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What was the NAFC?
The National Association of Fan Clubs was an umbrella organization for fan clubs around the world. The National Association of Fan Clubs was formed in 1977 by a woman named Blanche Trinajstick (known to friends and fan club presidents worldwide as "Trina"). Trina started in fan clubbing by running fan clubs herself. She was the president of several country music fan clubs.
In 1960 Trina started an organization for country music fan clubs called the K-Bar-T, which she founded with Kaye Meyers. After Kaye dropped out, Trina carried on with the organization. The National Association of Fan Clubs developed from the K-Bar-T.
Trina was also instrumental in organizing benefit shows in Pueblo, Colorado, with country music artists -- some local, others more widely known. These were to benefit the El Pueblo Boys Ranch. She also organized fan club banquets for the K-Bar-T, where awards were given to the country music fan clubs. Trina's love of fan clubs started in the country music field, but eventually she came to embrace and share her knowledge with fan clubs for artists of all persuasions.
As president of NAFC, Trina was mainly concerned with upholding responsibility and reliability in fan clubs. Her newsletter, The Fan Club Monitor, gave fan club presidents a means to communicate with one another and benefit from each others' experiences. Under her strength and guidance, NAFC became a valuable source of information to fans and fan clubs alike, and she continued to run the association until she reluctantly decided to retire in 1993. Sadly, Trina passed away in 1997.
Trina had decided to close the NAFC when she retired, but she was ready to hand the publishing of the Fan Club Directory over to a younger fan club president named Linda Kay. When Linda expressed an interest in continuing NAFC, it was agreed she would also take over the running of the association as well as doing the Directory.
From 1993 until 2002, Linda Kay continued publishing the Fan Club Monitor and the annual Fan Club Directory (until the 2000 / 2001 edition) trying hard to continue with Trina's spirit of keeping fan clubs connected with one another and sharing information only fan club presidents could provide or appreciate. Expanding onto the Internet, Linda began helping online fans in the mid-90's, and developed this website to continue to help the new age of fan clubs online.
If you have any questions about the history of NAFC, please feel free to e-mail Linda Kay.