From April until August 23rd, my life was given to the cause. If I had free time, it was mostly devoted to the gathering of sponsors, trying to get cars, trucks, and motorcycles to attend with their owners, and attempting to bring together my poor fractured town over the common ground the Library provides the community at large.
We are a town of around 25,000 in four separate governing entities –
Middletown Borough, which as of late,
has been the comic-relief of the area. The Mayor and council seem to
be at odds with each other, up to and including fist fighting, yet
they are elected for the COMMUNITY'S interests. Huh...
Lower Swatara Township, which is the
wealthiest section of town, seems to be doing the best, of the
four. They have high taxes, but the least issues on the surface. The
area is clean and relatively crime-free.
Royalton Borough, the sister of
Middletown, shares a post office but little else, it seems. It is a
small, small town of around 1000 with folks of a similar outlook, yet
it's politics are as shaky as anywhere else. Why can't elected
officials just do the RIGHT thing by it's constituents instead of
letting greed and stupidity take over? Ugh....
Londonderry Township is part
Middletown, part Lancaster County, which confuses me to no end. Those
that have a Middletown address, go to a different school system, have
their own separate governing body, and few of the problems that the
Borough has. It seems their citizens are more involved compared to
the other three areas, and they have a public-owned golf course that
has done well to keep taxes low.
With four sections to my town, four
agendas, four sets of politicians, and four corners to a square, it's
no wonder I feel we are unrelated and do not play together well. I
felt the Library could be a unifying cause that could mend some of
the discord but as usual, I was wrong. It certainly was a learning
experience to see government work from the inside. Or not...
Asking our small businesses for a
donation was easy. I used the logical approach and asked only for
what would be comfortable to the owner. Some gave services, some gave
a donation, a few sponsored a trophy class. It was a largely positive
experience that made me realize just how often these men and women
are asked to give. Almost daily, they are approached by people have
their hands out for something or another. I'm sure it get's tiring
and I can only imagine how I would react. Most admitted they wanted
to help, but couldn't. I accepted that and moved onto the next. In
all, I contacted hundreds of businesses and we ultimately ended up
with over 40 that managed to participate.
In trying to get the vehicles, I
attended some shows and got a lot of help from a friend I'd known for
40 years. When you go to another car show, it's common practice to
pass out flyers to alert owners you have an event to plan for. The
only issue is, there might be as many as 20 flyers ending up in their
cars. How do we stand out?? That's why I was so adamant about the
little things, like the paper used, getting a professional to come
up with a logo, and how the flyer of ours was designed. It definitely
stood out among the crowd. I spent a few hours getting it right and
got a compliment on one of the first I handed out. It made me smile,
knowing that it was noticed.
One of the trinkets that car owners
like is a commemorative dash plaque. They are simple and plain, but
are collectible and expected at most shows. We did not disappoint as
a neighbor from way back showed me a unique design that I knew would
be perfect for our event. It was in the shape of a coaster and with
our title of Wine Wheels & Beer, it made sense. The logo on it
really stands out and was another way we were different than the same
old same old.
So what did all this agonizing and
extra work mean to the outcome?
I have to say, not much.
Everything you can do to make a show
big was done except for one small detail – the weather. A week from
show-date, the weather looked awful. Rain and showers and yuk. A few
days later, it looked like it was going to be fine... sunny and
bright with temperatures in the 70's. A few days later, it went back
to showers. Ugh....
The day of the actual show, it didn't
rain a drop. EVERYWHERE else it did, but not at the Vineyards at
Hershey, where we were hoping for sunshine. This kept many, many
owners (including me!) from showing off their pride and joy, yet 76
vehicles dared it to rain and allowed us to almost reach our
financial goal, in spite of what Mother Nature threatened. I guess I
should think of it as a success, yet I wanted it to be legendarily
huge, with a large crowd oogling the hundreds of vehicles in
attendance, and the word spreading about just how awesome of an event
was held.
It's nice to want....
In actuality, the benefit was
understaffed, a bit unorganized, a little under-appreciated, a smidge under-planned, and in general, most of the attendees enjoyed
themselves so it was all quickly forgotten. Time and time again we
heard how much they were looking forward to next year. I guess they
figured the weather can't be crappy two years in a row!
The volunteers we DID have gave their
best effort and it was much appreciated. Without the core of folks
who always support the library, we would have had a disaster on our
hands. From parking assistants to registration help, to the kind
souls who showed up, and made the day go by quickly and without much
drama.
Will I do this again next year? No way!
Am I glad I did it this year? Yes way!
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