I got this information from Jake Toering who was at the Alpena Lighthouse Festival..

I have since confirmed these event dates with Desireé of Harbour Lights, who is the HL events coordinator

It looks like there are at least some small changes in store- both those dates are Sundays, instead of Saturdays.

I'm not sure I'm crazy about it being on a holiday weekend- could make travel and accomadations a bit more difficult.

St Augustine in March sounds like a possibillity. I'll have to run these by Esther.

It is also established that there will only be 2 Regionals next year? Or is that just pure speculation at this point.

Dennis

Dennis, these are the only two Regionals next year..

Paul,

Thanks for the info. I guess I'll have to consider a West Coast trip in July. There's a number of Oregon and Washington Lighthouses we did not make it to on our last West Coast trip.

Dennis

Are you positive these are Regionals? Usually in March they hold the St. Augustine Lighthouse Festival and Bill usually attends. This is always on Saturday. But if this date is a Sunday, then maybe they are planning on killing two birds with one stone. Very interesting.

If those are the only 2 regionals then to put it politely, that really STINKS! I wouldn't be able to do either one. Guess I'll just have to make more in-store events next year.

Have to agree with Shirin. However, given the recent scare for Bill's health I can see where they would cut back.

The July 4th date REALLY SUCKS BIG TIME. If they plan on having it at the lightship, it is going to cater to a very small crowd. Maybe somewhere nearby, but the area around the lightship won't handle that much of a crowd.

The statement that THE JULY 4TH DATE REALLY SUCKS is my personal opinion does not reflect the opion of the staff, management et all of the Collector Forums. However, it is an accurate statement.

Dave

Hi From HL HQ! Just wanted to drop a line about 2004 Regionals. We are putting together the two events in conjunction with existing lighthouse related events. The first Regional, in March, is being put together around the annual St. Augustine Lighthouse picnic/open house event.

The USLHS will be hosting an evening event on the 4th of July and are expecting quite a crowd for the fireworks show that happens right on the water by the ship.

So keep your ears and eyes open because we are going to be putting more energy and time into planning just the two for next year. But as always expected its going to be fun, fun, fun!

GRRRRRRREAT news for us southern Wackos about St. Augustine. It will be a full weekend outing attending the lighthouse on Saturday and the Regional on Sunday. I'll have to camp out at one of my kids house on Saturday night.

Dave,

Totally agree!!!

How about a Lake Michigan lighthouse Wacko/Newbie reunion summer of 2004?

Gather ideas from all...and start the planning!

Maybe we can plan something around the boat cruise(s) that Suzanne is looking into for this summer up on Lake Superior .... Isle Royale & Keweenaw Peninsula?

What do you think??

Dan

Well I guess yours truly won't be attending a Regional in 2004. As a matter of fact they should ditch the term Regional and call it east of the Mississippi and west of the Misssissippi.

This is an extremely large disappointment for us New Englanders. Many of us would travel most anywhere for a three day event, but not that far for an afternoon.

Bob

Well, the Bradys are planning on being at both Regionals and since there were 18 Hoosier Lighthousing Club members at the Long Island Regional I suspect that a few will be at each event next year..

BTW the dates of the Isle Royale & Keweenaw Peninsula cruises are looking like the 2nd and 3rd of August, a Monday and Tuesday...

It seems that we heard some time ago that there would only be two regionals next year. I have no interest in either of them. A Wacko reunion in the midwest sounds like a lot more fun. For those of you Easterners who've never attended a midwest event, you've missed a great time!

Yes, I am working on a two day boat cruise around Isle Royale and the Keweenaw Peninsula on Lake Superior on August 2nd and August 3rd, 2004. The boat can hold 90 people, so we could have a fun get-together in the Midwest. Let me know if you are interested.

Suzanne Murphy

Neither of these dates are going to work for John and I.

We already have vacation plans that are going to cause a conflict.

Suzanne, VERY interested. Please keep me informed. I wanted to do that trip this year but it was too late in the season. I also know it's weather dependent where Lake Superior is concerned...Houghton certainly has enough lodging for a small regional.

The Isle Royale part of this trip is different than any boat trip you can currently take. It will be a one day trip around Isle Royale visiting and photographing lighthouses, breakfast, lunch, and dinner included.

ISLE ROYALE CRUISE
1. Rock of Ages Light - 4 1/2 miles southwest of Isle Royale
2. Isle Royale lighthouse on Menagerie Island
3. Rock Harbor Lighthouse at Middle Island Passage
4. Passage Island Light - 3 1/2 miles off the northeast end of Isle Royale
5. Windago - stop to look at Lens
6. Keweenaw Upper Entry Light

CRUISE AROUND THE KEWEENAW PENINSULA
1. Keweenaw Lower Entry
2. Jacobsville
3. Mendota
4. Gull Rock
5. Manitou
6. Copper Harbor
7. Eagle Harbor
8. Eagle River
9. Sandhill
10. Keweenaw Upper Entry

Anyone else from the New England area bummed-out over the lack of a regional in our neck of the woods?

Bob

Bob,

The most heavily attended regionals have been in the Midwest. So, we have gone to the opposite extremes to have regional events. Surprised we kept them in the lower 48. . . .

I have to agree with the majority....I am NOT happy with the choice of just two regionals next year. Going to a regional event on the 4th of July weekend is in my opinion INSANE!!!! That weekend is for families not traveling across the country to see the west coast fireworks and a lightship. Yes, I know we treat our fellow wackos like family. But I will not travel across the country for that weekend.

I told Suzanne last weekend that Jeff and I are interested in going on the trip out of Houghton next summer. I think it may be a mini reunion for all the wackos if we start make the plans now for those dates.

Times seem to be chaning quickly if you get my drift.

Mary

Well, this East Coast Wacko won't be attending either Regional. I'm certainly not going to board a plane for a three hour get-togther! A reunion of several days worth of good times & lighthouses, maybe.

It seems to me that HLs should keep all four 'Regionals' or ditch the whole idea all together. Go back to events around the country so collectors can all attend with at the most a few hour car trip. Then every four years or so one big national reunion. I for one don't like leaving my family for days at a time esp. for a three hour event. The reunion however is different, my husband enjoyed that and would do it again.

Real bummer and real exclusionary,
Donna

I'm also bummed-out, Bob! I was hoping for a regional here in the Northeast again. If not, then I'll just have to wait for another year, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

Bert

I guess Harbour Lights has to do what they have to do. You can't please all the people all of the time.

Those who live close by to these events will be happy. Those who live far away will frown. So be it...that's life.

I wouldn't want to be traveling of the Fourth of July weekend. Now I don't have to worry about it.

:rolleyes: Bob :rolleyes:

Here's several points to ponder-

We here have said in the past that we'd like to have HL coordinate the Regionals with some other Lighthouse Event.

This year they have done that. The Region al in March is set to be the same time as St Augustine's Yearly Festival. This means that you would not be traveling for only a 3 hour event. It also is set in an area that has many other attractions to see- Lighthouse related and otherwise.

The Regional in San Francisco meets the same criteria. You have the special event sponsored by the USLHS and the Regional, plus a plethora of Lighthouse and non-lighthouse things to do (in at least one case the two are combined- Alcatraz).

The upside is that both can be combined with a trip that exceeds the 3 hour Regional and gives you many things to do. Granted if you have young children the March trip is a problem (unless it coincides with your child's school spring break) and many people don't like to travel on a holiday weekend, but if you do an extended trip in July you could easily avoid that.

Yes, it would be nice to have 4 Regionals spread more across the country but I think that the reasoning behind 2 is more economic than to give Bill a break- these Regionals are not cheap to plan and put on. They also had to already have their mind made up prior to his recent medical problems.

I agree 2 is not as good as 4, but in the case of the 2 they have planned they have made them better in many ways than the 4 they have had in the past.

You can't just look at the small picture here- you have to look at the big picture and the possibillities.

You can do a West Coast or just a California Lighthouse trip for the July Regional and you could do a similar thing in March for the Regional.

Just some thoughts.

Dennis

IMHO, what might be a better option is having a sort of "National Convention" once a year. Pick a location (rotate it NE, SE, Midwest, NW, SW) and make THE major event for Harbour Lights collectors. And make it a multi-day event! Include trips to lighthouses and other related points of interest, bring in the local groups to help with the planning and running of the event.

I was in a co-ed fraternity in college (yes, co-ed), and every other year they have a national convention in a different location of the country (on the alternate years they have regional conventions). They select a local chapter (or chapters if there are several in that particular location) to coordinate the event. The National Office provides input and money to help run the event. The event usually lasts for 3 days, they gots tons of folks, and it has been described to me as a "once in a lifetime event." Wouldn't it be neat if HL did something like this?

Maybe I'm nuts, but I think making a once a year MAJOR event, with the dates known WELL in advance, would allow folks from all over to make a vacation out of it. You might even get me to come to one then!

Maybe we're all missing something here. Look at it this way. Bare with me, because I'm going off the top of my head (Not much thinking involved), but certain rumors are coming true. Anyway...

1. Rumors circulated about only 2 regionals this year. This is now true. One east coast and one west coast, but no mid. One event is in spring and the other summer with nothing in the fall.

2. Rumors circulated, from a slip of the tongue by Kim, at the regionals this year about a reunion in the Mid-West (Michigan, if I remember)in the fall. Check the rumor mill or next reunion forums about all that was said.

3. Fall 2004 will be 3 years from the last reunion. It's time!!!! Especially for the mid-west. Not to mention a beautiful time of year in that area just as Baltimore was.

4. Reducing expenses in having only two regionals, but still maintaining lighthouse awareness even though the timing isn't perfect is great marketing. To put more in the reunion sounds like fun, fun, fun, to me.

Jeff & Dennis,

You both bring up valid points, but only to a point. HL has a less than stellar record of picking sites for the regional events. Last year's Sacramento event was very poorly attended, so we put another one less than a 100 miles away? SF is a wonderful city, and there are lots of lights in the area as well as plenty of other things to do. However, the high tourist season and a major holiday weekend are not the time to visit there.

St. Augustine is also a neat city, and there are other lights nearby. It is a better choice, which is probably why it has not been zinged as has the July 4th SF (actually Oakland) regional.

As for a reunion, supposedly HL has now ruled out 2004. That would mean 2 more years, fall 2005 (if they keep to the fall pattern).

I will again remind you that the biggest crowds have been at the midwest regional events, so why have we been left out?? I understand cutting expenses, but regional events are good marketing and do fire up the collectors.

IMNSHO,

Dave

Jeff, Nancy already said that there will not be a Reunion in 2004!

Maybe 2005!

I HAVE SAID THIS BEFORE ON THE FORUM.
HARBOUR LIGHTS MUST HAVE REGIONAL OR STORE EVENTS WITH LIGHTHOUSE EVENTS.
The two go together.
Don’t think that this will be a one-time thing with St Aug having the regional.
In the past the regionals have had the same deacated collectors and are not attracting very many new faces.
Harbour Lights sales have obviously dropped like all collectibles sales. Harbour lights have saturated the old traditional way of advertising with sales reps and collectable stores. But, There is a big untapped market out there and it is the Lighthouse lover people that don’t collect or occasionally collect.
And there is no other place better than the St Augustine festival with its 7,000 to 8,000 people that are there to see the Lighthouse.
Harbour Lights have been at the last three St Aug festivals and have had fantastic sales. Kim even showed up last year. It is no coincidence that the past two years that HL came out with Florida lights for the beginning of the season. I feel that last year focus on Florida lights is a beginning of a trend. I also believe that for the next St Augustine festival Harbour lights will probably have at least the St Augustine Fresnel Lens and maybe even the ponce fresnel lens and some more Florida Lights. Maybe the Mayport or Egmont Key light.

Well said, Daniel!

Obviously, priorities are being adjusted by Harbour Lights. One can only speculate that business growth isn't what they would like it to be so they must adapt and overcome this downslide in the economy.

How many of you subscribe to Yankee Magazine? Well I do and I always check the ads looking for the HL advertising. There were no HL lighthouse ads in the current issue. Instead there were two separate ads for the hot air balloons.

Should one take that as a sign they want to promote the skybound line rather than the lighthouses? Could it be the lighthouse limited edition business has fallen off and advertising dollars are better spent on a new campaign for hot air balloons? Has Harbour Lights discovered that the future doesn't lie in limited editions, but in a quality collectible that non-regular collectors might buy?

What's better business for the company? Producing limited editions and sell them out to a select crowd, or produce thousands and thousands of non-limited edition products with the hope that tens of thousands of people will buy them over the years?

It's nice to feel that a company tries their very best to please their customers, and I truly believe the Younger Family has always kept us collectors reasonably happy and will continue to do the same in the future. But adjustments must be made to keep profits up so that the consumers can keep the Younger Family happy too.

Up, up and away is just one diversion from the norm from the folks that brought us the best collectible lighthouses in the world.

Bob

Daniel,

I think that you have hit the nail square on the head with your thoughts on the regionals. While the regionals in the Great Lakes and Northeast may have a better attendance, that is only because there are more states making up those areas and thus a larger amount of "connected collectors". Daniel hit it square on the old noggin when he talked about the untapped market of 6000 to 8000 visitors in a couple of days to St Augustine. Getting just 1 to 2 % of that number interested in Harbour Lights would be a big deal to HL. The South and West Coast are the areas that are having the population growth and this is where HL can improve their profits at. Business is business and while I don't agree with a lot of things(GLOWS in particular) they are wise business people. Besides, I'm sure that next year the regionals will be in the Northeast and Great Lakes area and it will be our turn to complain that we are being left out.

I really like what I'm hearing from Dennis, Jeff and Bob. And Rich, I really like to hear that next year we may be the one with the regionals. I don't mind sharing. May even have to take a March vacation next year. That would be great.

The comments about tapping those six to eight thousand visitors and hopefully getting them interested in HL's would be a benefit that we could all enjoy.

Bert

By the thought process put forward by Rich and Daniel, both the 2004 regional events would be in the midwest. The sping event would be in May at Door County WI during their annual Lighthouse Walk. This true lighthouse event attracts at least as many folks as the Saint Augustine event does

The fall event would be at Alpena MI in October. This is the largest lighthouse event in the country, and already enjoys support from HL.

Saint Augustine is a beautiful light and a great museum. I'm sure their open house event is nice. However, both the Door County and Alpena events involve multiple lighthouses and groups. So, by your thought process this is where the events should be.

The midwest regional has had better attendance than the other regionals. However, not all of this is because of connected collectors. The central location has made it easy for peole to attend.

IMO, you can add having only two regionals (and ones at such extreme ends of the country) to the same catagory as their decision to significantly increase edition sizes to sell more.

If we look at these Regionals as centralized signing events for established collectors, which I believe was the original intent, then it seems that the locations chosen would be where the highest numbers of collectors reside.

The Southeast is a no brainer as that is where the largest number of collectors call home. I've asked but can't remember where the 2nd largest group resides.

These events were never intended to be mini-reunions with a full slate of lighthouse related activities provided by HL. Any group pre/post lighthouse activities that have occurred during Regionals has been the result of planning by collector forum members.

Remember way back when, when we were clammoring for another reunion, prior to Baltimore, when the idea of Regional Reunions was brought up? HL's answer was, "No way, too much work!".

Perhaps the concept of the Regionals has now changed? That being to hold a Regional in a location where there is another lighthouse event scheduled that would attract more people, collectors and would-be collectors alike? This way neither HL nor the "connected collectors" would have to be responsible for furnishing "other lighthouse activities"?

When the Collectible Shows were alive and well these provided an additional time and location for HL and collectors to gather and socialize. Pieces were brought to be signed and HL sometimes provided a picnic at a nearby lighthouse. Well these appear to be history.

Whatever the context of next year's Regionals, the dates and places have been established. We can either choose to attend or not.

With the prediction of the next Reunion location being the Great Lakes maybe the midwest folks shouldn't cry too hard over the loss of a Regional in their area for next year.

Just be thankful you don't live in Upstate NY where we don't even get store events.