Washlines XVIII Kicks off the Chapter Year in Grand Style, Preserving a Long Legacy of Festivity, Fun, and Information
Members of the STC-Orlando Central Florida have come to expect both valuable information and a rousing good time at the traditional chapter year-opening Washlines meeting where attendees of the previous spring’s STC international conference share some of what they learned.
This year was no exception. In accordance with the theme, “Chicago: My Kind of Town,” Washlines XVIII was “our kind of meeting”—the kind that has helped make our community a six-time Chapter of Distinction and the 2012 STC Community of the Year.
Indeed, our lively annual progression-style event, themed to the city which hosted the last STC international conference, has captured significant interest at the Society level. Refer to the recent blog post about Washlines in the community-to-community blog in the “STC Notebook” on the Society’s web page.
The Chicago theme included authentic “Chicago Dogs”—hot dogs with all the right trappings, applied in the right order under the watchful eye of expert hot dog roaster, venue host, and chapter vice president Debra Johnson. It also included classic Chicago pizza, part of a delectable spread of refreshments engineered by hospitality manager Mary Burns in her debut in that vital role.
The six venues—regrettably, one of the seven was “dark” due to illness of the hostess—were identified by colored balloons and covered a wide range of topics. For the complete Washlines XVIII program showing all the venues, themes, hosts, and topics, click here.
Colorful signs on a wall (an 11th hour improvisation when, for the first time in Washlines history, the clothesline and clothespins turned up missing) “hawked” the informational treasures to be found at the six venues.
Action buzzed at all six venues during the three rotations—a sure sign the topics were well chosen and the presentations well received.
In addition to all the conference topics, there were two special presentations. During the second rotation, venue hosts Karen Lane and W.C. Wiese teamed up at the Tan venue to regale guests with photos and stories from the conference, including our chapter’s “sweep” of the Society’s community awards and a glimpse at chapter history. During the third rotation, Dan Voss waxed eloquent in the Red venue about how the STC-Orlando/UCF student mentoring program is blazing a trail in a Society-wide student outreach initiative.
Without any doubt, Washlines XVIII had something for everybody!
There was even a pitched battle with pistols and automatic weapons in accordance with the gangster motif of “The Night Chicago Died” venue—although fortunately the ammunition was of the “hydro” rather than of the lead variety.
Editor’s Note: To access the writer’s notes from the 59th international STC conference and several earlier conferences, click here.