by Chairman Jan Erickson
I’ve been trying to muster some kind of fabulous memory of my year as chairman and I’m not coming up with anything in particular; just some random thoughts. Here goes…
In those days we partnered with the Park District, so from year to year Duane Hosimer was the “constant” as he would always be the Park District co-chair. I was grateful for his experience and guidance. I remember feeling a lot of apprehension prior to the event due to the responsibility of hosting such a large group of people. I prayed a LOT!
I also remember being concerned about the weather. There were thunderstorms predicted for the weekend and all I could imagine was a 5-day down pour. As it turned out we had almost no rain. It was the most amazing thing actually… In those days we certainly didn’t have www.weather.com and a “regular” person didn’t have access to weather radar. There was a “weather” truck that we would get for the event so we could keep track of what was to the west of us. I remember we would be watching a storm gathering between here and the Iowa border. It would gather strength and get to about Aurora and either go north or south or.. just peter out. I really felt like we were on God’s radar, so to speak; like he was really on our side and sheltering our event so we could be successful.
I also remember feeling a sense of awe that I was actually a part of making this event a reality; that the decisions we had made and all the meetings that we had held were worth every minute. We were providing the community with what was to become a great annual tradition while raising funds for people who were desperately in need. Watching it all unfold as planned makes you feel like you’ve really help accomplish something important. I guess that’s the kernel of it.
