Volunteers Make It Happen

This past week the community had what appeared to be a highly successful Bushwhacker Days celebration. It is good for the community to hold events of this type.

Since the community honored me, it is only appropriate to express some of my thoughts. Words are not adequate for sharing my feelings. As many of you are aware, I was scheduled to be grand marshal in last year's parade, but "it rained on my parade" and it was cancelled. I was willing to live with the fact that it was a parade that did not happen.

This year, there was an insistence that I be in this parade since the parade was not held last year. Russ Warren, 2006 pacesetter, and I shared the distinct honor of being the grand marshals. This is an honor that I never dreamed I would have and I still wonder if it was a dream? In many ways I feel extremely humble. I think about the many great people that had this honor in previous years and realize that I shared in this recognition. Also, I think about many others in the community who are well deserving of this recognition.

It was also a special privilege to share this honor with Russ. He is a person that I enjoy being with and to hold conversation. Since he is the newsman at the radio station, he says that he is supposed to report the news, not to be a newsmaker. The other evening he was a newsmaker.

The weather was good for the parade and it was wonderful to see so many people watching the parade. The theme of the parade was "Volunteers Make It Happen."

There was one thing noticeable during the parade and that is how few people stood for the American Flag as it went by. We were directly behind the National Guard color guard. That is a subject for another column as, one person told me that there were many people walking around, talking and not paying any attention during the National Anthem.

Many events were taking place Saturday. There were many that I would have liked to seen, but did not get the opportunity. Some say there is not anything going on in the community: that certainly was not true during Bushwhacker Days.

"Beyond our wildest dream," was expressed by Kathi Wysong, chamber of commerce director, regarding the success of the 2007 Bushwhacker Days. She described it as being the biggest and smoothest for the 11 years she has been here. Credit was given to the volunteers, as it went well with the volunteers.

This year the city did not supply as much direct support to the annual event as previous years. Last year it cost the city more than $10,000 for personnel overtime, estimated $12,000 to $14,000. Certainly, this is an expense that drains on the expenditure budget. Most of us do not recognize what the new minimum wage law is doing to our municipalities. This law passed by a great majority of voters, limits municipalities on how overtime pay is handled -- apparently something voters wanted. This could also be a factor in addition to what the cost was in the past for the city to limit participation.

One citizen familiar with city government, expressed that the city could afford it. This person commented, "look how much money that comes to the city as a result of this event."

Many of the tasks previously done by city personnel were done by volunteers. Many stepped up for the cause and did their share, many volunteering for two hours. An example of the volunteering was with the Griffons. They filled 16 slots of 18 for a shift.

Volunteers did all kinds of tasks during the celebration. This year, perhaps for the first time in Bushwhacker Parade history, the street sweeper did not follow the horses. Never mind, two volunteers, Charlie Johnson and Carl Johnson, stepped up to the cause by carrying shovels through the parade, following the horses. The two cousins did what had to be done with the shovels.

Kathi said that there were more capable and willing to be event organizers in addition to what the volunteers did. She suggested to the organizers, "Don't be the only one to know your event."

That way more people are being trained. She gave credit to a solid capable steering committee.

Glenda Crowder, tourist coordinator, was also positive about the success of Bushwhacker Days. She commented that "key people did an outstanding job."

Everyone that helped in anyway or supported the event in anyway deserves a great amount of thanks and appreciation. If you see any of the committee people or those who worked hard during the event, express your appreciation to them.

Friends being with friends were one of the things observed. It was noticeable that many enjoyed being with their friends, this was especially true for many of the kids in attendance. Some of the people in attendance most likely do not have opportunities to attend many events and they were enjoying the occasion.

One of the advantages being in the down town area, it is assessable for folks. There were many who walked to the area.

Also noticeable were several in power chairs and being on payment is smooth moving for those individuals. There were many other physical disadvantaged folks in the audience.

The committee is meeting this week to evaluate the event. Let them know about the things you thought were good and to make any suggestions you might have.

A successful Bushwhacker Days with pleasant memories goes down in history and it was volunteers that made it happen.