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October 24, 2005
Fighting Poverty in East Ridge ~ Pumpkin & Cider Festival
Saturday began cold and cloudy, but the First Annual Pumpkin & Cider Festival held at Camp Jordan on October 22 turned out okay, all in all.
Working with City Councilman and Coordinator for the event, Tom Card, I chaired the Children's Games and Activities and helped plan the festival. We only had one month to plan. Yet I realize now why East Ridge is so lucky to have Councilman Card. Tom has great ideas and loves to bring smiles to people's faces. Tom brought a lot of people together with different talents, people like Joe Chambers over music to Leah Crisp over arts and crafts. We need more people like Tom Card in government.
Publicity Chair, Bill Breneman, dreamed up the popular "Politician Pie Patch." Bill was able to round up at least two politicians, Tom Card and Curtis Adams to take pies in the face, raising about $110. I walked over to the Pie Patch during the festival and thanked Commissioner Adams personally for helping. He was wiping whip cream off his face at the time, so I think I might have surprised him. I assured him I wasn't there to throw pies, just to credit him. I think he was relieved, although when a family approached him later asking where "John Bailes" was, allegedly he told them only "politicians" are here. The mother in the family said, "That will change next year," and promptly directed her family over to the children's rides and games.
Let me add one more word about the event. While I am happy to say that the children's games and rides raised about $450, I was disappointed that the media spent more time recording the "Politician Pie" activity than the children's activities. After all, the Pumpkin and Cider Festival was about KIDS who are living in poverty~a number that is rapidly increasing in East Ridge. Today, 8% of East Ridgers are living in poverty (poverty is defined here) and 21% of families in East Ridge have only one spouse present, as defined by the 2000 Census. Since the media didn't cover our fantastic children's area with lots of East Ridgers having fun, let me do some praising. Here are some of the wonderful volunteers who helped me:
from left to right, Judy Brockman, Caroline Gaskill, Sharon Womack, and Bobbie Bost
East Ridge United Methodist Girl and Boy Scouts
Chattanooga State College baseball players huddle together
Me and Modine~her standup comedy had the kids and adults laughing
And here are some final images from the festival:
East Ridge City Councilman Tom Card & festival publicity person Bill Breneman
East Ridge City Vice Mayor Vince Dean and the Alhambra Shriners
Pumpkin Seed Spitting was popular for Tom Card's grandson
| By wjbailes | 01:10 PM
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