Mind Your Business

I love change…as long as it doesn’t impact me.  And that’s the truth of it.

You may not know this, but every Friday night my family goes out to dinner in Oak Harbor. Typically, my Dad pays (and when I say typically, I mean always) and it’s a mini-tradition that I plan my weekends around.

The Johnson’s are not really an adventurous bunch. We don’t ski, mountain climb, or do anything that one would define as “risky.” We are more, what’s a good description of it…predictable folk.  And, we are loyal.

So each Friday night we rotate through a list of local establishments that are on the list of family favorites. The list is based on atmosphere, food quality, price (I mentioned Dad pays, right?) location, and the food must not be “spicy” in any way (please once again refer to who pays for further explanation.)  Our list includes: China City, The BBQ Joint, The Jumbo (or as well call it Big Butt) Buffet, Seabolts and the go-to restaurant of choice, Zorbas, which makes it into rotation more than any other.

So not surprisingly last Friday night we went to Zorbas for our farewell meal together at that location. In fact, after last night you won’t be able to get a table there anymore…even if you do know the owners.

Yes, that’s right, Zorbas is on the move.

Now, I am excited for owners Chris and Helen, and I am excited for Oak Harbor because the new Zorbas’ location (right next to the Coachman Inn), might expose new people to what is nothing short of a flavor-packed meal.  But, if I were to be honest, (and that’s what this blog is all about) I am also a little sad.

I love being downtown, and I loved the ambiance of Zorbas.  The big windows that provided the perfect view of people desperately trying to parallel park their supersized SUV between two obviously South-Whidbey Hybrids’, or someone (like me) who, despite nearly30 feet of available parallel parking space, still manages to get at least one wheel onto the curb taking out another decaying piece of sidewalk and nearly one or two pedestrians.

There’s a lot of action going on just outside those windows and I enjoy watching it all.

Zorbas’ new location won’t open again until early August. And although I am sure it will be a fantastic addition to the town (just like the relocated China City), it is still a very long time to go without Spanokopita!  (Fortunately, I also like San Remos so I guess I’m fine…but since they have their own parking lot, the view/entertainment just won’t be quite the same.)

Something new will go into the old downtown location (proving that Pioneer Way is still alive and kicking!) And I am excited to see what emerges.  Hopefully it will be something that will break into the Johnson family top five….although I can assure you, a new restaurant may take Zorbas old “space” but nothing will ever take its place.

Ah, change…I may advocate for it…but I sure don’t love it. It’s just not predictable enough for me.

When I heard Liz Merriman of the Deception Pass State Park Foundation use the word Juneuary to describe this month’s weather, I responded with a look of appreciative joy.  Finally, I thought, someone who understands what I have gone through this past month…a big fat case of the January blahs…and right here in the early days summer!

Now I am not about to give you some tourism bureau rah-rah about how this makes living in the Pacific Northwest unique.  The truth of the matter is, I am not happy, not happy at all.  My Beach Boys tapes are still packed with my capri’s…and my grey wool sweater has yet to be returned to the bin of clothes marked “Fall/Winter.”  Plus, I don’t even want to begin to tell you how this weather has killed my love affair with the spray tan.  I mean really, how is anyone going to believe this thing is real when it’s pouring down rain outside…and part of what I am paying for is the image of being “outdoorsy.”  Darn this rain!!!

But the truth is, this weather has the potential of claiming more casualties than my three-minute spray-on fakeness.

After all, there are a lot of great local businesses that depend on the good weather of our “summer season” to survive. Mystic Sea Charters, Anacortes Kayak Tours, and Deception Pass Tours (to name a few).   Brett and Terica of Deception Pass Tours are  good friends of mine, and I am want can only be described as “a groupie” for their tour.  I love it!  And, I have declared it to be one of the best additions to the Whidbey Island Tourism scene since Deception Pass Bridge itself.

If you haven’t been on the tour, you should go, especially when you consider that despite their fun tour, easy on the pocketbook prices, and solid marketing plan, the thing that matters most to their business is the one thing they can’t control. Weather!

As I type, the sun seems to finally have won the battle with the clouds. And if Steve Pool is to be trusted (and I believe he is…how can anyone that devilishly handsome lead us astray?), this victory should last throughout the weekend.  So let’s all get outside, leave the gardening for another day and support a great local business in what I hope is the tail end of “Juneary.”  And yes…I am angling for customer of the year, if you were at all wondering! (Someone has to get the title after all!)

There is nothing a Wii, WoW, or p0wn n00bz (if I am saying that right…and who reading this blog would know!) can offer that this Island can’t on a beautiful day…well except for the chance to forever brand yourself as a couch potato.  (Yes, that’s judgment in my tone!)

Enjoy the sun…and what feel like the first weekend of June!

I was feeling rather succinct in my last post, but no worries, I have returned to my hyperbolic self.  Of course  maybe being more concise worked, because the truth is the Oak Harbor Fireworks Celebration costs around $15,000 a year. No small price tag for a community our size.

How do I know?  I pay for them.

Well not me personally. I mean, make no mistake, I am excited when I can afford something from the $1 drive-thru menu at Wendy’s.  But I do feel responsible for their payment since it’s the Oak Harbor Chamber and our local businesses that raise the money for this booming event each year.

I mention this because the topic seems to be confusing to almost everyone I meet (or at least the ones that I discuss the fireworks with, or who write letters to the editor in the Whidbey News-Times.)

First, let’s clear up some confusion.  The City and the Chamber are two different organizations.  One is funded by tax dollars (that would be the City), one is funded by member dues and, well, some lodging tax dollars, (that would be the Chamber.)  I am not trying to be condescending…or give the feeling that this is about to be a civics lecture.  I mean, let’s get real here…I am desperately trying to expand my readership base beyond the staff (whom I pay) and my parents (whom I  force to read!) and there is no way I would even imply that any of my wonderful readers need any sort of education from me.  So please, keep your shorts on!

However, with that said I am continually amazed by the number of people who comment about how they hate seeing the City waste money (or more specifically they hate seeing the City waste their tax dollars) on the fireworks…especially when the City is on a tight budget.

To be honest, I love the fireworks, and I don’t know if I would mind seeing some of our tax money spent that way (I would certainly like it better than some of the things that it IS spent on)….but it’s not. Not a dime of it.

Each year the Chamber of Commerce and the business community begin the process of raising the money for the big extravaganza.  First up we auction off the naming rights.  This always goes to a business that is a combination of extremely generous and marketing savvy.  So this year’s Tradewinds Insurance Grand Fireworks Sponsor is….

(I’ll let you figure this one out on your own.)

Next we give our businesses a chance to be a Fireworks Sponsor of the Day, and for $100 about 40 businesses pay to have a day in their honor.  I actually love this process, because it’s a wonderful demonstration of what can be accomplished when everyone does just a bit!  The fundraising just starts to explode (YES…I will be milking these fireworks puns for all they are worth….did you really even need to ask?)

Speaking of a lot of people doing a little bit….we have extended that opportunity to the community as well.  All you have to do is give what you can.  Just think…if everyone in town gave $1…we would make our goal.  But since that likely won’t happen….we are suggesting you give at least $5…or the price of one Triple Shot Venti Mocha with an Extra Shot of Carmel.

That’s right, not only is this a great opportunity to support a good cause…you can save a few calories as well.

Now is where things get a little tough. Typically after all of this…we still need about $5,000.  We’ve tried car washes, doughnut sales, and auctions.  In fact we’ve tried almost everything….and then this year we stumbled on something new.

A Chamber Board Member Auction (click images below to see who you can bid on!)

If you don’t work for a Board of Directors, you may not realize how funny this is, but the idea of auctioning these folks off so that they can do manual labor is…well…priceless.   The bidding is open to anyone who has a check that will cash, a VISA with an available credit line, or even someone with cash. That’s right folks…we take it all at the Chamber.  So come on out and have a little fun!

All of this effort is made to ensure Oak Harbor has a sparkling 4^th of July.

Plus, it also gives us a wonderful time to pay tribute to our freedoms and take a moment to celebrate the fact that despite everything that is “wrong with America,”  we still live in the greatest Nation on earth!

And to prove it…..we blow stuff up!

OO-RAH

Dear Fireworks Lover,

These things are expensive.

Fondly, Jill

“The best things around that I have ever seen/

Came from small towns and big dreams”

Have you heard that song by Paul Brandt, Small Towns and Big Dreams?

No?

I’m Shocked.   (This is sarcasm for those readers who aren’t quite familiar with me yet.)

But thanks to a Google search for “small town music lyrics” I  stumbled across my good buddy  Paul and his perfect lyrical description of my feelings about this story in the Whidbey News-Times about the revolutionary advancements that promise to make the treatment of cancer more effective, thanks to a group of local investors.

Seriously, you can’t imagine the number of conversations I have had with folks who are actually jumping out of their skin when they talk about a new idea they have or new business they want to start. True, it’s typically over coffee, so I guess in theory I could blame their alert, darting eyes and eagle-eyed focus on the extra shot in their latte…but I choose to believe that their wave of excitement comes from a much less commercial place…the pool of possibility.

As a chronic optimist, I am typically right there with them. Their enthusiasm has nothing, and I mean nothing, on me.  Throughout the conversation, we are going toe-to-toe, sip-to-sip and idea-to-idea.  And before we stand up, shake hands and go our separate — albeit equally caffeinated –ways from the local coffee shop de jour, we have managed to give their business a name and they are well on their way to building a website, developing a Facebook fan page, and designing a multi-colored logo.

Unfortunately, all too often these hopes are dashed on the rocks of reality.  (Look, I probably should have warned you that I am going through some sort of “write with imagery” phase, and these types of cliché expressions are bursting forth faster than green grass through a goose.  Please bear with me.)  Anyway, where was I?  Right, rocks of reality….often the initial enthusiasm of our highly-leaded (that’s what my Grandpa would say for extra strong coffee) meeting flounders.  More often than not, just weeks later I hear, “Well it just won’t work on Whidbey Island,” or “I don’t think the community is quite ready for this idea yet,” or “It’s too mush of a risk, long-shot, or (insert your dream killing word here).”

And yet out of nowhere I read this article about group of local business leaders from Whidbey Island who are dreaming of (and investing in) a new form of treatment for patients with brain tumors.  Talk about big dreams! This is the type of idea that is often shouted down…even in big cities.

Sometimes it’s that small town; big dreamin’ that is just what a progressive idea needs.

Kudos.

Oh, and by the way.  Speaking of dreamers, Paul Brandt (winner of the Canadian Country Music Awards for Best Album in 2002) was the first Male Canadian artist to hit the top 10 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs in the United States since Hank Snow.

Yep, that’s right folks.  Nothing sums up life in an all American small town than Canadian country music!

There are times when, and I’m not going to lie to you here, I absolutely think I am brilliant.  Interestingly enough, these times usually come when I am working in collaboration with someone far more talented than me.  But regardless, I embrace the brilliance and bask in the glory and recognition that comes along with it.

Hello ego…I am Jill.

Normally, life has a way of keeping things, and my self-inflated view of my talents in check.  I typically refer to those moments as the two “M’s” (Monday’s and mornings).  Either “M” is enough to derail any spark of brilliance that might be percolating just under the surface.  Actually I could add a third “M” (mother). She is particularly gifted in bringing me back down to earth as well, in a truly loving way of course, but we can explore that another time.

Recently I had a bout of brilliance that survived an “M.”  On Monday, I opened an e-mail from Abbie Martin, the Chamber’s Graphic Designer and all around “I-get-where-you-are-going-with-this” member of the marketing team. Abbie can take a concept and turn it into  something  that  perfectly (and simply) sums up exactly what it would  take me 1,500 words, a few hundred hand gestures, and one exasperated “why-don’t-people-get-what-I’m-trying-say” sigh to communicate. And it is because of Abbie that I am able to reclaim my belief that even on a day like Monday…my perceived brilliance knows no bounds.

Here’s what happened.  The conversation centered on how to market Oak Harbor as a tourism destination.  What can we say about our town that is intrinsically true? Yes, I know we are a military town, but this is about tourism people, tourism…and loud (albeit cool looking) planes aren’t quite what we’re going for on this one. Sorry.

Not surprisingly we settled on a campaign that targeted young, active families.  More surprising was our second choice…dog owners.  Why not we thought?  People love their dogs, some folks even think of them as their children…minus those pesky pre-teen years!

The ads needed to be simple.  Suggest an experience.  Showcase an activity. Be graphically appealing.  And be clever enough to stick with the reader long after they saw it.  It’s a lot of pressure for one simple ad.  But Abbie and I felt up to the challenge (remember that ego reference I made earlier…yep, I wasn’t kidding about that.)

We hope you enjoy these two new ads. We would love it if you found them brilliant (please feel free to communicate praise at any point!) and if for some reason our “brilliance” eludes you, and you actually hate them or have a lot of suggestions for improvement or even ideas for future ads…please do me one favor…wait until Monday to let me know.

Well it’s over.  Holland Happening has come and gone for another year, and as always this is the time where we sort through all the feedback of things we can do better and make a list of all the people that need to receive a thank you note.  This year, for the first time in a while, I feel like that list is growing. And, I am beyond thankful.

I am not going to list out a bunch of names on this blog because I have been told that sounding to rah-rah chamber-y is just boring, and that no one will read this (mind you I wrote something moderately controversial last time and no one read it…so I am not so sure about this theory…but I’m going with it.)   I gotta keep my “potential” readers happy you know!

So instead of hyping it all up, I will exercise some restraint.  I do however, want to give out a big collective community thank you to everyone who turned out, brought a friend, walked in the parade (or watched it), bought or sold something, picked up trash, set up a tent, bought a carnival ticket, said thank you, sponsored, bought a klompen, put up a sign, played on the entertainment stage (or listened), fixed something, helped promote the event, or prayed for good weather.

Without you, Holland Happening would be a bust.  So at the risk of sounding too Chamber-y let me say that you all are OH-Mazing.  And I will just leave it at that.

To Klomp or not to Klomp?

I am not one to shy away from a party, so it would only make sense that I love a good community festival!  It’s a wonderful time of celebration, outdoor music, craft vendors, parades, etc.  It’s just one big season of fun that  in my mind, begins the last weekend in April with Oak Harbor’s Annual Holland Happening celebration.  I like the unique shopping treasures I find at the booths, the screams of the kids as they dip down on the roller coaster at the carnival as the smell of cotton candy wafts through the air, and I won’t lie, I really really like the food vendors. Fried dough! Hello???  I can’t think of anything better than that.

But now that I work at a Chamber, and spend my days (and a few too many nights) thinking about the health of our local business community, I have started to take stalk of all these events from a whole different angle.  No longer is slipping into my favorite pair of klompen the deciding factor for an events value.  I now find myself resisting the urge to say, “but its tradition,” or “we HAVE  to have Holland Happening, because I LOVE olibollen” (which in all honesty is true, I really do obsessively love that stuff!).

The time has arrived where I no longer indulge in the practice of placing “fun” above “value,” or at least I don’t when it comes to protecting the interests of our community.  And so I find myself, in the midst of all the Holland Happening hoopla, thinking about how much time, effort, and money goes into organizing these special events, and questioning the true value that they bring to the community.

I mean really, are they worth it?  Do our businesses benefit?  Is the “quality of life” or “tourism” argument enough to sustain an event that costs $20,000 a year, raises just a few thousand dollars more, and is put on by a dwindling committee of volunteers who are, let’s face it, getting tired?

Would anyone care or be dramatically impacted if this event went away?

It’s all I can talk about, and for anyone who has had coffee with me in the last few days, let me apologize.  I am a girl obsessed!  And, just for the record, if you were thinking of having coffee with me in the next few days, let me say this:  if you don’t want to ponder the great question of the value of a community festival, well then I suggest that a coffee date probably wouldn’t be too successful for us….at least not right now.

Right now I have kicked off my klompen, put my feet up on the couch, and begun to imaging a town where events were the exception, not the norm.  And to be honest, I don’t like the thought of it. But I also wonder if these types of events are a luxury our community can no longer afford.  It takes thousands of dollars in sponsorship money, hundreds of volunteer hours, and several sleepless nights…which at my age might be the most costly factor of all!

It’s a questions to ponder…and the answer isn’t one that should be made by one person or organization alone. So I am putting it out there…to whomever reads this, in the hopes that your ideas will inspire, clarify, or at least indicate a willingness to volunteer.

And, let’s be honest, the more feedback you give, the better I will feel.  Because this is my first blog and it will be good for my self-esteem if you comment.  Then I will at least know that you read it!