The Dalmingo Chapter (“Dalmatian” + “Flamingo”) hosted the 2004 SPAAMFAA Winter Convention in sunny Treasure Island, Florida, near Tampa in mid-February. The program included an excursion to the Pierce fire apparatus plant in Bradenton and a buffet dinner at the Tampa Fire Museum. Some 290 attended the closing banquet…the Great Lakes Chapter hosted the 2004 National Convention/Muster in Frankenmuth, Michigan – proving once again that you can indeed stage a big muster in a small town. A near-record 187 pieces of apparatus paraded through the Bavarian-themed village to the muster site in Heritage Park.

In a surprising burst of expansion, four new chapters joined our ranks this year – Derby City, Inland Empire, Seven Rivers and the Rhode Island Chapter.