To all of our Firebird Family,
It is with VERY deep regret that the Great Lakes Regional Firebird
Gathering for 2009 will be cancelled. This is an email that we hoped
would not have to be sent out.
As we originally posted back in January, if the sponsorships and
registrations were not there we would have to cancel. Registrations
missed by approximately 100 cars and some of our original sponsors
have either closed shop and/or cut way back. We had great hopes after
talking with people last summer that the support would be there but
this economy has hurt everyone and it shows with the down turn of
funding. We've had many phone call meetings, emails and face to face
meetings to try and still make the show go under the quality that it's
been for 3 yrs. We also tried to wait until the June 1st "Go/NoGo"
date but many of our vendors needed commitments by May 15th. With only
approximately 35 cars pre-registered and only 2 weeks to go till June
1st, we felt that we had to make the decision now. For anyone that
has ever been involved with organizing events you know that vendors
need signed contracts and once you sign, your funds are commited. So
if you cancel you are still paying and our 2 household budgets are not
set up to sponsor a car show. What does the future hold...we don't
know. If our show had tenure behind it we would have probably
survived. The ecomomy will probably dictate what happens to a lot of
shows this year and going forward.
So with this being said, again from all of us we are deeply saddened
that this decision had to be made. As for your registration money, we
would like to know if you would consider donating a portion of it to
the Humane Society since the show did not happen. Please email to let
us know if you're willing to donate and how much. Those of you who
paid via PayPal will be refunded through them. Registration payments
made by check or money order will receive their refunds via U.S. mail.
One last closing item of business, if you made room reservations at
the Holiday Inn Express, don't forget to cancel. We very much look
forward to seeing everyone at other shows this summer and welcome any
positive input you may want to pass along.
Mike and Laurie Leggio
Doug and Paula Bousley
Event Organizers for GLRFG
