[The AFDCS got an “offer too good to refuse” for special programs at the National Postal Museum, and has revised its pre-Americover Tour. This is the revised press release]

AFDCS REVISES AMERICOVER TOUR TO CONCENTRATE ON POSTAL MUSEUM
Group Will Attend Special Sundman Lecture On Parks

The American First Day Cover Society’s pre-Americover tour will include special presentations at the National Postal Museum.

Americover 2016 will be held in Falls Church, Va., August 19-21, just outside Washington, D.C. On the way to the museum, the bus will drop participants off at the National Mall for several hours to see whichever monuments and museums they choose.

At the NPM, former National Park Service interpretive planner Paul Lee will present a special Sundman lecture, “Parks, Postmarks, and Postmasters: Post Offices Within The National Park System.” The program combines real-life drama and human interest.This year is the centennial of the National Park Service.

The Maynard Sundman lecture series at the Museum features talks by authors and expert philatelists on stamps and stamp collecting. Lee has worked at parks in the U.S., American Samoa and Northern Mariana Islands.

After lunch, NPM Chief Curator Daniel Piazza (left) will give a guided tour of “Trailblazing: 100 Years of Our National Parks,” followed by a tour of the rest of the facility. Members of the group will have a chance to see their own cachets in the Owney the Postal Dog FDC exhibit.

“This tour gives our members and guests both a chance to explore some of Washington’s most famous sites and to attend a private tour and lecture at the National Postal Museum,” said Chris Lazaroff, chair of Americover 2016.

Membership is not required to take the tour.

The price, which covers bus transportation and a box lunch provided by Donald Sundman of Mystic Stamp Company, is $50 per person if purchased before July 1st, and $55 after that date. Tickets may be purchased online at www.afdcs.org/register or by mail, using the insert in the March-April issue of First Days, the official journal of the AFDCS. Non-members are welcome on the tour and can request a copy of the Americover 2016 event order form by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope to the AFDCS, PO Box 44, Annapolis Jct., MD 20701-0044..

Each year, a group from Americover tours local sites the day before the show opens. There is also a Sunday evening event involving dinner; this year, it will be at P.J. Skidoos, a local restaurant favorite.

There is a special Americover room rate of $99 at the Falls Church Marriott Fairview Park Hotel, which includes Wednesday and Sunday nights. There also will be two bourses (commercial dealers and cachetmakers) at the show, a banquet, meetings, a youth table, a hospitality suite, live and silent auctions, seminars, a dedication ceremony on Sunday for the Soda Fountain Favorites stamps, and a forum by a postal official involved with first day covers.

For more information on Americover 2016 and the AFDCS, contact the AFDCS at P.O. Box 16277, Tucson, Ariz. 85732-6277, email showinfo@afdcs.org or visit www.afdcs.org.