I've thought long and hard on the subjects of Regionals and whether they are worth the time and expense to have. I'm going to give you my thoughts on Regionals and I expect that very few of those reading this post will agree with me. Most of you will think it's just the ramblings of an old retired "Coastie". There are several reason for what I finally decided, and that is, that Regionals should be a thing of the past.

1. The last Regional that I attended was held at St. Augustine and had approximately 40 attendees. It was very disappointing because of the lack of dedicated HL collectors attending. Most of the people wandering in and out of the picture were those that were visiting the lighthouse because of free admission during Lighthouse Week. You could not enjoy Bill's company because of the crowd of non-HL collectors.

2. The Regional held in New Orleans, while I was not there, was a lot better then the previous Regionals mainly because it was ramroded by Dave. The Regional events were a success, but, I'm told the turnout was less then anticipated. Much less then what you would have had 4-5 years ago.

3. Now, based on the above 2 Regionals and their less then anticipated turnout, what makes you think that a Regional in 2009 or 2010 would be any more sucessful, especially with the economic situation. While there are some collectors that would attend, there are many others that would not attend for one reason or the other. To prove this point, out of 2000+ Forum Members and 50+ that regularly read the Forums, only 22 Forum Members took the time to donate to lighthouse preservation. The cost to participate was only a $5.00 donation. If we only had 22 members donate to preservation, what makes you think that we would have more then that attend a Regional.

4. Are we going to have a Regional in 2009 as Tony mentioned? I would guess not if an announcement has not been made to date. Will we have one in 2010? I doubt it also. Why blame Tony or HLs for not responding to very lackluster turnouts for the above 2 Regionals. It cost money to promote a Regional such as food, facility, deposits, prizes, gifts, entertainment, travel, etc. If you planned a party and expected 75-100 guests as in the Regionals held 7-8 years ago and only had 25-30 guests turnout, would you be very happy? We, as collectors expect too much from HLs and Tony. They are in business to make a small profit and how can they even break even with the disppointing turnouts at the above 2 Regionals.

5. And finally, the 2009 Regional Event Piece that was produced for the 2009 Regional that never happened. I consider it a very rare and special piece since there will be less of these bought then any other Regional Event Piece. So buy it, and be happy with it. It will be a piece without a home, so to speak and maybe in the next year or two, if HLs is able to weather the storm and is still in business, we will have another Regional that will be better attended due to the improved economy(I hope).