Running A New Race In Morton Grove

Let’s imagine for a moment that all of our big community events in Morton Grove are like a big NASCAR or Formula One car race.

Here are a few of the “races” we hold here in Morton Grove…

• Morton Grove Days
• Taste of Morton Grove
• Chamber of Commerce’s Golf Outing
• Sizzle Into Summer
• Holly Days
• And more from the Library, schools, churches, community groups and others

Let’s look at a race and its components—and how it lines up with Morton Grove’s community events.

Consider the track as the length of an event (the days & hours from beginning to end). The cars are the events themselves. The fuel is the many volunteers that power the events to get them across the finish line. The crowds of spectators are the MG residents who attend and participate in the events.

What’s our challenge? The tracks are getting too long, the cars require too much fuel, and the crowds watching the race are getting ever smaller.

Let’s think about it. We have so many events, many very complicated affairs that require a lot of manpower and moving parts. We have a diminishing supply of resources to entertain fewer and fewer people who find any interest in watching these big productions.

Teddy Roosevelt once said complaining without providing a solution is just whining, so no whining, but some possible solutions after observing all the activities over the years, and participating in many. Some possible solutions follow:

Shorter Tracks:

Maybe week long events should be 3 days. Perhaps some events should be scaled down in size. We could look further into combining events from various groups. The goal should be to offer what the ever-changing and diverse population of Morton Grove truly wants to see.

More Fuel Efficient Vehicles:

Our events are complex, like a formula one racing car. We need lots of resources and people to make it run properly. The fuel consumption is high. Maybe we need something simpler? Smaller events, less complexity, fewer volunteer requirements, et cetera.

The Fuel:

The fuel is our volunteers. The people of the community of all ages and backgrounds. Our supply is getting more and more limited, and getting older. To preserve our precious resources, we need to give them less to do at far fewer events so we don’t risk losing them for good. Making it easier to volunteer for less time-consuming shifts might just increase the number of people willing to help out.

The Crowds:

These days, people have less time for anything beyond their basic day to day life. Simply by holding more events, the probability that more people will attend is small. Budgets of time and money are finite and increase only in increments as more demands are made upon them.

It might be time for the leaders of many community organizations in town, many who wear multiple hats, to sit down and talk about how to best provide Morton Grove with events that they can support and enjoy. We can win the race, but we have to change the way it's run!

What’s the next step? Maybe those organizing all the events can find a day and time to sit down and look over what we’re currently doing and to discuss how we can make the events easier to operate, more efficient, profitable, relevant to the community and conserve the precious time and energy of our volunteers. What's the prize being awarded at the finish line? Everyone gets to be a winner in our community, knowing that they are a part of something bigger which benefits the people of Morton Grove - that's when we can all enjoy taking a victory lap.