Chinga Talk
Marion enjoyed its 11th Chingawassa Days in June 2007. This annual festival has become one of the highlights of the year, and a great selling point for those promoting the quality of life in our town. Even though everyone has some idea what the festival offers, you can't really know what goes into staging the event unless you have been on the Chinga committee. To answer questions and clear up areas of confusion, Pete the Chingawassa Rhino has agreed to respond to a number of questions. The issues and Pete's responses will be presented in a series of columns the next few weeks.
Dear Pete: Just what is the Chingawassa committee and who is on it?
Pete's answer: The Chingawassa committee grew out of the desire of the Marion Chamber of Commerce to have a spring festival or event to replace the Summerfest concert series.
It is now a committee of the City of Marion, but with no financial support from the city.
Current committee members are Lisa Vondenkamp, Sheila Anderson, Paige Schneider, Jessie Nikkel, Christian Pedersen, Danny Sherbert, Chris Meierhoff, Jandee Moore, Dave Crofoot, Mike Powers, Davey Hett, and Margo Yates.
Committee membership tends to change each year, as some folks need a break, and others step up to help carry the festival into the future.
Committee members who have "retired" from the 2007 committee are Gene Winkler, Chris Costello, and Randy Kelsey. New committee members are Sherbert, Pedersen, and Nikkel. They replace the three retiring veterans.
Over the years, committee membership has generally stretched from people in their upper 20s or lower 30s, to those in their 60s. Current membership reflects a wide variety of age and employment.
Included is an employee of a local bank, a school employee, three employees of a large local business, an owner of a large local business, an employee of a large out-of-town business, a city employee, federal employee, state employee, and two self-employed businessmen.
The committee is comprised of six women and six men. Care is made to try to maintain a good mixture of ages, gender, and skills.
Committee membership is a lot of fun, but comes with a price tag of many, many hours of meetings, and total devotion to the festival on Chingawassa weekend and for several days preceding it.
