'Days Of Kosciuszko' Festival Breaking Camp
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
The news took my breath away at first, like hearing that a favorite married couple was divorcing. Then I wanted all the nasty details.
Tammy Denlinger, a charter member of the Back To The Days Of Kosciuszko steering committee, called to say the group has disbanded and would no longer organize the historical event.
Denlinger and a few others have coordinated the Lucerne Park event for nine years and, quite frankly, she has other things to do.
"The event became too much for too few," Denlinger said. "I've worked on the committee for nine years and hoped someone else would take my place. That hasn't happened."
The annual weekend event, held in September along the shores of Pike Lake, presented life during Revolutionary War times in Colonial America.
Back To The Days honored Polish military strategist Thaddeus Kosciuszko, after whom the county is named.
Although small in size, Back To The Days was known as a quality educational trip back in history. Thousands of visitors came to the encampment each year.
"What we wanted to do," said another charter committee member, Dave Taylor, "was give the community something that would be recognized throughout the state and the nation. Many re-enactors recognized it as every bit as good as similar events that have been around for 30 years."
The committee members spent hundreds of hours traveling to other events and interviewing entertainers. They insisted on authenticity and educated the groups and organizations who wished to raise funds during that weekend. Every one was to be historically correct. They weren't running a flea market.
Vendors paid the low, low price of $35 for the three-day event, a real bargain compared to rentals elsewhere.
Kosciusko Community Senior Services benefited directly from the event, using it to fund its many programs and services for the elderly.
Jack Felger, executive director of KCSS, was part of the steering committee because of his position. He declined to say how KCSS will raise funds in the future.
Joanne Kolbe, a seven-year committee member, said the event will still be on the Northwest Territory Alliance schedule. And any group that wants to step up and run the program is welcome.
Kolbe, Taylor and Denlinger will be happy to provide contacts, offer direction and serve as consultants. But they don't want to do it all anymore.
Taylor is not one to mince words, and he has a lot to say about this event because it is near and dear to his heart.
Denlinger asked him and Steve Hassinger to present a program at Miller's Merry Manor 10 years ago. It was such a success they talked about expanding the program to raise money for the Council on Aging. Eighteen months later, Back To The Days was born, and basically the same people have been running it ever since.
Taylor said years of his life are invested in the weekend festival.
"It makes us feel bad the event isn't going to happen," he said. "Everyone has been trying to be relatively diplomatic about this, but I'm going to tell it like it is.
"The people who attended, the local merchants, the hotels, the gas stations, the kids who wrote essays, the Optimist Club, the Boy Scouts, they are all going to feel bad, too.
"We can no longer put on an event of this size with just three or four people doing all the work. To say we're not interested is not correct.
"The fact is, the community isn't interested. There were supposed to be committees of people working and they let us down.
"I hear all this rhetoric that we need quality events that are educational and benefit the community. I don't see anyone stepping forward, and that's the saddest part of this whole thing."
What the community received was one of the finest historical events going because of the high standards set by the committee.
When it came down to the nitty-gritty, though, no one was interested.
People who said they would help lied about their intentions, not answering the phone or not showing up when expected. And so, for the steering committee members, the event became less like a stroll along the lake and more like a full-blown battle to get the job done.
Denlinger, Kolbe and Taylor all said their problem was time to dedicate to the event, other interests and commitments.
The county couldn't have asked for more in the way of a quality program which was both educational and benefited many a worthy cause.
If the cannons in Lucerne Park are silent this fall it won't be because the baton wasn't passed on but because no one bothered to pick it up. [[In-content Ad]]
The news took my breath away at first, like hearing that a favorite married couple was divorcing. Then I wanted all the nasty details.
Tammy Denlinger, a charter member of the Back To The Days Of Kosciuszko steering committee, called to say the group has disbanded and would no longer organize the historical event.
Denlinger and a few others have coordinated the Lucerne Park event for nine years and, quite frankly, she has other things to do.
"The event became too much for too few," Denlinger said. "I've worked on the committee for nine years and hoped someone else would take my place. That hasn't happened."
The annual weekend event, held in September along the shores of Pike Lake, presented life during Revolutionary War times in Colonial America.
Back To The Days honored Polish military strategist Thaddeus Kosciuszko, after whom the county is named.
Although small in size, Back To The Days was known as a quality educational trip back in history. Thousands of visitors came to the encampment each year.
"What we wanted to do," said another charter committee member, Dave Taylor, "was give the community something that would be recognized throughout the state and the nation. Many re-enactors recognized it as every bit as good as similar events that have been around for 30 years."
The committee members spent hundreds of hours traveling to other events and interviewing entertainers. They insisted on authenticity and educated the groups and organizations who wished to raise funds during that weekend. Every one was to be historically correct. They weren't running a flea market.
Vendors paid the low, low price of $35 for the three-day event, a real bargain compared to rentals elsewhere.
Kosciusko Community Senior Services benefited directly from the event, using it to fund its many programs and services for the elderly.
Jack Felger, executive director of KCSS, was part of the steering committee because of his position. He declined to say how KCSS will raise funds in the future.
Joanne Kolbe, a seven-year committee member, said the event will still be on the Northwest Territory Alliance schedule. And any group that wants to step up and run the program is welcome.
Kolbe, Taylor and Denlinger will be happy to provide contacts, offer direction and serve as consultants. But they don't want to do it all anymore.
Taylor is not one to mince words, and he has a lot to say about this event because it is near and dear to his heart.
Denlinger asked him and Steve Hassinger to present a program at Miller's Merry Manor 10 years ago. It was such a success they talked about expanding the program to raise money for the Council on Aging. Eighteen months later, Back To The Days was born, and basically the same people have been running it ever since.
Taylor said years of his life are invested in the weekend festival.
"It makes us feel bad the event isn't going to happen," he said. "Everyone has been trying to be relatively diplomatic about this, but I'm going to tell it like it is.
"The people who attended, the local merchants, the hotels, the gas stations, the kids who wrote essays, the Optimist Club, the Boy Scouts, they are all going to feel bad, too.
"We can no longer put on an event of this size with just three or four people doing all the work. To say we're not interested is not correct.
"The fact is, the community isn't interested. There were supposed to be committees of people working and they let us down.
"I hear all this rhetoric that we need quality events that are educational and benefit the community. I don't see anyone stepping forward, and that's the saddest part of this whole thing."
What the community received was one of the finest historical events going because of the high standards set by the committee.
When it came down to the nitty-gritty, though, no one was interested.
People who said they would help lied about their intentions, not answering the phone or not showing up when expected. And so, for the steering committee members, the event became less like a stroll along the lake and more like a full-blown battle to get the job done.
Denlinger, Kolbe and Taylor all said their problem was time to dedicate to the event, other interests and commitments.
The county couldn't have asked for more in the way of a quality program which was both educational and benefited many a worthy cause.
If the cannons in Lucerne Park are silent this fall it won't be because the baton wasn't passed on but because no one bothered to pick it up. [[In-content Ad]]