Hey Fellow TACo's,
I hope by now you have all recovered from the latest fantastic edition of
the Shingletown Star Party. It sure was a blast to see everyone again and
it seemed like most had a grand time. I'd like to take a few moments of
your time to acknowledge and to say thanks to a few people, businesses and
organizations that made this year's SSP run so smoothly with all of their
hard work and generous contributions. Please take a few minutes to go
through this incredibly long list and see just who and what it took to put
this event on.
There were of course many volunteers who helped out with gate duty or
setting up some canopies and tables as well as those who attended the
planning meetings and coordinated our outreach efforts. But the most
important ones to acknowledge first are the awesome folks from Shingletown
who shared their community, their homes and their hearts with us. None of
these people were paid a dime for their time and if you consider how much of
their personal time and money goes into supporting us and the SSP, we are
indebted beyond words to these wonderful people. Some of them volunteer
their time at the Shingletown Non-Profits Office, Shingletown Activities
Council (SAC) and the Shingletown Community Center (SCC). Without their
support, none of this would be possible. Specifically, these people are:
Marg Collett - SAC
Marg was once again our local SSP Event Coordinator. She is responsible for
arranging, organizing and promoting all the various Shingletown community
events and has given 1000's of hours working in support of the various
community organizations without pay. It is without reservations that I can
say that Marg is the one person to whom the SSP would not exist as it does
today if it weren't for all her tireless efforts. She has supported our
cause from day one and we owe her a debt of gratitude.
Howard "Luke" Lukas - SCC Chairperson
Luke is Chair of the Shingletown Community Center Committee, our official
Non-Profit host of the SSP and owner of the Mt. Lassen Art Center Watercolor
Adventure located in Viola, CA., just a few miles east of Shingletown. Luke
was responsible for overseeing Shingletown's Volcano Days, of which the SSP
was an integral part. He handled the negotiations between the airport
property managers and the SSP committee and Luke was also responsible for
running our T-Shirt Contest as well as the "Paint Free, Be Free" exhibit
during the public event.
Vera Dewitt - SAC
Vera and Marg make up the "Thelma and Louise" team in Shingletown. While
Marg is the organizer, Vera is the workhorse, who takes the runs down to
Redding, writes the articles for the local Shingletown Ridge Rider Newspaper
and made the great coffee each night. Vera was the Shingletown Volcano Days
Spokesperson who always kept a positive spin on things. Vera was kind
enough to let us use her garage as a staging area for the SSP hospitality
area supplies and is now storing our canopies for us. Her "can do" attitude
and outgoing personality makes her one of the most enjoyable people I've
ever had the pleasure of working with. She is actively involved in just
about every community activity Shingletown puts on.
Carla Bloxham - California Trailer and RV (previous owner of Big Wheels)
Carla recently sold Big Wheels, but has remained on the team of Shingletown
organizers and was directly responsible for acquiring the many donations
needed to make Volcano Days and especially the Hot Lava Nights a huge
success. Carla was also in charge of the killer Tri-Tip barbeque at the
Public Star Gazing event on Saturday. Our gate duty volunteers must give
special thanks to Carla for the use of her electric golf cart which we
depended on to run between the hospitality area and the front gate and her
generator which we used to charge our batteries with.
Art and Cindy Johnson- Six-Pack Construction (our official SSP Grounds
Keepers) -
Art and Cindy were directly responsible for keep the site as dust free as
possible. Art began watering a few days before the event began and
maintained it diligently throughout. Cindy took the bull by the horns and
got the straw and the straw spreader along with a volunteer crew of local
"Clampers" (Dave, Daryl and Rich) who worked until sundown on Wednesday to
insure that our dust control efforts were successful. Art and Cindy were
also responsible for loaning us the 2nd on-site battery recharging generator
located on the north end of the site. Art and Cindy have already committed
to participating again next year and we look forward to working with them
again.
Trish Clarke, Shasta County Board of Supervisors -
Trish was our Master of Ceremonies at the public event this year and is the
one person most responsible for the SSP's existence. If it weren't for
Trish's determination and willingness to champion our cause before the
seemingly endless line of Shasta County administrators, we'd never have
busted through the bureaucracy and last years inaugural event would have
never taken place.
Wal*Mart, who's Northern California warehouse operations are based in nearby
Red Bluff, donated approximately $1700 to the SAC which was used to offset a
multitude of operating expenses for all the Volcano Days events.
There were several other members of the local Shingletown community who
helped to make our stay enjoyable including: California Trailer and RV, the
local Redding Pepsi and Coke distributors, the Shingletown Store, Pioneer
Hillside Pizza and Big Wheels. From the Shingletown Historical Society, who
put on the great desert table again to the local chapter of "Clampers" who
busted their butts helping out with the spreading of the straw around the
site, all of these folks were invaluable to our experience. I also want to
mention the Shingletown Volunteer Fire Department who helped out with dust
control as well as provided the emergency medical Paramedics who were at the
public star party in direct support of event. They were even ready to
provide us with a backup observing site at their firehouse for the public
stargazing event in case the winds picked up and potentially prevented us
from having a successful party for our hosts at the airport on Saturday
night. And finally, the California Highway Patrol for assisting us with
traffic control during the public evening. Without this local support, the
party just wouldn't be possible.
There were a few public organizations who participated which I'd like to
specifically mention and thank for all they did for us.
First, The Shasta Regional Community Foundation gave us a grant for $2000
which we used to help pay for the rental of the porta-johns and the
dumpsters, advertising, printing costs, t-shirts as well as our insurance
and dust control measures.
The Astronomical Association of Northern California gave us $200 which was
used to provide the complimentary ice, sodas, bottled water, and the hot
coffee each evening. The hot coffee during the night was so appreciated by
everyone that we plan on making this a regular part of the SSP. Thanks to
Jane and Mojo for all of their support. Maybe we can talk them into coming
next year? ;)
Astronomy Society of the Pacific (ASP). Marni Berendsen from the ASP came
up and took care of our outreach table at the public evening. As well as
providing free astro-handouts to the kids, she organized an observing
program for our younger guest which gave them a look at a variety of cool
DSO's to experience. We are proud to announce that next year we will be
working even closer with the ASP to get the local Junior and Senior high
schools involved in astronomy.
Norm Sperling, Everything in the Universe - Norm was our speaker at the
public star gazing event for the second consecutive year. To say the least,
Norm's knowledge and expertise during his presentation kept the public
fixated and entertained.
I'd also like to say thanks to the vendors who donated prizes to the
astronomer's raffle. Please remember to visit and support these fine
businesses whenever you're looking for astro-goodies!
1800Destiny.com
1stBase Collapsible Dob Mounts
Absolute Astronomy
Adirondack Video Astronomy
AstroPhoto.com
AstroPro Products
AstroZap Cases and Covers
Celestial Products
ChartMarkers and More
Coronado Technology Group
Digital Images - official SSP group photo Draco Productions
e2 Telescope Design
Equatorial Platforms
GotGrit
Ken's Rings
New Mexico Skies Guest Observatory
Harry Siebert Eyepieces
Jim's Mobile Inc. (JMI)
Lumicon
Ohio Star Software
ProtoStar
Sirius Optics
Sky Image Labs
SkyNews Sky Publishing (Sky & Telescope)
Starlight Theatre
Sun River Nature Center
Tele Vue Optics
The Case Place
Wave Group Astronomy
I'd like to give a very special thanks to Orion Telescopes for their
generous donations of the Telescopes and Binoculars over the past couple of
years in direct support of our Shingletown Star Party T-Shirt design contest
for the local area Jr. & Sr. High Schools. The award presentation to the
winners is always one of the prouder moments of the Public Star Gazing
Party.
Now I'd like to take a minute to thank a few of our fellow TACo's who worked
so hard on the planning committee to make the SSP what it is:
Jim Bartolini (TAC-Monterey) - SSP Planning Committee member, SSP Volunteer
and if I'm not mistaken, Stacy McDermott's right hand man with the
volunteers during the party.
Michael Huster (TAC-Shasta) - SSP Spokesperson, SSP Planning Committee
member and SSP Volunteer.
Stacy Jo McDermott (TAC) - Volunteer Coordinator, SSP Planning Committee
member and SSP Volunteer.
Richard Ozer (TAC) - SSP Outreach Coordinator, Hat Creek Tour Organizer,
Ambulance Driver, SSP Planning Committee member and SSP Volunteer.
Jane Smith (TAC-SAC) - Grant Proposal Writer, T-Shirt Contest Flyer
Designer, Web Page, SSP Planning Committee member, SSP Volunteer, SSP Rules
and Guidelines and Astro-Quilt maker extraordinaire.
Margaret "Mags" Temple (TAC-SAC) - SSP Planning Committee member, SSP
Volunteer and Astro-Quilt maker extraordinaire.
Mark Wagner, (TAC) - Web Page, Archives, Vendors, T-Shirt Contest Prizes,
Astro-Raffle Prizes, Registration Fee Collector, Raffle Barker, SSP Planning
Committee member, SSP Volunteer.
I'd also like to thank the following people for volunteering for SSP gate
duty as well as helping with the set-up and tear-down:
Joe and Barb Gomolski
Jim Everett
Phil Chambers
Bob Jardine
Dan Wright
Rajeeve Joshi
Kevin Roberts
Robert Shelton
Evan Garber
Michelle Stone
Peter McKone
Jeff Crilly
Sean McCauliff
Cary Ster
Liz Conner
Andrew Preston
I'm sure there are some folks who I've forgotten to mention and I apologize
if I have and I wish to say thanks to them as well, but in any case, I just
wanted to show everyone who came up and enjoyed their stay an idea of what
and who it took to make the SSP a huge success.
Because of the efforts of all of these people, organizations and businesses
I've mentioned, the SSP is rapidly becoming the premier star party on the
west coast and maybe someday, the world! It's up to all of us to continue
to make the SSP we want it to be and I look forward to many more wonderful
SSP's with all of my great friends in TAC as well as our great new friends
in Shingletown and Shasta County. Thank you all for your help. We couldn't
have done it without you.
Clear Skies,
Jim Ster, Director Shingletown Star Party