Winnipesaukee.com’s ForumFest – How the Tradition Began

[Rattlesnake Gal]

McDude, I hope you don’t mind, but I think that I will elaborate a little more for history sake.

After the wonderful success of the first ForumFest, I thought we would get a jump-start on the next. At the beginning of April 2005, a poll was started and ideas were kicked around. Scavenger hunts, poker runs and even the Mount were proposed. It took until August 17th to finally pin down the date and location.
(Maybe a poll isn’t the way to go?)

ForumFest II, A Tenth Anniversary of celebration of Winnipesaukee.com was finally off and running! Scheduled for Saturday, September 10th at 3:00 pm at Cate Park in Wolfeboro.

We still needed to come up with an idea of what to do with the money we would raise from our raffle. We thought after raising funds for a new WeirsCam that it was time for the upgraded server that Don, our Webmaster was wishing for. Our esteemed leader humbly declined.

Originally Posted by webmaster

The regular members of this forum are the most generous people I've ever seen. Last year I was overwhelmed when the mere mention of upgrading the WeirsCAM resulted in $1400 in donations in just several weeks, including at the ForumFest I. When I mentioned a server upgrade this spring many let me know they were ready to chip in and a few even sent in unsolicited donations. Fortunately I was able to make an arrangement that paid for the server and its maintenance costs making any fundraising unnecessary.

Now that the WeirsCAM is upgraded and I have the new server (it'll be working soon) I'm not going to do any more fundraising, which I was never that comfortable with. If the organizers of the ForumFest II want to select another worthy Lakes Region charitable cause this time I'd certainly support it.

Then Hurricane Katrina hit the southern coast of the United States. Pepper realized this was a cause we could support and put for a plea to help the hurricane victims through the American Red Cross. Everyone loved the idea! Organization of the raffle began in earnest with Barbara as our leader. It was at this time that DRH’s wife, Peg, an avid quilt maker, thoughtfully donated one of her handmade quilts to help raise funds for those affected by Katrina.





ForumFest II didn’t turn out to be a huge affair, but we had a fantastic time just the same.



Our Webmaster, Don was able to join the festivities.



Finally meeting many of his long time forum friends.



Thanks to a wonderful forum member the American Red Cross received over $1,350 from the generous people at Winnipesaukee.com!

Originally Posted by Pepper

ForumFest II was indeed a success, and a great time was had by all. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting new friends and enjoying the company of all.

The generosity of the members of this forum family never ceases to amaze me, and yesterday was no exception! As of the end of the raffle we had gathered a total of $392.00. However, a much larger sum will actually be sent to help those on the Gulf coast. How, you may ask? Through the ingenuity of a very special and trusted forum member, that's how!

This member will be facilitating the donation through his employer, which will TRIPLE (yes, triple!) the amount of the donation! In addition, this member is adding more of his personal funds to the kitty, and the end result after tripling will be a total of $1,350.00! How cool is that?

Thank you to all who attended and gave so generously (okay, I admit it, we were all trying to win Peg's quilt). Yesterday was a day I will never forget. Now, if I can sneak over to Rattlesnake Island and figure out how to make off with that quilt, I'll bet Mee would make it worth my while!

Mrs. DRH becomes Quilt Lady and finally signs on as an official member of the forum.

Rattlesnake Gal wins the grand prize quilt.

ForumFest II was a huge success.

Click here for the ForumFest II Gallery