The first Northeast Regional Button Association show was held on May 31 - June 1, 1985. The seed for this new show was planted in September, 1984 at a meeting of the Massachusetts State Button Society. The late Dorothy White suggested an idea for a button show that could be shared by and that could unite all of our New England button clubs. Some members felt that a show of such proportions could not become a reality for 1985. However, Jane Leslie, then president of Mass. State, took the idea by the “shank” and made the show a reality. On the recommendation of another Mass. State member, Regina Schlesinger, the first show was held at the Quality Inn, Chicopee, Massachusetts, a location equidistant from Maine to Manhattan. Martha Breen served as our first judging chair and welcomed in 210 trays entered into 38 categories. Donations of time and talent came from every New England state society and almost every local club. The collectors came too–from Florida, Canada, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey. One woman spent 15 hours on a bus from Ohio just to come to our fledgling show! Within two years New York entered our New England association, and so came the organization called the Northeast Regional Button Association (NERBA) which consists of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. In the intervening years, we have watched the show grow in fame and popularity. One of our then local members, Gil Biggie, even brought the regional show idea west when she moved and so started the Western Regional Button Association (WRBA). So many attendees at that first show clamored for a repeat that NERBA has been a perennial entrant on the button show schedule ever since.

The first Northeast Regional Button Association show was held on May 31 - June 1, 1985. The seed for this new show was planted in September, 1984 at a meeting of the Massachusetts State Button Society. The late Dorothy White suggested an idea for a button show that could be shared by and that could unite all of our New England button clubs.

Some members felt that a show of such proportions could not become a reality for 1985. However, Jane Leslie, then president of Mass. State, took the idea by the “shank” and made the show a reality.

On the recommendation of another Mass. State member, Regina Schlesinger, the first show was held at the Quality Inn, Chicopee, Massachusetts, a location equidistant from Maine to Manhattan. Martha Breen served as our first judging chair and welcomed in 210 trays entered into 38 categories.

Donations of time and talent came from every New England state society and almost every local club. The collectors came too–from Florida, Canada, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey. One woman spent 15 hours on a bus from Ohio just to come to our fledgling show! Within two years New York entered our New England association, and so came the organization called the Northeast Regional Button Association (NERBA) which consists of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.

In the intervening years, we have watched the show grow in fame and popularity. One of our then local members, Gil Biggie, even brought the regional show idea west when she moved and so started the Western Regional Button Association (WRBA).

So many attendees at that first show clamored for a repeat that NERBA has been a perennial entrant on the button show schedule ever since.

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