Winona Lake Publicity Committee
Board Members

Marvin Retzer

Pam Carroll

Barb Oakley

Alisa West

Minutes

 

August 10, 1998

Present: Alisa West, Pam Carroll, Barb Oakley, Marv Retzer

W.L. Great 4th of July Celebration, Additional Expenses:

$700 - Time Travelers band (cost covered by a donation from Winona Restoration, Inc.)

$150 – WCS Jazz Band (cost covered by a donation from Wild West Design)

$ 50 – Lake City Skiers

Alisa West will contact Biomet, the Herald Bookstore, and Lake City Bank to remind them of their promised support.

Pam Carroll sent thank you notes to the craft vendors and to those that provided the face painting.

Alisa West will send a thank you and a poster to all contributors.

Marv Retzer sent a thank you to the Flagpole ice cream shop for their donation of prizes for the kids' games.

Focus of the next meeting:

How can we divide responsibilities with the W.L. Parks Department to plan and run the Celebration events more efficiently?

What events can we add to make the Celebration better? (i.e. – expanded historical tour)

Establish a dateline for the 1999 Winona Lake Great 4th of July Celebration.

Respectfully submitted,

Marvin W. Retzer, Secretary

July 13, 1998

Present: Alisa West, Barb Oakley, Brent Wilcoxson, Marv Retzer

Winona Lake Great 4th of July Celebration

Expenses

Decorations & Strawberry Shortcake Social $ 335.11

                     Advertising         $1,566.69

                     Posters        $1,615.69

                                                $3,517.49

 

Income

Strawberry Shortcake Social $ 170.00

Concessions $ 30.00

Poster Sales $ 750.00

Donations      $1,020.00

                      $2,020.00

Post Mortem

Need better direct marketing to Winona Lake residents (i.e. – flyers, direct mail, etc.)

An expanded walking tour

Honorary starter person for the race (and publicize it)

Race drawing and place award need to be awarded in a manner that finishes quickly

More kids’ games

Split age groups

A gospel concert

Symphony concert

Set solid goals with dates for completion (i.e. – craft show and vendor sign up, scheduling of concerts, etc.)

Respectfully submitted,

Marv Retzer, Secretary

June 8, 1998

Present: Alisa West, Pam Carroll, Barb Oakley and Marv Retzer.

Minutes from the last two meetings were read and approved.

The resignation of Matt Nightingale from this committee was accepted.

The main item of business was to review our "to do" list for the Celebration.

Following are the tasks and person responsible:

Alisa West: Contact the band and take care of set-up.

Mail schedule changes to all vendors.

Notify all potential parade participants that the parade is canceled.

Contract for the 1998 poster with Jennifer Ortega, etc.

Take care of arrangements for the Strawberry Social.

Purchase decorations to be used at various sites.

Notify media for public service announcements.

Do final advertising placements.

Get posters printed by Grace print shop.

Barb Oakley: Acquire prizes for kids’ games.

Pam Carroll: Mail schedule changes to all craft vendors.

Acquire maps for walking and bicycle tours.

Acquire prizes for kids’ games.

Confirm workers for historical tours.

Marv Retzer: Acquire prizes for kids’ games.

Brent Wilcoxson: Confirm music to be provided by Mike Boze, et al.

Coordinate activities with the Parks Department.

Confirm availability of Rodeheaver as a "rain site."

All committee members will work the information booth on the 4th of July and all committee members will help decorate on Thursday evening, July 2nd.

The committee also discussed the difficulty of communication between the town, the commission, commission members and the Parks Department. It is recommended that the city consider hiring a part-time person to run the Publicity Commission.

Respectfully submitted,

Marvin W. Retzer, Secretary

May 4, 1998

Present: Pam Carroll, Alisa West, Barb Oakley and Marv Retzer

Discussion was held concerning the Winona Lake Great 4th of July Celebration.

The fireworks display will be held Friday, July 3rd, and will "kick off" the weekend.

Steve Grill will not be doing the Billy Sunday re-enactment.

Mike Boze and fellow musicians will be playing period music during the tours on Saturday afternoon, probably at Beyer Home.

The water skiing exhibition will be moved to 2:00 in the afternoon.

The James Chandler-led Ft. Wayne Symphony concert will be moved up to begin at 6:30 PM on July 4th immediately after the Strawberry Social. This will allow people time to get to area fireworks displays following the concert.

This committee also met April 20 and April 27 at the town meeting room but minutes were not kept.

Respectfully submitted,

Marv Retzer, Secretary

March 9, 1998

Present: Alisa West, Pam Carroll, Matt Nightingale, Barb Oakley and Brent Wilcoxson

Winona Lake Great 4th of July Celebration

Karey Keller is working 1:00-4:00 every Tuesday at Alisa West’s office.

Her areas of concentration are:

    1. Developing a fund raising letter to be sent with a newsletter detailing last year’s Great 4th event and showing enthusiasm for this year’s celebration.
    2. The Parade: An invitation letter is being developed. Balloonfest organizers have shared information. Ideas of what is needed for a parade are: grand marshal, scout troops, bands, cheerleaders, schools, clubs, dance groups and bicycles. Some of the entries would be judged.
    3. Advertising: Everything will be done by the April meeting for the committee to see (and for newspapers). The logo is nearly finished and will be ready for the Park Department to approve at the April 13 meeting.
    4. Letters will be sent to prospective craft sellers. Information will be disseminated at the Center Lake Pavilion craft show on March 21. Karen Stockwood and other local craft sellers have given Pam Carroll addresses to be input into our database. The craft booths will be inside or outside of Rodeheaver Auditorium. A $10 fee will be assessed all who set up a booth.

Also discussed:

    • Development of a new collectible poster. Market last year’s and this year’s as a set.
    • Special exhibit by quilting artist, Ann Fahl, on the Rodeheaver stage. Ann creates quilts with special Winona Lake memories as themes.
    • Sponsors: Do they want to be general sponsors? Do they want to sponsor a certain event?
    • Park Department: The same events will held this year; 5,000K run, tennis and basketball.
    • Add more tug-of-war teams; include adult teams.
    • Have clowns on duty during the noon hour.
    • Children’s Events: Start at 1:00, no scheduled start times per event.
    • Make sure we have face painters again.
    • Barb Oakley and Matt Nightingale will organize the parade.
    • Parade entry reservations will be limited to a manageable size. Giving ribbons to entries was suggested. Entry cut off date will be June 1. It was suggested that some long time Winona citizens be honored.
    • Parade will start at 11:00. The route will leave from the WLGBC parking lot down Publisher’s Drive to College Avenue to 9th Street to Chestnut Street to Park Avenue to the Rodeheaver Auditorium parking lot.
    • Parade marshals will be needed to secure the route.
    • Suggested helpers for the Parade: Isabel Ashburn, Josh Petrillo, Joann Wilcoxson, Pat Minear
    • Suggested Grace Village Residents to be honored in the Parade: George Heaton, the "walking man", Mabel Robinson, John Heaton Sr., The Heiermans (75th Wedding Anniversary this summer).

Meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Pam Carroll (for Marv Retzer)

February 9, 1998

Present: Alisa West, Brent Wilcoxson, Pam Carroll, Matt Nightingale and Marv Retzer.

The meeting was called to order at 6:47 PM by the chairperson, Alisa West.

Dispensed with Reading of the Minutes.

Alisa passed around a template of the internal Winona Lake all-committee newsletter Matt will be producing.

The committee reviewed the order of events of last year’s W.L. Great 4th of July Celebration.

Holly Durham is continuing to work with James Chandler to bring the Symphony back again.

Pam is working on setting up a Craft Show for this year’s Celebration.

Karey Keller, a Grace College student, will do her internship with this committee and work in the following areas:

Fundraising

Vendor Solicitation

Volunteer Organization

The first fundraising letters were to go out the week of February 13, with follow up during the week of February 25.

Vendor letters will go out the week of March 3 with follow up to be done in early April.

Craft Fair letters will go out the week of March 10, also with follow up to be done in April.

Brent gave a report on the current progress being made in the renovation of the downtown area and the projected state of the downtown by July 4th.

Our next meeting will be Monday, March 9, 6:30 PM at the town offices.

Respectfully submitted,

Marv Retzer

January 20, 1997

Attendance: Alisa West, Matt Nightingale, Pam Carroll and Marv Retzer.

Matt was welcomed as the newest member of the committee and the meeting was called to order at 6:40.

Marv Retzer has taken over as Secretary, replacing a grateful Holli Durham. His term will run from January through October 1998.

The publicity Committee will produce a newsletter to be sent to all members of town committees. Alisa will write the newsletter, send it to Matt for proofreading and Matt will forward it to the town office for publication.

Pam has received very positive responses from arts & crafts vendors interested in selling their wares at the Winona Lake Great 4th of July Celebration. Pam will do further research and contact Eleanor Holt as to what is needed to produce a viable arts & crafts show.

Alisa gave a report on our preliminary advertising ventures. Some statewide advertising has already been done. Brochures will be placed in rest stops and conventions bureaus in our surrounding area. Dates for inclusion of our news releases and publicity in the special editions of "the Paper" and the "Times-Union" have already been secured. We will be included this year.

Holli is heading up the concert series and is working closely with James Chandler. Chandler will write grants to secure funding for the symphony concert.

Karey Keller will be doing a marketing internship project in conjunction with this Committee. Her duties may include, but not be limited to the following:

Fund-raising letter writing

Thank you letters to last year’s contributions

Determine the budget needed to run events

Set responsibility areas for Park/Rec volunteers

Compile a volunteer list and areas of general need

This Committee’s goal is to have the Winona Lake Great 4th of July Celebration planned and set by May 15, 1998.

Brent Wilcoxson, president of the town council, has requested that this Committee consider adding a parade to the Celebration order of events. Discussion on this request was postponed until Brent could join us at our February meeting.

The meeting was closed at 7:13PM.