Does anybody know exactly how Harbour Lights choses where to have their Regionals? I know they try to cover the entire country with four Regionals in fairness to people from the west coast, east coast, south coast, and Great Lakes area, but how do they decide exactly where it will be?

I've only been to two Regionals, one in Branford, CT (2001) and Freeport, Long Island, NY (2003). Both these were Northeast Regionals.

Is it safe to assume that the next Northeast Regional will be at a new location? Will HL head further north for the next one, or will they try to stay closer to the southeast area of the northeast part of the country?

:)Bob:)

Bob,

I'm not sure how they decide, but based on the past 4 North Regionals- one in Northern VA (outside Washington, DC), CT, Central NJ and lastly LI- I'd say that it's a good bet that it will be in Delaware or Maryland next year.As an alternative I'd say RI or MA.

I'd say near to Baltimore or Providence. HL seems to like to place these outside of a major city, for the most part. I would think the furthest North they would go would be in the Boston area.

They seem to try and keep it towards the middle of the East for the most part.

Of course I have no actual clue as to their mindset on this- just an educated guess on my part.

Dennis

From some of the locations, I believe the use of a dart board set up +/or a ouji board have sometimes been used.

One thing that I feel has too much input into locations is the rep for that area. They tend to recommend locations that are good for them, but not necessarily for collectors. On numerous occassions several of us have made suggestions that collectors be approached for suggestions and ideas. Maybe one day this will happen.

Dave,

I agree with your assessment. I don't know who came up with the NJ site. It was a nice hall, but how they found it is beyond me.

Dennis

If I was allowed input as to where a Regional would be held, I would take into consideration:

Major airport close by;

Near the salt water;

Easy access to a lighthouse or two before and after the event;

Plenty of hotels/motels in the area;

Many great restaurants close by.

I would make a pitch for Rhode Island or Massachusetts. There are plenty of large activity halls in really nice areas near the water which would allow easy accessibility to many lighthouses in this area.

Bob

P.S. If you have it in our neck of the woods, Bert and I would really appreciate it!

The problem with your approach, Bob, is that it does not reflect how HL views the regional events. For them it is a super sized signing event with a few extra goodies thrown in, located at a "neutral" (non-dealer) location.

Those of us here in the forums have, however, worked to make the regionals into a bigger happening for ourselves. If you look at the regionals the last several years, I would say the largest (by a pretty good shot) has been the Chicago/Midwest event. Why was it bigger and better attended? There are probably several reasons.

• Up until this year, the event was also tied to the Collectibles show (Rosemont or Navy Pier).
• Here in the forums we have really built up the event the past several years.
• Chicago, though an expensive city, was a pretty good central location for everyone. Lots of flights in and generally pretty good air fares.
• Especially at the midwest event we have planned lighthousing events. Last year I organized a trip to Door County. We invited non-locals to join us, and found them rides. This year I made arrangements with the Coast Guard to open the inner light at Grand Haven (probably the only time it was opened this year) and then we followed up with a big doo-dah in Michigan City on Sunday.
• Any lighthousing related events tied into regional outings have generally been arranged by yours truly. I made arrangements for folks to visit Point Loma in San Diego. With input from Bob Scroope and Bob Muller I set up a LI North Shore lighthouse trip last month. Bob Scroope made arrangements for us to go to Fire Island and he and I worked out the details for it and for the pizza picnic.

Last year at the NJ event, Dennis Whelan made arrangements for a Wacko dinner get together on Friday night and again on Saturday. Friday before the regional, Dennis arranged to meet us at Sandy Hook for tours.

HL doesn't intend for a regional to be a multi-day event, we (connected collectors) try to make them into even more fun events.

I expect HL will continue to rely heavily on their reps to establish locations. HL may give general guidance (southeastern Michigan) but will depend on the local rep to secure the facility. We had a beautiful facility at Grand Rapids, but it was downtown in the middle of the largest weekend art fair in the country - real bad timing! The facility in LI was very nice, but not good for anyone not familiar with the area. Last year's Sacremento event was in a nice facility in the middle of no-where. Need I go on?

I would ask that HL involve some collectors simply to get a better input, one from the point of view of those the event is intended for. Don't forget, this input might come from an active collector the Younger family knows who is not a connected collector so we still won't have input into how we want the event to be. Had HL listened to Bob & Bob, the LI event would have happened earlier in the day and more to the east on LI so that folks could have made it to the Chapter's Beacons of the Night Cruise.

To sum it up, we all need to write nice notes to HL thanking them for the regionals, and asking that they consider more collector input in planning future ones. One way or another, we will have fun at the events and make the most out of the locations wherever they end up. (and not necessarily near salt water - many, many more lighthouses in the fresh water Great Lakes than the other 3 coasts combined!)

IMHO,

Dave

I agree with Dave to start.
I think it's a combination of dealers, clubs, restoration orgs, and collectors who make the most noise. Probably in that order.
I think HL Regional events would be more successful if they coordinated them with other LH events in an area. Collectors want the most bang for their buck if they are traveling to an area and will piggyback lighthousing, sightseeing, etc to make vacation out of a trip.
HL does participate in the big events but it is my observation that they want their Regional to be 'the Event' and focus on participating dealers for that weekend.
Collectors have made the pre and post events part of the scenario which is what attracts me to the event.
My first event was Baltimore Reunion and I was drawn to it based on John's pre and post lighthousing trips. Now that I've been indoctrinated into the Cult. I've made same day round trips to Conn and NJ regionals, and tried to help expand the experience on Long Island (and plug LI's causes). I know we could have made it even better if we had more input into the date, time and place. Conflicts with many other events on Long Island the same day caused local attendance to be down. (Especially for members in the Long Island Chapter who had to be in Greenport Fri, Sat and Sunday to a previously committed Marine Festival and a LH Cruise.)
I was wooed to the Chicago experience several times but never pulled the trigger because of Father's Day.
My attendance at the next Regional or Reunion outside my geographical location will be dependent on extending the experience.
Thanks to all that have done that in the past and I look foward to all the future adventures that you guys will be planning.
And I do thank Harbour Lights for getting us to some great areas to spend some time with them, and our collector family. I look foward to spending some time with Bill, Kim and Nancy and love it when they can get to regular signings. club events, and support of lighthouses on their busy schedules.
Bob

I have to agree with Bob and Dave. I really think HL should allow greater input from the local collectors and clubs/restoration groups.

I had every intention of going to the LI Regional when it was originally scheduled for September 27th. When they changed it to the 20th, it messed up my plans, since I had committed to be in Greenport. I know of a few more HL collectors who were working with me in Greenport instead of going the Regional.

I think it could be a "win-win" situation for HL, collectors, and the local restoration society, if there could be more coordination. It would ultimately provide more exposure for HL to non-collectors who are lighthouse fans. Plus, there were several collectors who want to use the opportunity of the Regional to visit the "local" lighthouses. We were contacted by several people who wanted to go on our event the night of the Regional, but couldn't do to scheduling.

This in no way diminishes the contributions that HL has done for local lighthouse groups. I know they have huge supporters of our efforts, and it is very much appreciated. But, I was very disappointed I couldn't attend the Regional.

I agree that coordination would make it a better experience for all.

I think one thing that needs to be kept in mind though- I don't believe that HL actually intended (or had any idea) that people would be traveling vast distances to these Regionals.

I believe they had in mind people who in the past had mentioned that making a trip across country to a Reunion was a big and expensive undertaking.

I think they had in mind making it possible for more people to experience a small bit of the magic.

It's great that people like Dave Hannum, Bob Scroope, Bob Muller, John Chidester, Paul Brady and a legion of others have taken upon themselves to add to the experience.

I think if you look at what HL did in San Diego (and to a certain extent what they added in LI) it seems that HL may be finally seeing that the Regionals can be more to more people.

I think we need to send our thoughts and wishes on to HL directly ASAP so as to allow them to possibly accomadate those ideas for next year's Regionals.

I'm not saying that HL has to plan other events at each Regional, but possibly they could contact some of the local Lighthouse organizations in the areas where they plan to have the regionals and ask for assistance in coordinating events.

This is what they did with the Regional in NJ last year. I helped link HL with the NJLHS and other organizations to set up some things.

It was nowhere near the level that others have accomplished at later Regionals, but I think it went well.

I'd say as soon as the schedule for next year's Regionals is announced the local organizations should contact HL and offer their assistance.

Just some thoughts.

Dennis

Thanks for the great info, Dave and Dennis! I agree with both of you.

I just picture anything to do with Harbour Lights being near the water and near a few lights. I feel that HL sending their top members of the family business is a really big thank you to all the faithful collectors.

I feel attendance by collectors is a thank you from them to HL for all they do for us. We support them, they support us. It's a definite win-win situation.

Some might consider a Regional as a mini-reunion, and that is true. Others might consider it a glorified signing event, and that could be considered true.

I do know that whenever all of us get together with the Youngers, everyone leaves smiling with a better feeling towards the family business. It is a shot in the arm that makes you happy you collect the finest collectible in the world!

Bob

The regionals have generally been fun super-signing events. Some have had a few extra twists thrown in to make them more interactive. For the past couple of years, HL has tried to invite any and every local/regional lighthouse group to attend and have an information table. This has helped to introduce the groups to HL collectors, and has hopefully been beneficial to both sides. However, HL really has not made any effort the past few years to add in any actual lighthousing type activity. In the past they have had events at lighthouses after the Collectibles shows (Navesink, Point Fermin & twice at Grosse Point), but these were pre-regionals. The regionals have served as a nice setting for friends who don't see each other very often to visit. Friendships have been made and renewed, just as happens at reunions. This is also a very positive outcome of the regionals.

What really surprises me is the significant absence of actual HL retail dealer representatives at most of the events.

I do hope that HL does accept our repeated offers to help them with the regionals; I think our involvement would make them even more fun to attend.

Where else could you have seen Carolyn dressed up as a mutatant beacon of the night??

Dan