The meeting was called to order by Co-Chair Bill Leske. There were 21 members present (Zoom and in person). Bob Sanfilippo gave the “thought of the day” on time management. Guests were Mike Stark and Paul Clements, Publisher and Editor of Winnetka Living Magazine, respectively, with Paul also being a Highland Park Rotarian. Such magazine is sent to Winnetka residents free of charge upon request.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
- Attendees were reminded that the Wilmette Rotary Club is hosting on September 22nd a benefit concert by 3 bands to benefit Our Place (an organization that helps teens and adults with developmental disabilities.) The concert will be at Gillson Park from 5 PM to 8 PM, with one of the 3 bands being the New Trier High School Jazz Combo. There is also a raffle of travel packages to Scottsdale and San Francisco. Tickets to the event are $25 each and raffle tickets are $50 each or 3 for $100.
- Marie announced that the Club’s Monday evening cocktail hour is being reactivated on Zoom and those interested should contact her for directions to join in.
- Pat O’Day, an honorary member of our Rotary Club for years and its President from 1992 to 1993, reported that in 2007 he was appointed part of the Rotary Food Study Program and as part of that program he was able to travel all over the World from Paris to California as a representative of Rotary. During these trips he collected flags and banners from the Rotary Clubs he visited. He took these flags/banners and had them mounted on a piece of cloth about 5’ by 7’ and he presented that to our Club for its archive collection. Tony quickly pointed out that Pat was an outstanding President of Rotary and has been a loyal Rotarian all these years.
HAPPY BUCKS:
- Barb Tubekis gave in gratitude for all the good things Robert Mardirossian has done for and in the name of Rotary. Then she told of her recent trip back to Colorado to attend her Uncle Bill’s funeral. She was impressed by all the activities his Rotary Club had sponsored for poor kids in the Colorado area. She was pleasantly surprised to find out that about half of the people at her Uncle’s funeral were Rotarians. Tony donated as the result of a similar incident that happened to him recently in the Minneapolis airport where he ran into 4 athletic looking young men who appeared to be in their 20’s and all of them were around 7 feet tall. When he asked them about their sport specialty they told him they were in Canada for a basketball tournament, but they also told him that two of them were Rotarians. Point being, let it be known you are a Rotarian and you’d be surprised how many other people you run into who are also Rotarians.
DIG N GRIN WAS HANDLED BY Lee Padgitt who told us about the importance of obeying traffic lights.
SPEAKER SCOTT MYERS from the Winnetka Music Fest: Scott reviewed why the Winnetka Music Festival was postponed last year and that it was difficult trying to decide what to do in 2021 with the Covid situation. A decision had to be made early in the year and it was decided to call it “Emerge Winnetka”, referring to our community emerging from the pandemic and numerous young musicians who would have the chance to “emerge” as new stars with so many of the more experienced musicians refusing to travel or play much due to Covid. In past years we have had 20-25 bands on 4 stages in downtown Winnetka. Due to the cooperation of the Winnetka Park District it was decided to use one of the baseball fields on Skokie Playfield as sound stage areas for the bands and the other baseball field as a “food oasis”. The Playfield should be able to accommodate about 4000 attendees who could socially distant themselves on the premises. The date set is September 11 from 2:00 to 10:45 PM. There will be 6 very experienced bands performing during that time. There will be 5 food vendor trucks servicing the area along with beer and wine vendors. To get into the park, everyone will need to have a certificate showing a recent negative Covid test result or a vaccination certificate—if neither is produced, the person can take a “rapid test” for Covid paid for by a Federal government program. Northwestern Medicine is supplying free hand sanitizers and masks.
Because many bands are refusing to travel, Scott feels that we were able to book 6 very good bands. Five dollars of every ticket sold will be donated by the event’s producers to one of 11 local charities. There is a need for 200 volunteers to work the day of the festival. Parking will be tight around Hibbard and Willow, but parking can be found within a reasonably short walk. Folding chairs, blankets are welcomed but no liquor or food can be brought in by the attendees. The cost is $50 a person and VIP tickets cost $150, but with no rain checks.
There being no more business, the Chair led the group in reciting the Rotary 4 Way Test and the meeting was adjourned. Lunch was late in arriving, thus at this time most members stayed and had lunch together.