Celebrate! was a Success and we're Exhausted!
There seems to be a common thread in all of our events over the past year. We've worked hard and reaped the benefits. The preliminary figure is that we grossed some $10,000 in sales. On Sunday, we sold out of cheese and then sold out of burgers. From my perspective, this was one of the smoothest Celebrate! events that we had ever had. More on that in a moment
So many folks need to be recognized for making this event a success. But first, a big shout out to Bennett Forrest and Fern Vidal, our co-chairs. Our secret weapon this year was Kevin Horan, Executive Chef for Division West. Kevin worked all day Saturday, and half the day Sunday. (BTW - immediately after that, he went on to work a full shift at the restaurant). Kevin saved us one hassle immediately: he is a Certified Food Manager and was able to help us keep our noses (and our hands) clean. Plus, his experience proved to be an amazing asset. Kevin had an inherent feel for what was being ordered and how long the line was. There seemed to always be the right number of burgers and dogs available and nothing got cold. And did you try his special sauce for the burgers? Need I say, this guy was amazing!
Most likely the week of July 31, we will have an evening meeting at Division West aimed at promoting membership. That's still in the planning stages.
And there were so many great Rotarians pitching in: Kyle brought his moving crew for set-up, Fern had the great idea of renting a box truck for transport, Bob Rau made the grill sparkle, Carolyn faithfully manned the register all Saturday, Chad was there throughout both days as was Eugene Adu Aboroso, our visiting Rotarian from Ghana. Cindy Mellon was there to help as she is every year, and Bob Buettner, incoming President (and three term President) of the East Hartford Club helped out on Sunday. Peter Kovalevich, Joel Smith, Oscar Santo Domingo, Dave Mangs, Angelique Snow, Harry Davidson, David Gerroll, Diane Barber, John Vaselina (and I probably missed some one, so apologies), were all essential to the success of the weekend.
Thank you all!
BTW- these are not the best photos - there are more on We-Ha.com https://we-ha.com/celebrate-west-hartford-returns-for-its-36th-weekend/- The truth of the matter is that everyone was working so hard, and the space was so tight, it was pretty darn hard to get a good photo, so I forgot about that and went back to work.