LETTER: Thanks to All Who Made Tall Ships A Success
June 14, 2012
DEAR EDITOR:
On behalf of Eastern Shore Virginia Festivals (ESVAF, Inc.) and Tall Ships At Cape Charles, I want to extend our deep gratitude to our sponsors and the community at large, including all who helped make our June 8 -12 festival such a huge success.
In Cape Charles, the five-day festival brought throngs of visitors (more than 7,000 of them, by a conservative count) to tour the tall ships and go on day sails, while also enjoying the food music, and entertainment, plus all kinds of family-friendly activities and 43 terrific vendors selling crafts and wares of all kinds. In a boost to the local economy, cash registers were ringing all over town as visitors patronized shops, filled B&Bs and the new Cape Charles hotel, and packed restaurants. We thank our local merchants and business community for their support and great efforts in preparing to welcome all these visitors – the town never looked better!
The way in which both towns and the larger Northampton County community came together in support of such a huge and challenging initiative was truly inspirational to me personally as well as to the members of the Tall Ships At Cape Charles Steering Committee— more than 30 people from throughout the County, who worked and planned for nine months to bring this amazing event to fruition. Other towns participated through their volunteers and sponsors, making Tall Ships At Cape Charles truly a County-wide festival. We are grateful to our state tourism representative, Lynne Lochen, whose expert advice and guidance kept us on track, and to Jonny Stevenson and her team in Eastville for their enthusiasm and hard work planning their own Star Spangled Day.
With such a magnificent effort, it is challenging, indeed, to try to thank everyone, and not leave anyone out; in addition to all listed here, Eastville organizers are preparing their own, special thank-you letter to those who made their Star Spangled Day such a success.
The Northampton County Board of Supervisors who appointed ESVAF, Inc., a fledgling festivals organization, to manage their significant grant of seed money to get Tall Ships At Cape Charles off the ground. The Cape Charles and Eastville Town Councils also awarded financial assistance as well as in-kind support. We are enormously grateful to Larry Lemond, VP of Operations at Bay Coast Railroad, who graciously granted access and use of the railroad’s Cape Charles property to provide the crucial pedestrian link and vendor display area between the town’s shopping district and the harbor.
With deep gratitude to all our sponsors, and especially our Commodore and Captain level sponsors: Cherrystone Family Campground, Harris Power Equipment (which provided generators and lighting), Blue Heron Realty, Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital and SunTrust Bank.
A huge thank you to my fellow members of the ESVAF, Inc. Board of Directors who, in a leap of faith, agreed to take on development of Tall Ships At Cape Charles: Heather Arcos, Linda Buskey, Shanna Colls, Carol Evans, Jen Lewis, Susan Linfert, Joan Natali, Bill Payne and President, Joyce Holland There are no adequate words of thanks for our executive director, Captain Dave Steward, who signed on to manage what he thought would be a small, part-time project. His unswerving leadership, dogged determination, and unflagging good humor earned the respect and admiration of everyone involved with this undertaking. We are all indebted to David Kabler, whose vision it was to bring tall ships to Cape Charles as an economic stimulus and who brought us our first ship, the Kalmar Nyckel, last summer.
With gratitude to Festevents, Norfolk, the organization responsible for bringing Opsail 2012 Virginia™ to our region and for recognizing Cape Charles’ potential as an Eastern Shore gateway by making us an official affiliate port, plus granting us funds to help pay for the tall ships to come here.
We also thank the Privateer Lynx Foundation and Captain John Beebe-Center; Bay Sail and Captain David Leanza and their foundation for permitting the Appledore V to visit; and Project Sultana and Captain Tanya Banks-Christensen. Thanks to the United States Navy, Strike Group 10 and Assault Craft Unit 2 captains and crews, and in particular LCDR Casey Mahon, Commanding Officer USS Zephyr (PC-8). Thanks, also to the United States Coast Guard Station Cape Charles for their color guard and opening their station to the public.
The entire Cape Charles municipal staff worked tirelessly and efficiently, including and especially: Town Manager Heather Arcos, Harbormaster Smitty Dize, whose assistance and achievements would take a week to list, Police Chief Charles “Sambo” Brown, who developed and supervised the entire security effort, Recreation Coordinator, Jen Lewis, whose many hats included developing and managing the wonderful array of children’s activities for the festival, and Pete Leontieff, our “go to guy” at Public Works who simply said “OK, I can do that,” to the hundreds of requests and unglamorous tasks that were asked of him.
Thank you to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel-Jeff Holland and Paige Addison and their great staff– for providing us with the Thimble Shoals Island Two viewing area for the June 8th Parade of Sail, and to Alan Burns and his staff at the Welcome Center who got up at the crack of dawn to assist with bus passengers. Also the Virginia Original & Chesapeake Grill, who fed the hundreds of Eastern Shore residents and visitors watching the Parade. Thanks also to the CBBT toll takers for handing out 100,000 flyers we gave them to promote the festival over a three month period.
Thanks to the many departments and organizations throughout the County who gave freely of their professional time and expertise as well as supplied volunteers: Northampton County EMS, and especially Hollye Carpenter; Northampton County Sheriff’s Office; Exmore and Eastville Police Departments; Virginia State Police, the Cape Charles Fire Department and Rescue Squad, Cape Charles Amateur Radio Club, USCG Auxiliary – Flotilla 12-02
A number of individuals and organizations worked tirelessly to bring music, vendors, entertainment and fun to Tall Ships At Cape Charles: Jan Neville, who reached out into the region to secure a rousing roster of musicians that kept two stages jumping over a three-day weekend; Robin Simms, who organized an amazing array of 43 local arts, crafts and retail vendors and arranged them thoughtfully along the entire pedestrian pathway to form a gateway from the Harbor to Mason Avenue. Citizens for Central Park and an anonymous benefactor who brought the Historic Interpretations group with St. Andrew’s Guild back to Cape Charles for the entertainment and enlightenment of all. Thank you to Sam Currie and the Smith Island Crab Skiff Association, which brought their boats from upper Maryland and other parts of Virginia to the delight of many spectators and visitors.
Special commendation to Sandra Salopek who simply said, “I’ll volunteer for that” and then proceeded to manage to perfection every aspect of the Parade Of Sail, and to Peter Lawrence, who stepped in at the last minute to provide ship-by-ship narration, and whose good humor and entertainment rewarded attendees with a memorable morning, and thanks also to Gary Devenish who provided sound.
Thank you to the Northampton County Chamber of Commerce for your harbor party Saturday evening, and to the Cape Charles Business Association which handled food and beverage vending arrangements, as well as to the staff and volunteers at the Cape Charles Museum.
Special thanks and appreciation go to volunteer Joyce Faye White, who drew on her years of teaching experience to design a curriculum and educational resources and to the teachers and County school children participating in the Adopt-A-Ship program in collaboration with the educational foundations of the Sultana, Lynx and Appledore V tall ships and Jen Lewis, with the Eastern Shore National Wildlife Refuge Center. Thanks to the Friends of Cape Charles Library and especially Jeannette Lucier, for producing and distributing free of charge, an educational coloring book to children in the community and at the festival.
We are deeply grateful to three dedicated members of Tall Ships festival team: signmaker and t-shirt provider Andy Buchholz; photographer, Chris Glennon who was everywhere at once and populated our Facebook page with hundreds of great photos, and graphic designer Rachel Isabelle whose work distinguishes our marketing materials including posters, rack cards, Event Schedule, flyers and invitations.
Volunteers organized by John Burdiss and the Cape Charles Rotary, and Ralph Orzo from American Legion Post 56, Cheriton helped park and direct thousands of visitors with assistance from Ed Deangelis and Malcolm Hayward, who assisted with rope barriers, and Vicki Allgeier and Boy Scout Troop 306. Other volunteers signed up for long shifts at the Bahama Road and festival grounds Welcome and Information Centers, including Pat Buckley, who stepped in to offer “Handicap Taxi” assistance, and Joan Natali for the use of her golf cart and her unwavering good humor and assistance – she was everywhere, every day, as were volunteers Richard Leal and Julie Wray.
We thank also Oral Lambert and Bay Creek Resort and Club for providing their Bahama Road gatehouse for a festival welcome center and a meeting room for our monthly steering committee gatherings, especially Tiffany Mohr, who got up early and brewed the coffee and Mike Ward at the Marina.
We are indebted to Director Laura Vaughan and historian Jerry Doughty at the Barrier Island Center and Nan Bennett and the Bay Bloomers, who hosted a wine and cheese reception to welcome the tall ships crews Thursday evening, and the American Legion Post 56, Cheriton, who hosted a delicious chicken dinner for tall ships crews. Also to Roberta Romeo, Cape Charles Coffee House, who so beautifully catered the Welcome Party reception.
JOAN PRESCOTT
Tall Ships At Cape Charles Committee
Eastern Shore Virginia Festivals
Letters to the Editor are welcome on any subject relevant to Cape Charles. Submissions must be signed, and may be emailed to [email protected].
Comments