BEARFEST

                                            What BEARFEST II Was All About

As the rain (and hail storms!!) started pelting the grounds, it was cool to see everyone staying in a great mood and making light of the whole situation. From our unbreakable chain of brave transporters running from the big tent to the beer truck and back with full cups of beer, to watching all of us bunched up under two tents laughing together, sharing the moment together, and just being good to each other. In a weird way, this is a big part of what Bearfest is about.

One of the great side effects of Bearfest is that it not only brings us together to do good deeds for people, and make collective statements about causes we care about; but it always, inadvertently or not, causes us to think about all the blessings we have in life. A lot of those blessings come from us simply having each other. “Us” making sure that none of “us” ever has to go through the “tougher” times in life, alone; and I get to help make it happen with honestly, two of my favorite people, Vinnie and T.A., guys I have been buddies with for “almost” a quarter century. Just 3 guys, who in the words of one of my college professors, are “like-minded people”. We make a good team. Yep I’m old-so what! Gotta state championship ring too.
Anyway, I wanted to say thank you to each and every last person who came to bearfest, those of you who volunteered your time to help out, those of you who traveled a half an hour or more to West Harrison just to support what we are doing, those of you who weathered a hellacious hour of rain and hail without ever even blinking an eye, and most of all, thank you for just believing in what Bearfest is all about.

Thank you to Vince and Gretchen Lomboy for once again opening their home to a huge group of people they hardly know; and the hours and hours of prep it takes just to put on a party like Bearfest.

Thank you to Bill and Dillon Spangler, Vince and Gretchen’s next door neighbors who volunteer their property for parking, volunteer their electric to keep our beer truck running, volunteer their land for camp grounds, and even spend the entire weekend helping us construct and then tear down the Bearfest site.

Thank you to Tony Adkins who continues to keep our finances in order, and keeps our good name in place with the many people who donate their goods and services to Bearfest. Plus the countless hours he puts into preparing Bearfest.

Thank you to Karen Adkins and Gretchen Lomboy for faithfully working registration in a year where the majority of our registrations came on the day of the event (no matter how much we begged to have them earlier!).

Thank you to Maggie and Grace Lomboy, and Kaelin Adkins for all their volunteer hours leading up to the day of the event, and even volunteering more hours on the actual day of the event itself. These 3 kids never knew Guy Barattieri, but they definitely “understand” what Bearfest is about.

Thanks to my classmate George Fisher, the founder and president of the Cavalier Distributing Company, who from day one. Said “Cliff don’t worry about the beer, I will take care of the beer and the beer truck”. And he definitely followed through. I think it is safe to say there are a number of you who smile when you hear the words Red-Leg-Ale, and a number of you who hated those 3 words on Sunday morning.

Thanks to BJ Taylor who continues to keep up this web page.  You would be hard pressed to find a more informative web page for a “private” party.

Which brings me to this side note: anyone affiliated with Bearfest who is sponsoring a benefit, forward the information to us and we will put it on our web. Last year-2007, we had over 10,000 hits to our web page.

 
Thanks to Matt Tepe and Denny Meador who spent a good portion of their Friday, the day before Bearfest, in a hot field, swatting away bugs, putting up tents and volleyball nets. Yes Coach Woeste, we still have the teamwork to make the dream work.

Thanks to Mark Steinher, for once again providing the monster grill that provides all the burgers, chicken and dogs that we eat, and thanks to Chris Howard, Ken Stahl, Vinnie and Tony for helping to grill it. And to Coach Koch for providing the burgers!

Thanks to Jane Sheehan, Pat Wheatley, and Lou Rosati for holding down the food tent for the second straight year! This year they even had to provide a rain shelter!

Thanks to Coach Bear for providing the huge 20 x 60 tent for our event. Little did we know just how valuable that tent would be.

Thanks to the Kevin Fox Band for once again committing to Bearfest amid their busy performance schedule, and staying with us through the rain storm. Wish we could have heard “til they all come home” performed again, but Mother Nature just would not cooperate. Guess you all have to keep playing the 2007 DVD and listen to it during the credits. Classic ballad.

Thanks to Andy Tesnar for providing the artwork for this year’s Bearfest t-shirts which were a hit. We sold out of the shirts in an hour I believe.

thanks to Steve Misleh and the countless other people who very generously donated gift certificates and other door prizes for us to raffle off during the event.

And lastly, just thank you for caring about issues like children’s cancer, and all the other causes that Bearfest might be associated with in the future. I am a firm believer that you get one life, and it is important that you live a life that matters. We are only a small group of people in relation to the rest of the country, but if we all know we only have one life, we might as well live one that matters in the lives of others, right? Don’t be the dull spot in the painting, be the part of the piece of art that makes everybody think twice.
You people really take part in something special. It’s something Odessa Barattieri (2007) and Rachel Farfsing (2008) probably won’t really understand for years to come; But I think when they do start to understand it all, one thing for sure will pop in their heads-…”there must have been something special about Guy Barattieri”.
Take care my friends, be good to one another, and keep doing the good things that you do in our community-it really does matter. See ya in ’09!


Cliff