Do you remember the time the New York Times visited the Vent Haven International Ventriloquist ConVENTion? To refresh your memory (or if you weren't there) it was back in 2018.

I remember it vividly because it was so much fun to be involved with helping them to put this article together. This was written by Elizabeth Vincentelli and photographed by Andrew Spear.

What made is so interesting and how I got involved is a story in itself. You see, I was rooming with "my favorite ventriloquist" Dirk Golden and we had just came down to the lobby when a lady approached us and said to Dirk, "Are you Dirk Golden?" He, of course replied to the positive. Then she said, "Well I saw this young man holding a ventriloquist dummy and explained to him I was from the New York Times and asked him who I should talked to and he said, 'You need to talk to Dirk Golden' and sent me over here."

Dirk then told her, "I really don't have a lot of information about the ConVENTion but Daniel Jay has been going for a while and he knows more about it than me." She then started talking to me and I gave her some information and then said, "The person you should really be talking to is Mark Wade." and I steered her in the right direction.  

We did built almost an immediate friendship with Elisabeth and Andrew and throughout the time they were there they interviewed us and even asked us to round up ventriloquists with their figures to get there photos taken for the article.

We got to listen and watch as they interviewed Mark Wade, Austin Phillips and Jeff Goltz. Dirk and I even had the privilege of being quoted in the article.  

I don't know who that young man was that sent Elisabeth and Andrew our way but thanks to those crazy YouTube videos Dirk puts up we had a real blast hanging out with great folks from the NY Times that year.

To read the full article go to https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/31/arts/vent-haven-ventriloquist-convention.html

And to catch all of Dirk Golden's YouTube videos from ConVENTions past go to https://www.youtube.com/@dirkthevent/videos