The 2nd annual Fall into Fun Festival was an unqualified success! We actually DOUBLED our income this year, netting more than $18,000! HOO! HOO!
The Festival sported several new attractions this year: Live entertainment, a car show was added to the bike show we had last year, and a 5k race.
The 5k was the event that probably surprised me the most. 54 runners young and old walked, ran and trotted, bringing in more than $1300 in entry fees. The top runners were given fresh, crisp $100 bills for prizes and winner Amy Parrott donated hers right back to the library! Amy! You go girl!
The bike/car show brought in more than $1400. Many thanks to David Freeman for donating trophies for the bikes, and Vintage Cars for donating part of the money for the car trophies.
Bo Beaumont and Daniel Kirkley provided us with excellent live entertainment, as well as Tyler Mitchell, a freshman at Indian Land High School. The ILHS marching band started our day by marching to the sales center from the club house and then playing the "Star Spangled Banner" at the flagpole after the JROTC presented the colors.
The silent auction was a big hit too. Only half a dozen items went unclaimed at the end of the day, and they had even been bid on. The winning bidders just weren't there to pick them up. Don Jenkins donated a 2003 Golf Club Car and it brought $2100. Total proceeds from the auction were over $5200.
Three things really struck me about the festival this year:
It was put on with very little money out of the library's pocket. Less than $2000 was spent. And most of that was for the performers hired by the library. Those were the same performers we offer to the children's programming at the main branch in Lancaster throughout the year. So really we can view that portion as being items from the regular Friends budget. This festival has a lot, makes a lot of money, and 95% of the profit goes straight to the library. We can be proud of the fact that we have the kind of support from our community that enables us to get a lot of things donated. Pulte Homes, the Carolina Gateway newspaper, and the Indian Land Rotary all donated seed money, flyers, signs, garbage pick-up, and porta-potties. Without that, our net would have been considerably smaller.
The second thing that struck me were the volunteers. I admit right here and now that I've been pretty grumpy about putting this shindig together. It is time-consuming, a big headache, lots of stress, hard to coordinate so many people. But Saturday, I was sitting on one of the stone ledges at the entrance to the festival, shoes off, trying to give my aching feet a rest, and I commented to my buddy, "All that complaining I did. I'm humbled by the fantastic attitudes and hard work of all these volunteers. They are all working hard to get a library built for Indian Land."
And the third thing: This isn't just some rinky-dink festival anymore. This is turning into a huge, regional event that draws vendors and visitors from all over the Charlotte area. We had vendors from 50-60 miles away. And they all want to come back.
So. Mark your calendars.
Saturday, September 27, 2008. Be here in Indian Land. And by then our library will be just about open!
Here I am, pushing the button to dunk Dr. Adam Cooper, Southern States Chiropractic. He allowed himself to be dunked more than 250 times. Photo taken by Jenny Overman and shared courtesy
The Fort Mill Times.
