Tori's working hard on her "color the lighthouse entry." She did a very nice job as she was one of the winners


Each table had a group leader whose job was to retrieve the sack of materials from under the table and dump it on the table...
Little did this person know that he/she was to become that table's handmade lighthouse!!


Here is Bill helping his table work on their lighthouse, which they named "Pot Belly Ledge Light"!!


Shirin is starting to look pretty good as the "Fire Island light at Halloween"...


It's really true, Bill does listen to lighthouses!! Pot Belly Light appears to be telling him something important, maybe to have HL make a Pot Belly Light replica... Bob Scroppe is listeing in to find out what is being said to post it on the forums!

Amanda & Kristin help Bill auction off the beautiful lighthouse quilt that Kat Waterson (Hoosier Lighthousing Club) made, that was originally auctioned at the Grand Rapids Regional... She will be happy to know her quilt continues to raise money for needy lighthouses!


The winner was Judy Hall who made use of it right away as she was a little chilled in the room... The quilt raised $300 that went to the Cedar Island lighthouse restoration fund!


Lori Roe won the #14 St Joseph Point, FL lighthouse that was first prize at the Hoosier Lighthousing Club's booth... I wonder where they came up with that #14 lighthouse? The club raised $250 for the Old Michigan City Lighthouse with the opportunity drawing!!


Fred arrived fashionably late for the event to a rousing cheer from all the Wacko's present..


Gold winners from left to right..
Tom Poulos, Jerome Siatkowski, Lee Hale (very excited) and Kevin Omar, who wasn't present but his mom was and his name was drawn first making him one of the 2 winners not present... the other winner not present was Patricia Jenista from Texas...

On the walk out to Fire Island Lighthouse for the Wacko gathering after the Regonal, we were welcomed by some of the VERY friendly deer...


You never know what you will run into when you go lighthousing... One of the parrots really enjoyed nibbling Sue's glasses while the other one seemed to enjoy her nose..


The Wackos all had a great time with pizza and subs and of course the climb up Fire Island tower..


Judy didn't need her quilt at the picnic as the weather was prefect and Gold winner hubby said his new lighthouse was locked safely in his trunk... I asked which car was his but he wouldn't share that info..


I told you it was a perfect day!!!


It just doesn't get any better that this!

After our Fire Island adventure we continued on an even more exciting one, to the world of more urban New York. Two vehicles trying to find their way thru the wastelands of NYC created some definite excitement. Queens Blvd is a most interesting excusrsion if you have not driven it. The ladies (Judy, Suzanne, Carolyn & Susan) were particularly interested in the 1-800-MATTRESS store front. While they are there Roy & I plan to check out Wiggles, convieniently located right next door. More later. . . . . .

Was really impressed with the pictures from the Fire Island Lighthouse. I was born and raised on Long Island on the north shore. Cold Spring Harbor to be exact. The only lighthouse I visited was was Mantauk Point Light many years ago when not living on Long Island. Isn't it funny that we never tour our own back yard until it isn't ours anymore. Now living in Virginia in the Blue Ridge Mountains and Just returned from Maine visiting some of their Lighthouses. I'll post some picture later on if the group would like.

Welcome Gary, we're always up for seeing photos of Lighthouses!

It was a great visit by all the Harbour Lights Collectors to Long Island. I'll take credit for all the perfect weather. Thanks to our hosts at Fire Island - Bob La Rosa, George and Fred who gave us the run of the grounds for 3 hours on a beautiful Saturday Evening.
The lighthouse game was said to be the wildest ever, by regular regional attendees. Kim was disappointed that we didn't decorate Bill.
That great lighthouse quilt was auctioned off to benefit Cedar Island Lighthouse. (Thanks Kat - I guess you'll enjoy knowing it's benefited two lighthouse so far.) That's Larry Nohe's two girls holding the quilt. The whole family made the 185 step climb to the top of Fire Island Lighthouse for a spectacular view of the beaches on the National Seashore.
That's Gerri and Basil (Carmine not pictured) at the front door with Fred on his arrival. They were two of the many volunteers who gave up a good part of their good time to man the registration desk.
Thanks for the great pictures and report Paul and Sue.(I guess you found a phone hookup at the bed and breakfast?)
Now did anyone ask about the Great Lakes ReUnion in 2004?
Bob

Thanks for the report!

Looks like you folks had a great day (and evening at Fire Island).

I was also happy to see about the raffle for the Cedar Island Lighthouse! We wrote a check for $10,000 to the contractor yesterday (for the oil house restoration), so the $300 is definitely welcomed!

Glad to hear the event went well! Sorry I couldn't spend the day with my fellow wackos.

Hope you folks come back and visit us on Long Island again soon!

Great pictures of what appears to have been a great regional. Thanks for sharing the photos. I also am sorry for not being able to make it to Long Island. Maybe next year!

Bert

Paul,

Thanks for your great report on the activities at the Regional, as per usual.

I wish I could have been there, but hopefully next year.

I'm progressing, but am still sore and tire easily. I think if it had been next weekend I might have tried it. I'm hoping to get to the NJLHS Meeting next weekend.

Dennis

Welcome Zeki and Lighthouse Lover - unusual we'd have two new members from Scotland on the same day. I'd like to ask you to POST A NEW TOPIC to post something that is unrelated to the current thread.

Check on the TOPIC of the various forums and remain on the topic or your posts will be moved or deleted.

The Freeport Recreational Center was a great facility to have the Regional at this year. The only disadvantage was the area traffic which caused some problems for some of the attendees.

Hopefully, next year's regional will be at a facility a little further away from the traffic congestion that is always found around large cities.

A super time was had by all!

Bob

P.S. I'll try to post a few pics later.

GREAT PHOTOS! A good time was had by all who attended. The "lighthouse facsimile" event was really a lot of fun. Could apply this to other lighthouse group events.

Thanks to Bill, Nancy and Kim Younger and of course Desiree for organizing the together.

I must say, that was the most fun I've had at a Harbour Lights Regional. So now I know what it feels like to be dressed up as a lighthouse. Or was it more like a mummy? The NELL gang really went nuts with all that crepe and toilet paper. I couldn't move by the time they were finished! The time really flew by at the event.

It was also nice to get together with other Wackos afterwards at Fire Island. Thanks Dave and Bob for setting up the tours and pizza. It was the perfect ending to a fun day.

Look's like a great time was had by all. Sure wish I could have been there.

It sure does look like it was outstanding. Sorry I had to miss it, thanks to Isabel. AND, our collector's club (Beacons on the Bay) president, Jerry, was a big gold winner.

Joyce

Aren't those two girls holding the quilt the cutest you've ever seen? Absolutely adorable!

This was our first Regional and we had a GREAT TIME! We hope to do more in the future. Kristin was excited to win the Fire Island GLOW in the coloring contest. It was great to meet so many of you in person, too. And to think that Donna had to convince me at 4:30 Saturday morning to actually go. I was ready to stay home after the storm and hotel problems that had my blood pressure elevated. But we had no electricity when we left, and none when we got home, so I am so glad we went (finally got it this afternoon...3 1/2 days).

And Fire Island was a grand time, even though Kris started panicing in the tower and we had to hurry down before the rest of the group.

Later I'll post a few pictures from our Sunday adventures, including an unexpected, unplanned, but culturely (although not financially) rewarding, side trip.

(Thanks for those pictures Paul. I would like a copy of that one and any others you may have of my girls, if possible)

(And my congrats as well to Jerry and all the Gold winners!)

Thanks for posting more great pictures Paul. It sure looked like lots of fun.

Larry, if you right click on the picture you want you can save it to you computer and print yourself a copy. They are really cute girls. Looking forward to your picture posting.
Ruthie

MJ, Lexis and I had a wonderful time at the Regional and the associated tours of the lighthouses at Horton Point, Fire Island and Montauk. Thank you Paul for posting these memories, to Bob Scroope & Dave Hannum for planning the lighthouse climb and pizza party, and to Harbour Lights for being the greatest and making this all possible.

Ron & MJ
(CT Keepers)

You know it's a wonderful experience, planning things for a group of people who have a great time and only have positive comments.(Quite remarkable!) Not a disparaging word could be heard from any Collector the entire weekend. MaryAnn remarked, "we were hanging out with a bunch of 'Lighthouse Groupies'". lol

PS I heard from a little bird that HL is trying put together a Reunion but are forecasting 2005!

It was such a delightful surprise to see the quilt I made auctioned off again continuing to make money to support our great lighthouses. Thankyou Bill, Nancy, and Kim for such a terrific way to keep the little quilt working hard for our lights. God Bless You and the winner whom I hope will enjoy it.
I have been busy working on other quilts and getting better and better at it, I am currently working on a nautical quilt for my daughter and am very excited about how beautiful it is turning out....hers is a queen size! I would like to make a queen sized one to auction off....some day! What do you say Hoosier Lighthousing Club members, another raffle/auction!!
Blessings and Peace to All!
Love,
Kat Waterson

Also wanted to say how sorry I was not to have been able to attend the Regional event in New York. As many of you know I am a nurse and I was working hard at becoming certified in Pediatric Advanced Life Support...so, I really did have a good excuse not to be there.
I am so glad the weather was lovely and everyone had such a grand time. So sorry to have missed visiting with Ron and MJ Foster. God Bless You All!
Kat

I too have to say THANKS to all the Harbour Lights family for a great event to attend on Long Island.

Another huge THANKS to Dave Hannum and Bob Scroope for all the pre-planning for Fire Island and the Friday tours of Old Field, Eaton's Neck, and Horton Point.

We all received the VIP (behind the scenes) tour of the Coast Guard facilities at Eaton's Neck, including getting aboard the 41' (I think that was the size) Coast Guard cutter.

And last but not least...I won the St. Joseph, FL lighthouse from the Hoosier lighthouse club raffle and a Sky Bound ballon with my entry ticket.

It doesn't get much better than this, beautiful weather for lighthousing and terrific HL wackos to spend the weekend with.

Claudia and I would like to add our thanks, as well . . . both to the Youngers and their colleagues and to Dave Hannum and Bob Scroope for the post-prom party. We got nailed by traffic and missed the crepe paper shenanigans, but arrived in time to enjoy everything else. Never saw the Macaws, though, except in Paul's photo. You'd think they'd be hard to miss hanging out at the Fire Island Light for a couple hours!

One of the gentlemen who works at the light mentioned that they were surprised at the number of visitors in addition to the HL group who stopped by at a time when the light is normally closed. So the benefits went beyond just us Wackos. Nice to see that.

Bruce

The Hoosierlighthousing Club was well represented and the Long Island Regional... Sue and I totalled up the number as we unpacked the car upon our arrival home today...

16 active Hoosier Lighthousing Club members were there... Maybe I should say very active since 6 of us have made all four regionals this year!

Paul

Didn't make the Fire Island scene. But, your pictures were the next best thing to being there.
Thank You.
Fred

Here's a Blast from the past!

Good Times!