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Grand Rapids Regional #128085 06/06/03 06:42 PM
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WackoPaul Offline OP
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Since John closed all the other threads except the one of whose coming and it is at 40 plus posts I thought I would start a new one...

I will post images of the Regional in this thread tomorrow night..

Sue and I just arrived at our hotel in Granville, MI which is around 10 miles from the Regional site tomorrow.. We had a nice leisurely 4:15 minute drive up from Indy... it started to rain as we checked into the hotel..


Onward to The Land of the Midnight Sun!
Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128086 06/06/03 09:16 PM
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I sure hope you guys have some half-way decent weather. I.O. went golfing today and said it was actually warm the last three holes. What a spring!

Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128087 06/07/03 08:20 PM
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While I work on a few images to post later today from the Regional, I thought you might enjoy seeing my new Powerbook G4.. Oh what's that sitting next to it... Oh, Sue, do you want to move your new lighthouse that you won at the Regional today... People can't see my laptop with that Gold reflecting on it...



Onward to The Land of the Midnight Sun!
Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128088 06/07/03 11:15 PM
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"Cana Fan" Mike Walsh holds his daughter, Maggie, while Bill signs her Little Light. Maggie won a lighthouse later (I forgot which one she won, maybe Mike can post what she won..)


Slim Chidester informed the crowd of the great news that Point Betsie is now open to the public on week ends. A few years ago, Point Betsie was in trouble of falling to ruin. John says now there is a great group of people taking care of her.


Gary Martin presented the large framed print of Grand Haven (that appears in the above banner) to Franklin Barnhart (or FrankB on the Forums) of St. Peters, MO.


Kat Waterson presents her handmade lighthouse quilt to the winner of the opportunity drawing, Kim Andrews, who in turn let Bill auction it to the audience. The proceeds (over $600 was raised) will go to the Bodie Island Lighthouse restoration project.


The Hoosier Lighthousing Club had an opportunity drawing for a Digger drawing of Little Sable Lighthouse (that includes the house that no longer exists) to support projects at Old Michigan City Lighthouse. Bill asked our club to sell more tickets among the eager audience.


We sold $665 of tickets to the audience. Bill then purchased $270 worth of tickets (all the money he had). And, guess what? Bill won!!! He turned around and auctioned it back to the audience.


After a lively auction, involving several bidders, the McBees won with an offer of $900. Not only were the McBees winners today but also Old Michigan City Lighthouse was with ~$1800 raised for its restoration!


Gold winner, Lonnie Davidson, from Kendall, NY, embraces his treasured prize. You can figure out what he is thinking!


Onward to The Land of the Midnight Sun!
Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128089 06/07/03 11:16 PM
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Gold winners of the coveted "Southeast Block on-the-move" lighthouse are (left to right): Sue Brady from Indianapolis IN, Lonnie Davidson from Kendall NY, Christine Schuster from Valparaiso IN. The other two winners (who were not present) were: Tom Brennan of Deer Park NY and Christine Zabik from Lincoln Park MI.

As you can see Sue and Lonnie have their Wacko Badges on...


Onward to The Land of the Midnight Sun!
Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128090 06/08/03 12:36 AM
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Congratulations to all the Gold winners, and Sue appears to be on quite the hot steak! That's 2 gold's in a reasonably short period of time!!

And John - Looks like the weight loss plan has really paid off!!

Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128091 06/08/03 12:39 AM
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Congrats to the Gold winners! And, JC, you're looking great!!!


Jim
Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128092 06/08/03 12:47 AM
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It was a great day with great friends. As you can see by the pictures, everyone had a great time. Thanks Paul for providing the visual entertainment for those that couldn't attend. As usual they are truly fantastic.
Loved how you showed off Sue's gold right next to your new laptop). That was clever.
Tomorrow the party travels south to Michigan City to wind up the weekend'd festivities. Hope the weather was as nice as today's.
Kate and Dave


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Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128093 06/08/03 03:35 AM
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If you guys are still up, up in Michigan there is a huge aurora going on, step outside and look north.
here's the satelite map from just a few minutes ago.


Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128094 06/08/03 03:44 PM
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Congratulation to all the gold winners.Like your new laptop and pictures. laugh


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Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128095 06/08/03 09:17 PM
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Thank you for the pictures from the Regional. Seems like everyone had a great time. As it should be!

Bert smile


Bert

No mountain is too tall if your first step is belief. -Anonymous
Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128096 06/08/03 10:08 PM
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Congrats to the gold winners. Missed being with all of you in Michigan! But today the sun shown on Michigan City for the 30th Anniversary Celebration and of course for the dedication of the stairs and we had a great turn out!
Can't wait to see some more pictures posted! Harriet Colfax is smile
Doyne and Cindy

Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128097 06/09/03 07:57 AM
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Thanks for sharing those wonderful pictures, Paul! Congrats to Sue on winning the gold (again)!

smile Bob smile

Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128098 06/09/03 09:30 AM
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Paul,

Thanks for keeping us informed on things we missed . Congratulations to all the Gold Winners- especially Lucky Sue with two.

Dennis

Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128099 06/09/03 10:53 AM
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We had a great time at the regional, of course we always do. Our little good luck charm Maggie brought home a Kenosha A.P. Of course, she generously donated it to her Daddy's collection! It was nice to see some familiar faces, just wish we had more time to spend with the group, touring Grand Haven, etc. Now that we're on a two and a half year old's schedule....

Mike

Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128100 06/09/03 01:20 PM
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WackoPaul Offline OP
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Thanks for letting me know whick AP Maggie won, Mike... When we shot the picture (that I will be submitting for possible use in the next Legacy) of you guys with Kim some how the lighthouse wasn't being held by anyone in the picture...


Onward to The Land of the Midnight Sun!
Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128101 06/09/03 03:22 PM
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Now that I have a little more time to write....

Kudos to all of the collectors clubs present at the event. I must say I'm always impressed by the effort turned in by all, and especially the Hoosier Lighthouse Club. What a great job of fundraising, as well as putting those funds to good use. The work done by the club at Old Michigan City (covered in another forum) is astounding.

The only disappointment to me was the money collected by the Thunder Bay Island group. Despite some late hawking by Bill, this group kind of came out on the short end of the donations, and they are in dire need of funds for a matching grant. Please remember this group if you have a few extra bucks to send. They need all the help they can get to keep from loosing the tower forever.

Lastly, It never ceases to amaze me the generosity of Harbour Lights collectors. Although everyone obviously has different monetary limitations, as a whole it's a group of people that always seem ready to give for a good cause, some above and beyond the call, as witnessed with a certain painting at this event. Maybe there following the lead of the company who's lighthouses they collect. Either way, it's inspiring and pushes me to try to do whatever I can.

Keep up the great work Harbour Lights Collectors!

Mike

Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128102 06/09/03 07:48 PM
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I think we kind of floored the lady from Thunder Bay when Bill asked if everyone had their tickets and she replied they had none left to sell. Well, there were people willing to buy and we had some extra tickets, so we donated the Hoosier Lighthousing Club's tickets and people to the Thunder Bay cause. About a half dozen of us went out into the crowd selling the 50-50 tickets while the lady looked on, kind of in a state of surprise. When we were done, we had done a little better than double the pot!

A special "attaboy" to Randy Kremer who won the 50-50 drawing and then turned around and gave the majority of it back to Thunder Bay.

It sure is a great crowd of people we hang out with!

Dave


Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128103 06/09/03 07:56 PM
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Right on Dave, I just didn't wan't to sound to gushy for the Hoosiers, but they did help quite a bit. Not sure how used to these events the Thunder Bay people are.

And good call by Randy as well.

Mike

Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128104 06/09/03 10:33 PM
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Hey Gang
I just wanted to say THANKS laugh laugh laugh to everyone who purchased raffle tickets for the quilt. When Kim won the raffle she turned around and auctioned it off to the highest bidder who bid a whopping $400. The winner then turned around and gave it back to Kim to take back to El Cajon. All tolled, an incredable $735 was raised by the quilt for the Outer Banks Lighthouse Society to help with the restoration of Bodie Island. It never ceases to amaze me how generous Harbour Lights lovers can be when it comes to supporting a special lighthouse. It has truly inspired me.....hmmmm, do I see another quilt in the near future!!
Again, thanks to everyone who supported this very worthy cause.
The Kat


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Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128105 06/10/03 01:38 AM
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Let me chime in for a big thanks to all of you who made us feel so welcome. As witness to my post count, I may not have had a lot to say (until lately) but it was so very nice to see you all again.

We've been closet HL fans for almost 3 years now, and I decided that we are going into his full time now. A new oak bookshelf is now in the living room, and its waiting to be filled.

Many thanks to Paul for donating his Sherwood Point to my collection laugh Now its time to start finding the rest of the Wisconsin Lights. EDIT: Paul, can you email me a Hoosier membership form, I want to join please smile

Should you find your way straying up our way please let us know. We've been in collectors groups before and they have been great friends, I can see this turning into a great group of family.

Thank you all again for a super time!!!

Larry and Lucinda R

Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128106 06/10/03 01:54 PM
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I personally want to pass along thanks to the Hoosier Lighthousing Club members who volunteered to help Desiree staff the Regional...

When Desiree asked me if we could provide some members to help in the registration, setup and other jobs to make the Regional run smoothly, I assured her that wouldn't be a problem and it wasn't..

In addition to them staffing our club's tables different functions, they also helped in the over all event.. They all pitched in and rotated jobs so they could also participate in the Regional.. They are just a Great bunch and as you can tell I am proud to know them!!


Onward to The Land of the Midnight Sun!
Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128107 06/10/03 11:48 PM
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Congratulations on the win Larry! It was nice spending time with you and Lucinda at the Regional! For those of you who didn't have a chance to meet them, they are a very nice couple! They will fit in nicely with the rest of the wackos!

Suzanne Murphy


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Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128108 06/11/03 01:39 AM
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I just got home and have a lot of catching up to do on the Forums.

I'll start with my adventure and continue it tomorrow.

I arrived at Chicago Midway about noon local on Thursday, got my Hertz and headed for Michigan City.

I grabbed my Wacko badge and walked in the door when the two LOLs said "John" "You must be John Chidester. Paul Brady just called us and told us to give you the 'Royal Tour'." Which they proceeded to do. They wouldn't accept my entrance fee, so I bought a bunch of Post Cards of Michigan City for the future PCEs -- including one by Digger and one by WackoPaul. I even got to climb the new stairs and view the very unique 'disco-CDROM lens' (Photo below)



As I was getting ready to leave, I looked at another visitor who was just heading out the door and recognized Chesapeake Bryan. We walked out to the Pier Light then followed one another to St. Joseph.

As we were leaving there, we ran into Lorie and John Roe!

We continued our excursion north visiting South Haven before heading over to the Country Inn & Suites in Holland to meet up with Ken Reese with whom I shared a room.

Friday Ken, Bryan, John and Lorie and I made a somewhat shortened version of the tour I had planned out -- starting out at 8 AM instead of 6 AM and starting at Point Betsie. I'll relate these adventures along with photos on Wednesday.

Friday night we met up with about 25 more WACKOs at Mary & Jeff's home for a Pizza Party. What great fun! What great friends! Thanks Mary & Jeff for opening up your home to our WACKO WACKO group! I took some photos and will post these also on Wednesday here.

Because I had planned to meet my folks in Port Huron, I left before the Regional was completely over and so missed out on the drawing activities, but was there for the various other club drawings including the Digger pen and ink of Little Sable showing the tower and keeper's house and Kat's beautiful quilt!

Much has already been said about the generousity of the Younger family and Harbour Lights collectors, but I'll add my 'Amen!' to that.

Paul was choked up explaining Digger's health situation and I volunteered to give a synopsis. Bill, Nancy, Kim and most of the audience were unaware that Digger may not be able to paint again and Bill wanted to see that what might be Digger's final drawing was going to be a proud moment to our friend and a great benefit to Michigan City. He insisted the Hoosier Club circulate in the audience and make sure everyone who wanted to buy tickets had them. Then someone asked him if he had bought any yet.

Bill first had to make sure it was 'OK' for him to buy $270 worth of drawing tickets for Digger's painting and made it clear he was going to keep it for himself if he won.

Kim asked him if she could clean out his office if he won it. "No," he said. "Why do you want it," Kim asked. "Because I don't have one of his and I WANT one!!" was Bill's reply.

Then after being 'tied-up' with his tickets, he won! Cheers went up after all the laughter and he turned around and auctioned it off (Nancy even got into the bidding.) I think the total raised by this pen and ink for Michigan City will be almost $1,900 when the tally is complete.

Makes my VERY proud to be associated with all you people!

I also got to participate along with Dave Hannum and Gary Martin in the presentation of the beautiful large-size panorama print of Grand Haven to FrankB. That of course allowed us to do a bit of a push for the Collector Forums!

My 3 biggest disappointments: 1. Missing the WACKO Dinner Saturday evening (who's got photos?) 2. Not seeing Holland Harbor LH and 3. Not seeing Grand Haven.

Guess I'll have to schedule another trip next year, maybe around the time of the Coast Guard Festival!

Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128109 06/11/03 01:57 PM
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I flew home late last night and have to say thanks to all the people who helped with the Grand Rapids regional event.

This was my first time in Michigan and my husband and I were so impressed with how nice all the people were and the beautiful lighthouses we were able to see.

We had a nice bonus meeting up with John Chidester and Bryan Acree at St. Joseph's pier and at South Haven on Thursday. We spent a very enjoyable day with John, Bryan, & Ken Reese all day Friday touring lighthouses as far north as Point Betsie. Thanks to Jeff & Mary Meyer for opening their home Friday night for a pizza party.

Saturday was a beautiful day in Grand Rapids. Harbour Lights makes everyone feel so welcome. What a fun party! After the event, Dave Hannum arranged for a tour of Grand Haven inner lighthouse. It was sunny and clear a few miles from the lighthouse but was foggy by the time we arrived at the beach. You could see why they needed the lights and fog horns. smile About the time we were ready to leave for our Wacko dinner, the fog was starting to lift.

After dinner, a few of us went back to Grand Haven for some night photography with Gary Martin. Gary was very kind and patient with all my questions and helpful with tips for better photos.

Sunday was the Michigan City lighthouse anniversary celebration. It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon. All the hard work sure paid off. The new stairs are very impressive. I took a quick walk out to the Michigan City pier light. As we were walking out it started to get rather windy. Just as we got back to our car it started to rain.

We were driving back to stay in Chicago for a couple of nights. Monday was back to sunshine so we took a river and lake water tour and went up the John Hancock tower in the afternoon. We finished out our trip Tuesday by going to the practice round of the US Open golf at Olympia Fields. We arrived home at 11:00pm last night.

It was so nice putting faces to the names I have read about or sent postcard exchanges with. Thanks to all of you for a great time in Michigan. I can't wait to go back and see more.

Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128110 06/11/03 10:00 PM
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I'm really glad to hear that everyone had such a great time at the regional and the other Wacko gatherings. And sorry that I had to miss out this year. Many thanks to Paul for posting his photos, also looking forward to John's. Hopefully someone got a "group picture" of the Wacko's to share?

Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128111 06/12/03 12:52 AM
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You were missed, Mombo... and at Old Michigan City on Sunday, also. I heard your name mentioned more than once, in fact I mentioned it once or twice myself.


Onward to The Land of the Midnight Sun!
Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128112 06/12/03 01:53 PM
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I really enjoyed the weekend with the WACKOS, the Youngers and all the new folks I met.

I am so grateful to Roger and Adrienne for making our trip complete.

And, last but not least, the Hoosier Club did an outstanding job with OMC steps and ground work, the tree dedication.

Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128113 06/12/03 09:52 PM
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Kim Andrews was anxious to post a scrapbook of photos from the Harbour Lights Regional.

I added some of my photos to those of Paul on this page:

http://www.harbourlights.com/events/2003/GR_Scrapbook.htm

Enjoy.

Anybody else have photos taken at the Regional Event, please email them to me at Webmaster@HarbourLights.com Include your actual name and I'll add a credit line.

Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128114 06/12/03 10:18 PM
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My God Paul... Did you tell them I was dying??? laugh

Maybe for the next auction/raffle I could try cutting off an ear!!! wink

Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128115 06/12/03 11:13 PM
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Digger has lost NONE of his sense of humor!

Paul -- get those tickets ready for "Digger's Ear". I'll buy $10 worth.

Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128116 06/12/03 11:15 PM
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Maybe if it was gold plated...... wink

Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128117 06/13/03 11:05 AM
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As it ended up Digger, I didn't say anything other than you are my good friend.. sniff, sniff... then John took over... then Bill took over... then the print raised ove $1800 for Old Michigan City

Keep yours ears on and just get better!


Onward to The Land of the Midnight Sun!
Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128118 07/16/03 01:11 AM
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Sorry for the delay folks. Finally connected up with Roy & Carolyn to retreive the photo which they were nice enough to drive back to St. Louis (almost didn't happen as planned!), hung the photo on the wall, took photos, and then had to solve USB problems on the computer.

Here's Gary's photo hanging on our wall at home:


While I could have put the 4 x 10 in another room, I decided to put it up at work. I like the way the matting and framing came out:


Thanks again to Gary for supporting the forum!


FrankB
Re: Grand Rapids Regional #128119 07/16/03 01:43 AM
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Looks Great Frank!

Congratulations, again.

And congratulations to all the 'winners' at these Collector Forums for participating in this fund-raiser to support your Forums.

And, yes, another Thanks to Gary Martin!!!!


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