Heat? What Heat?

Summer Tuesdays has had two successful events so far this season. Last night as I looked over the crowd, and after wiping the sweat pouring from every pore on my head, I thought how amazing it was to have such a large crowd, even with the heat. Our volunteers from Community Thread were busy keeping people hydrated in the Summer Tuesdays' Concession Booth. Each week we have an organization provide volunteers which are arranged by our intern, Elle Neeck. The first week we had United Way, where people were encouraged to donate books to people in need, and this week we had Community Thread, where their efforts are seen throughout the community on several different levels. And its awesome having their help!

But back to the crowd - as I glanced around at the different people, I noticed not only the number, but the diversity. There were young families, empty-nesters, teenagers, college couples, and groups of friends of all ages. That just was during the live music. Then we watched the movie “Despicable Me,” and after the movie ended, I looked behind me, expecting to see about a dozen or so sporadic groups, but to my surprise, I was faced with almost the same large crowd at the start of the movie! And they looked happy! This, to me, equals success. Last week we discussed the movie as a group, and once again we went over the ratings of the movies we are showing. They are all rated G or PG, but they aren't all necessarily designed to be just for kids. This is a community event. If it was only for kids, we would lose many of the adult audience members. And if we had all higher-rated movies, we could have the opposite reaction. But as this is an event put on for the community, we feel it is imperative to offer it to the community on the whole, allowing people to choose to attend, and to know what's right for them.

Is it all smooth sailing? Actually? Kind of. We work with really great people. No one is high-strung, and usually our only mishaps are with getting vendors in the right spots during the market, which is a mishap lasting about 7 minutes or less. So here's looking forward to next week with Harmonic Relief, Blue Hazard and the movie “Toy Story” (rated G)!