Peabody Main Street board member
The Peabody Main Street Association introduced a new community event this past Memorial Day weekend called “Operation Celebration: The 1940s.” It was a three-day festival to celebrate area veterans, their families, and the Marion County home front during World War II.
The celebration was an unrivaled success and PMSA is planning a second one in 2009.
Nearly 1,000 visitors from 17 states enjoyed the celebration. There were 1,058 volunteer hours spent in preparation to showcase our community for the weekend. More than 1,800 visitors logged on to our website to obtain information about Operation Celebration.
Peabody Main Street created 16 new partnerships with organizations and businesses with whom it had not previously teamed.
“We have deemed this event a whopping success just based on the volunteers who came forward and the new partnerships that were formed,” said PMSA organization chairman Susan Marshall. “Those were two of the goals organizers identified in the early planning stages.”
The 2009 celebration will again take place Memorial Day weekend.
The “Vault of Treasures” was a favorite of the participants and planning has begun to expand this display of war memorabilia and personal stories and have it open the entire weekend. Anyone with WWII memorabilia and willing to share should contact PMSA to make arrangements for displaying.
The Saturday night concert and dinner also were big hits, especially with those who participated as part of their class reunion activities. Hopefully more class reunions will be included this year. Reunion organizers are encouraged to contact Peabody Main Street for information on the Memorial Day weekend festivities.
Peabody Main Street also is soliciting photos of the first Operation Celebration to include in a photo gallery on the website and in its advertising for the 2009 event.
The Main Street board and volunteers are excited to showcase new ideas and new partnerships in the 2009 Operation Celebration and hope that alums will mark their calendars and return to Peabody Memorial Day weekend. More information will become available in the coming months.
For more information, to sponsor an Operation Celebration event, or to book a reservation for a class reunion contact Shane Marler at 620-983-2175 or at pmsa@peabodyks.com.