Archive for the ‘WALLINGFORD FIREWORKS FUND’ Category

SUNDAY – 26th Annual CELEBRATE WALLINGFORD is this weekend

Sunday, October 7th, 2012

Quick note – I will be there today, Sunday, as the weather seems to be cooperating. We’re expecting hit or miss showers and if they were like yesterday, except for two, ten minute showers, they were all miss.

I will be collecting donations for the Wallingford Fireworks Fund. Hope to see you there. We did good yesterday and I am hoping to add to the total today

The collection goal for the 2013 event is $35,000.00.


 

As published in the supplement to the Record Journal on Friday October 5, 2012

By Elizabeth Landow , Executive Director, Wallingford Center Inc.

Once again, it is time for CELEBRATE WALLINGFORD!! The first weekend in October marks the biggest event of the year. It is the time of the year that we can truly appreciate this wonderful town we live in!

After five years in our Hall Street location, we are excited to be holding the event up at the South and North Main Streets location.

This is a wonderful opportunity to ‘taste’ the specialties of many of Wallingford’s finest restaurants and recognize the civic and non-profit organizations that help make this town what it is! Please stop by and admire the handicraft of the many participating crafters and be sure to check out the businesses that are participating this year – there are several new local entrepreneurs who have decided to showcase their businesses at the festival.

For the fourth year, we will be hosting a Homemade pie contest – the judges can’t wait to taste the wonderful entries this year and as always we have a delightful selection of music scheduled to entertain you.

WCI is thrilled once again to join forces with the Health Department and the Wallingford Family YMCA to present the 3rd Annual Activate Wallingford Health Walk and we are happy to announce that theca will be hosting a ‘Fitness Fun Zone’, in the Holy Trinity School parking lot. Please stop by to see what all the excitement is about!

A new addition this year is the ‘New’ Car Show!! Several of Wallingford’s car dealers will be displaying the exciting new models of cars in the parking lot behind Simpson Court.

Another exciting feature this year is the ‘Harvest Fair’ down at the gazebo – please walk down to the railroad station green where you can find several of the local farmers selling pumpkins, mums and all sorts of things to get you into the Autumn mood and along the way be sure to stop by the local stores and shop a bit and pay special attention to the youth groups that will have a tent on the sidewalks – these kids will be showcasing their organizations and selling their fundraisers.

And last but not least – please walk through the Cemetery and view the wonderful artwork done by area adults and children and organized by Easel Works and take a moment to admire the beautiful Cemetery that is so well – maintained and is a truly a treasured part of Wallingford’s history.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Wallingford Center, Inc., I would like to thank our major sponsors, Stop & Shop, Mid-State Medical and Ferguson &McGuire As well as our other sponsors: Nucor, John J. Kovacs Insurance and Plunske’s Garage for their continued support to Celebrate Wallingford. WCI is fortunate to have the support of Mayor Dickinson and the town officials. If not for the help of our volunteers and dedicated town employees this event would not be possible. On a personal note – I would like to thanks all the WCI Board members who selflessly dedicate their time and energy to do whatever is needed to make this a successful event year after year.

Please come down and spend the day with us and CELEBRATE WALLINGFORD!!

WALLINGFORD FIREWORKS FUND – Fireworks are this Saturday, July 2nd starting around 9PM

Monday, June 27th, 2011

All the hard work and effort should be paying off this Saturday.

As of right now we are all set to go for 9PM on Saturday on the grounds of Sheehan High School, Moran Middle School and Highland Elementary School.

The long range weather forecast (for whatever it’s worth) says that there is a chance for scattered thunderstorms so it’s going to be a crap shoot going into the week; as that forecast gets updated I’ll keep you posted.

I want to let everyone know too, I will be calling the Mayor today to discuss, but I would expect that if the show is called due to inclement weather it will be cancelled and NOT rescheduled.

I have to double check that with the Mayor and hence my call to him today but that is what I would be expecting and here is why:

The overtime that the Wallingford Fireworks Fund has collected and donated to the town will have been paid to the workers. If the police, fire and public works people are working they will be paid especially if the event is called the last minute.

If the town reschedules the show to the following weekend (as an example) that overtime of about $12,000.00 will need to be paid again.

The Wallingford Fireworks Fund doesn’t have any remaining money (other than a few hundred dollars) so there is no way for the fund to make an additional donation.

I also do not believe that the town will pay the additional overtime. It wasn’t interested in splitting the cost of the show by covering the town services in the first place so I fund it highly doubtful that they’d do it in this scenario either.

Again, I have to have the conversation with the Mayor to confirm and I am going to try to do this today.

I’ll keep you posted.

Thank you again for the support.

Wallingford Fireworks Fund is looking for volunteers

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

Wallingford Fireworks Fund is looking for helpers for this weekend and over the next few weeks.

With the final five weeks of donation collecting upon us, we are in need of volunteers that can stand and collect donations.

We need help each of the next few weekends starting with this Saturday the 30th. If you can spare a few hours every other weekend we could use your help.

Please contact me directly at 860 614 6069 or via email at Jason@Zandri.net

Thanks.

Fundraising collections taking place tomorrow Saturday April 9 for the Wallingford Fireworks Fund

Friday, April 8th, 2011

Hi Gang – my father will be out tomorrow collecting donations for the 2011 Fireworks event at the Wallingford Landfill from 8AM to about 1PM.

I will also be at the Dunkin Donuts on Main Street in Yalesville from about 7AM to about 10AM. Afterwards I will be at Stop and Shop from about 11AM or so to about 4PM. My sister will be helping out from noon to about 3PM at the north door.

Our collected total right now is $9,210.27 and we have a lowered goal of $30,000.00 for the June 5th deadline. For all those details you can see out prior blog post – Update on the Wallingford Fireworks Fund efforts – 2011 goals have been lowered

For more information on any of our upcoming collections or to make a donation or to find out how you can help out please contact me at (203)294-4647 or via email at Jason.Zandri@wallingfordfireworks.org or visit our website http://wallingfordfireworks.org/

If you cannot come to us but want to make a donation you can make it via PayPal online on our website or you can mail it in.

Please make checks out to: “Wallingford Fireworks Fund” and send to: Wallingford Fireworks Fund, c/o Jason Zandri, 35 Lincoln Drive Extension, Wallingford, CT 06492

Thanks again for the support.

WALLINGFORD FIREWORKS FUND – Movie Matinee Fundraiser at Wallingford Holiday Cinemas – April 2nd at 11AM – Disney Pixar CARS is the feature presentation.

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

This Saturday April 2nd at 11 AM please join us at the Wallingford Holiday Cinemas for Disney Pixar CARS.

CARS 2 will be out this summer (Release Date – June 24, 2011) so as a precursor to that event I thought it made sense to have an in theater showing of the original that inspired it as our family fundraiser.

All tickets will be $10.00 (no debit or credit cards please – we can’t take them at the theater). We have rented the theater outright for the showing so we are getting the entire ticket amount as profit to the fund (minus the rental cost).

For more information on any of our upcoming events or to make a donation please contact:

Jason Zandri – (203)294-4647 – Jason.Zandri@wallingfordfireworks.org

or visit our website http://wallingfordfireworks.org/ 

If you cannot come but want to make a donation you can make it via PayPal online on our website or you can mail it in.

Please make checks out to: “Wallingford Fireworks Fund” and send to: Wallingford Fireworks Fund, c/o Jason Zandri, 35 Lincoln Drive Extension, Wallingford, CT 06492

So come on down with your family and enjoy this event with us! Hope to see you there!

Associated costs coming in for the 2011 Fireworks show

Tuesday, February 15th, 2011

The expected costs are coming in for the Wallingford Fireworks event. Not all the amounts are in but most of them are. We are operating our efforts with the plan to raise $40,000.00 this year to cover all of the costs of the event.

While all the cost total that we currently have are preliminary at this time there are some noticeable upticks; some expected and some that are not.

For example, in 2010, the Public works overtime was just $325.00 because we were not having them bring the stage and band shell for the R Band as we decided to cancel them for fear that we wouldn’t be able to raise all of the funds. This year we’ve decided to take a gamble and put them on the program. The added cost for the Public Works overtime is unknown at this time but it’s probably safe to estimate it at about $2,000.00 so we are expecting that $1,675.00 increase to that expenditure.

We have an estimate from Horizon Sound for a sound system for the R Band at about $1,500.00 and the cost for the R Band itself is estimated at $1,625.00.

These additional costs for 2011 are tacking on an additional $4,800.00 where there was zero expense last year as we cut them all from the program.

2011 will be the grand experiment if we can pull it off.

The Fire Marshall cost for 2010 was $600.00 and I have an estimate for 2011 at $850.00. I don’t know where this 40 percent increase is coming from but I’ll be trying over the next couple of days to get in touch with Chief Peter Struble to discuss this.

The Fire Department overtime last year was originally $1,700.00 last year but Chief Struble worked with us to find a creative way to get that down to $1,100.00.

2011 cost is estimated at $1,900.00 so I will be looking to see if we can get creative with that number again this year.

I am planning on the side of caution that there may not be wiggle room this year and I am figuring on the whole $1,900.00 right now.

The Police Overtime is being estimated right now at $7,500.00 – the same cost as last year. This is our single biggest fee other than the fireworks themselves.

I am hopeful that the unions might consider this year to pass the hat and / or engage the PBA to make a donation to the fund. I didn’t ask last year simply because I was flat out and the action of doing it kept escaping me. I will be following up this year.

I am completely content with paying the overtime – I expect people to work their jobs and earn their pay and overtime is the cost of working beyond one’s normal work hours.

I would hope they would consider the fact that if it were not for the Fund’s efforts in keeping the show alive that they wouldn’t have this opportunity any longer to earn this bulk overtime.

All I can do is ask that they consider making a donation – I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

It’s official – The Wallingford Fireworks Fund is 501 (C) (3) tax exempt.

Saturday, November 13th, 2010

Craig Fishbein got the email off to me this week – The Wallingford Fireworks Fund is  501 (C) (3) tax exempt as of May 10, 2010.

Thanks Craig for all the foot work on this behind the scenes – you rock.

If you donated to the cause this past year you CAN take a deduction on your taxes as it IS effective as of this PAST May 10th of 2010.

Thank you for your support in 2010 and we hope you can support us again in 2011

tax exempt