How do we thank all the vendors and shoppers?
Lucy and her son Elliot were just two of the thousands of shoppers who came to the Downtown Oronoco Gold Rush Days, this past weekend. Besides the treasures they found at this particular booth they proceeded to find many more as they ventured out through old downtown Oronoco.
Elliot was scouting out the toy selection on Friday.
Both Lucy and Elliot also made themselves available as volunteers. For two days they took a 2 hour shift delivering ice to the vendors. Elliott was insistent that they volunteer again next year. Lucy agreed.
As I began this post, I asked….. “How can we thank all the vendors and shoppers?” ( who came to participate in Oronoco’s non-profit event the Downtown Oronoco Gold Rush Days)
Let’s begin with a thank you to all the volunteers who helped us as well. Beyond the golf carts, there was the volunteer fire department and first responders, who all worked their best to build funds for the best equipment to protect the Oronoco residents. They also prepared meals for the volunteers and shoppers.
In the VFW there were Veterans and their family members who prepared meals for the visitors and also had meals available for our volunteers.
Grace Lutheran Church returned this year with pies again, (we missed seeing their pies last year) and their new Pastor and his family were volunteering as well to help make this years event a success.
The Presbyterian Church is located up the hill from the old downtown, but they too had volunteers who set up a resting tent, providing shade and seats for nursing mothers or others needing a break. They also made their parking lot available for the vendors to park their car there, while they worked their booths. (hopefully leaving a donation in the church donation box.)
One more non-profit organization that set up a booth this year was the Lions Club from Oronoco. We know they use some of their funds to set up the winter skating rink in downtown Oronoco, and in the summer they host evening movies in the Oronoco City Park.
And for all the vendors, who drove many hours to be here, we send a big THANK YOU! We hope to see you next year and so do many of your customers. We walked around and got feed back from the vendors and will work to continue to make the event a win for them as much as it was for us.
To the Shoppers we are grateful for no rain, cool temperatures in the morning and that you came to the Downtown Oronoco Gold Rush Days . Speaking for the red shirt volunteers who worked for a year to get the show organized, we know the show would not be a success without the shoppers. Thank you for coming and for telling your friends to check us out as well.
And last but not least thank you for ALL the other volunteers who participated in making the 2018 Downtown Oronoco Gold Rush Days a wonderful family friendly place to be.