FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] Historical Snippet - Sept 13, 1997

["Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>]

 BBC Snippet  
BBC President Larry McDaniel was walking on clouds Saturday, Sept. 13,
1997.  It was the night of the Bristol Bird Club's 47th Annual Banquet and
he was so worried about going in the red financially on the night that he 
could hardly enjoy his dinner.

In a nervous back room meeting, after everyone had 
left,  BBC Treasurer Lorrie Shumate put her calculator 
in her purse and told Larry he had almost paid the bills.

The largest crowd of birders known to attend a bird 
program in the region had just left the building -- 167 
people turned out for the BBC event.  It was a moment 
to remember.

Bob & Martha Sargent from the Hummer/Bird Study 
Group (HBSG), a non-profit organization from Alabama, 
had come to Bristol to spend a couple of days with 
BBC members and to be the club's after-dinner
speaker. It was a real stretch to pull it off.  
The club would have to come up with all
         Larry McDaniel        kinds of expenses and meet the demands of many 
logistics.  It would be more than the usual everyone-pay-for-your-dinner 
event.

Many people have a hummingbird feeder.  
The public is nuts about their hummers.  
Ruby-throats come as close as any species
to being the darlings of our region bird 
world.

So here is how it was going to come down.  
BBC would fork up the risk of inviting the 
Sargents and making sure the club had a 
place big enough to hold the crowd the club expected.  McDaniel 
searched far and wide.

Finally, it was decided that the fellowship hall of the Central Presbyterian
Church on Euclid Avenue would do the job.  An added benefit was that
the church had another meeting room off that where BBC could seat its
members for an annual banquet before the talk.  A kitchen was just across
the hallway.

Ken Hale, a prominent member of the church and former president of 
BBC, went to bat for the club to schedule the
facility and be the church member to sign off 
on the building use. BBC had to pay for the
facilities.

The Sargents wanted meal money for their
travel, gas money, and a hotel lodging for two 
nights.

So the annual BBC event that night would be 
underway with a prime rib dinner, salad, baked 
potato, green beans, rolls, cheese cake, coffee 
or iced tea.  If you wanted chicken, fine.  

Everyone was excited.  There had been much publicity in the region's 
media and magazines.  Flyers were printed and stacked in key places 
around town.

The 47th Annual Banquet was beautiful.   The Burkey family and their young
daughters gathered weeds from the roadsides and placed them on the tables
in Ball jars. The birders dressed up.

The public started coming early.  The club had a nice crowd on hand and 
things were looking up.  The only uncertainty was a guaranteed way
to pay the bills.  It wasn't going to be cheap.  Members paid for their own
dinners.

During the introductory remarks, the legendary 
Jack Kestner, the mountain man from Hayter's Gap 
walked in the back of the big room.  He wrote his
views from the top of Clinch Mountain each week 
for the Bristol Herald Courier.  He always wrote 
much about the coming and goings of hummingbirds.   
Jack was dearly loved by thousands.  Most had 
never seen him.

When it was announced that Kestner had just 
walked in, more than a hundred people came to their 
feet trying to get a glimpse.  Some of the young folks
stood on their chairs.  It was an exciting moment 
birders did not want to forget.

          Jack Kestner            Bob and Martha Sargent, then living at 
Trussville, AL,
put on a dazzling color slide show about hummers.  He is author of many 
significant publications on the subject.  He is one of America's best known
hummingbird banders -- an absolute expert on all that.

The crowd loved it.  This was a free talk.  Everyone was welcome to just
come in an enjoy themselves.  Bob Sargent took questions from the floor.


It was a great educational opportunity for 
hummer lovers and birders.

Finally it was over and the applause was 
heart warming.  

The visitors were told that BBC had a lot 
of expenses for the event and if they enjoyed 
the talk and thought it was worth a donation, 
they could drop money in a glass bowl by the 
door as they left.

They dropped $314 in the bowl as a token 
of their appreciation.  Mercy.  What a relief.  

Expenses $738.00.  Income $726.50 =  
BBC was in the red $11.50.  How much better 
could the club have done on such a roll of
the dice for such a great evening ?
                 Bob Sargent                                Many meetings and 
dinners are expected to 
cut it close.  BBC didn't know if it could cut it at all :-)  

Larry McDaniel walked away tired, happy and got a good night's sleep.

In addition,  the Sargent's held an invitational field trip for club members and
took them birding to Musick's Campground at South Holston Lake.  The
club likes to have rewards for the good BBC members who work hard to 
make good things happen.

from the archives of the Bristol Bird Club