President Jimmy opened the Seattle #4 Rotary Club meeting on September 15th at 12:30 P.M., at the Westin Hotel in downtown Seattle. He marked the passing of Rotarian Jerry Burtenshaw. Raymond Jones and Freeman Fong led with God Bless America. The Inspiration of the Day was read by Joel Paget. President Jimmy welcomed visiting Rotarians, prospective members, and guests. The Rotarians Anniversary Video was then shown. Don Kraft was recognized for his Rotarian membership that has spanned 73 years. He has been a member of the University Rotarians and the Seattle Rotary Club #4. You read that right: 73 years!Mary Johnstone reported on the Community Service Committee. Ken Grant introduced Eric Corning, the main speaker of the day. Ken is a member of the Seafair Festival Board of Directors. He said that Eric is one of the pillars in our community. Eric Corning, President, and CEO of Seafair has been in the experience business for over 25 years, producing high-profile public events in Seattle and around Puget Sound.
Eric Corning spoke about the many contributions that Ken has made to Seafair over the years. Ken has produced 20 Seafair exhibits, festivals, the 4th of July fireworks show, and
the Seafair Torchlight Parade. Among many other projects, he also helped organize the Seahawks Super Bowl parade.
Eric reviewed how Covid affected Seafair activities over the last couple of years. What changes will be made as a result? Eric said that he would be talking about the business side of Seafair. The goal is for Seafair to be back on track with many of the activities in 2022. Eric made the point that typically an Admiral speaks to the Rotary Club during Navy Fleet Week.
Eric said that all community events were canceled over the last couple of years because of Covid. Eric asked the question during the beginning of Covid: "What are we going to do?"
Revenues were in steep decline. Many of the activities went virtual. He said Seafair had to figure out how it could still have a community event.
How could Seafair sustain events like the Chinatown parade or the Rock and Roll Marathon?
There are discussions about making Seafair a 12-month community celebration. Those events will also promote more diversity and inclusion.
Eric said that this is really going back to our roots when Seafair started in 1951.
He indicated that one of the key pieces is to bring back the 30-40 key sponsors that would include multi-year deals. Some virtual elements brought about by Covid will remain in place.
Eric outlined several future fundraising opportunities that included corporate, federal, state, and support from local government.
Eric went through slides highlighting the adjustments Seafair had to make because of restrictions brought about because of Covid. The festivals were turned into hybrid events that included TV and radio promotions. Eric said they worked with KING 5 to produce a hybrid show. Since the Blue Angels didn't perform this year, Seafair went behind the scenes where they did perform in places like Florida and Virginia and got detailed information about the new fleet of jets, etc.
Eric said that he really didn't understand the effect Covid had on the volunteers who really missed live events such as the Seafair pirates and clowns.
An event ended in Westlake Park at the invitation of DSA that produced some interactions with the pirates and clowns. Alaska Airlines brought along their dance group.
Eric said he kept in close contact with other outdoor venues to see how they were coping, like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Space Needle.
Seafair 2022
Eric said Seafair is hoping to come back with the live events, like the Milk Carton Derby, and the return of the Navy ships to the Seattle waterfront, hydroplane racing,
the Torch Light Parade, community festivals, etc. in 2022.
Eric turned the microphone over to Ken Grant who talked about his Seafair board experience. They have spent a great deal of time finding out what is working and what is not working.
He emphasized that Seafair must bring in new audiences and that it must expand beyond summer and not be so Seattle-centric. The Blue Angels are secure. Everybody wants the Blue Angels to return.
Captain Neptune Knighted
Don Kraft had the honor of knighting Captain Neptune---President Jimmy Collins.
President Jimmy remarked that his wife and he have lived in a number of communities around the world. He had nice things to say about all of the communities that they have lived in but noted that Seafair is very special.
In recognition of Eric's generosity of time, the Rotary Club contributed to Harvest Against Hunger, 600 servings of fresh produce in his name.
Next Week's Program
David Fain introduced next week's program. Jenny Andrews, Executive Director of Malaria Partners International, and Brian Gower, Senior Director Partnerships, World Vision, will talk about how Rotary is helping combat malaria. Check the Rotary website for future speakers, which includes former Governor Dan Evans and the Seattle Mayoral candidates.
John Steckler outlined 3 upcoming Rotary events.
September 30: There will be a tour of Seattle's International District.
October 2: A tour of the University of Washington Row Center, a historic rowing hangar where the boats are housed. It is also the actual rowing training facility.
October 9: A tour of the historic Lake View Cemetery. You will see where the Denny's the Maynard's and Mercer's are buried.
Final Remarks by President Jimmy
I want to share an observation about organizational change.
"Change is hard. It's harder in complex organizations where multiple stakeholders have strongly held points of view. If there's a lack of agreement among stakeholders, they have learned that the situation may be curable. There are often multiple potential causes of friction...I've learned that the cure for misunderstanding is typically transparency and more information. On the other hand, in a disagreement, Information often inflames the situation, like gasoline on a fire. The cure for a disagreement often requires respect and compromise. Or you might ask, how does this apply to me? I would offer that each of you is a leader and a steward...if you find there's controversy related to a proposed change, listen and extend respect. Determine if more information is required or if a compromise might be one of the options. My wish for you is to balance fairness to all concerned...Rotarians inspire hope."
The meeting adjourned at 1:30 p.m. We're adjourned.
Please visit the Seattle Rotary #4 website to view the video of yesterday's program and to sign up for upcoming events. The video will be posted late afternoon,
Friday, September 17.
