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The largest
party in Fremont history starts Sept. 9,
2006 to mark the city's 50th anniversary of
incorporation.
Celebrate
Fremont, the anniversary's one-time only
organizing group, is currently pulling the
two-day event together, an effort that will
include needed community volunteers and
fundraising.
"We're not an
organization that can draw on what we've
done last year," Irene Koehler, Celebrate
Fremont's executive committee chair, said of
a group that formed this year.
Koehler said
the group must rely on as many people as
possible to be involved in small groups or
teams that comprise the non-profit
organization.
The groups
cover city history, fundraising, technology,
schools, and special-event organization, as
the teams currently hold planning meetings.
Though the
city was formally incorporated Jan. 23,
1956, weather and attendance were taken into
account for that month.
And planning
has included the short-lived, albeit,
important problem of nailing down a specific
date to hold the Central Park event,
according to Koehler.
"The weekend
we originally wanted was two weeks later
than what we have now," she said.
Some of those
dates and times conflicted with another
event following concerns made clear to
Fremont by organizers of the Newark Days
Celebration.
"They were
holding their event at the same time,"
Koehler said, as Fremont's neighboring city
is set to celebrate its 51st anniversary of
incorporation next year.
"We're not the
only party animals in the vicinity," said
Councilwoman Anu Natarajan of the switched
dates to accommodate Newark's timetable.
Making her
comment at the March 22 Fremont City Council
meeting Natarajan -- the anniversary event's
lead organizer -- also made a referral to
city council for a vote to reserve all of
Central Park's grounds Sept. 9-10, plus two
additional days for setup and cleanup.
Fremont City
Council members unanimously approved the
park location and the event's timing.
According to
Koehler, anniversary organizers also
recognized other concerns.
"There were
religious conflicts," she said of an event
that was meant to be "inclusive" of
Fremont's entire, multi-ethnic community.
Those
conflicts included two religious holidays:
the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the
Jewish holiday, Rosh Hashanah, both of which
will occur in late September.
"Our objective
is to include everyone. We have these very
important religious holidays so we couldn't
hold this event then," she said.
The September
date was also chosen for its likelihood to
draw a high attendance as an idea for a
summer event was nixed due to people taking
summer vacations.
Event
organizers will also require funding, although organizers have not confirmed the
needed amount.
Councilmember
Steve Cho said
T-shirt sales and raffles will be held
throughout the year, but important
contributions from corporate Fremont were
definitely needed to tip the scales.
"We're trying
to build a database of all possible contacts
right now," Cho said of plans to hit up
local "big league" companies for monetary
contributions.
"(Fundraising)
will require a lot of phone calls and a lot
of visitations," he said, adding he didn't
think "anyone in Fremont has ever raised
that much for a public event."
Celebrate
Fremont will likely hold a "fundraising
gala" Jan. 20, 2006.
"It will
possibly be a black tie event," Cho said of
an event meant to kick off next year's big
push for event dollars.
Fremont City
Council unanimously voted Jan. 25 to
contribute $10,000 in "seed money" toward
the celebration. Soon afterward, New United
Motor Manufacturing Inc. contributed an
additional $10,000 toward further
fundraising. |
