from piles of random wood pieces that have been collected and cut up or shaped by the woodworkers during the year, and carries them to one of the ten to twelve woodworkers that are on duty at any given time during the show. At each workstation, the child dictates the assembly, under the "no reasonable request refused" dictum. For extra entertainment, the woodworkers delight in ignoring the second-guessing and attempts at coaching from parents, who are roped off from the "kids only" area.

Basic assembly in hand, the children head to the sails and flag table, where woodworkers' spouses and friends add colorful sails. At the final stop one of the woodworkers adds an American flag. The proud kids then head for the nearby water tank to test out the creations, which include ocean liners, battleships, houseboats, fanciful sailboats, oriental junks, and this year, even one sailplane.

This year twenty-seven woodworkers, friends and spouses turned out about 1000 boats to happy kids on Saturday and Sunday. Some of those woodworkers are regulars that have been participating annually for over twelve years. There are "regulars" in the customer base too -- among the thousand children were several who have been attending the show for five or six years and get there early with new and wonderful designs.

Anyone interested in participating in this event by joining the Woodworkers Guild may get more information from the Secretary, Harland Johnson at 985-845-3468 or by email at harlandj@gmail.com.