As most of you know we held Cruisin' and Thunder In The Streets on Friday. From all accounts it was a huge success and family after family joined us downtown for the event. It was wonderful to see families and people having fun - and it was not hard to tell people were enjoying themselves - many were "dancing up a storm." There was great food and music and thousands of people took advantage of it along with the great weather.
It takes a lot of work to put on an event of this nature and we could not do it without a lot of extra people and volunteers to do it. Both Tiffani and I want to thank the endless number of people who volunteered to help us with the event. Der Kobblers Automobile club provided a great deal of help with the Cruisin' cars and parking. RSVP provided volunteers to work at our desk areas. The police department and parks department went out of their way to be of assistance. We also had a small core of volunteers who worked very intensely on this event - Ashley, Leslie, Bill, John and Patrick we owe a very special thank you to all of you. As soon as we get things "tallied up" I will give you some figures so you can see what an impact an event like this has on the community economically.
Now I would like to invite any and all of you to the train station this morning at 10 a.m. We will be holding a groundbreaking ceremony for the renovation of the Erie-Lackawanna Train Station on West Second Street directly behind the Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena. I have always had the feeling we would be able to renovate the building but now that it is actually going to happen seems almost unreal. It will be another great project for downtown Jamestown and it will be a destination in its own right.
Now I do know there are a few who have questioned this project in these financial times. I do have to tell you there have been several who have worked on this project for well over 10 years. As many of you are aware my wife had the position I do, prior to my taking it. She spent a lot of time and energy working to restore the train station. Prior to that the Fenton History Center did a lot of work on the project. I started at DJDC in 2003 and continued the work on the station my wife had started. The Officers and Board of Directors of both the Fenton and DJDC worked on the train station project. Many, many people have been involved, and of course, the city of Jamestown has also been a major part of the project. The politicians who represent us have taken a great deal of interest in this project also - enough to help us achieve the funding we need to complete the project. All have had a major stake in this project for many years - well before we had any idea what the economic developments would currently be. It would be foolish to not take advantage of what has developed, and all the completed hard work, while letting a major downtown historic structure further deteriorate.
One other very good point I would like to make is collaboration has never been better. The city of Jamestown, DJDC, the foundation community and others have all come together and have worked on this project together. Since I have been here I do not recall a project of this magnitude that has pulled people together in a way this project has. We can certainly be proud of what has happened. We not only have a great project but we have new friends in all those that are involved.
