Club President John Starnes called the meeting to order at 12:26 welcoming all Rotarians and guests to Rotary.

 

 

Tim Havasi and Angela Emery were our greeters and Angela introduced guests:

Cori Burton introduced Sarah Tschetter;

Mike McIntosh introduced Junior Santos;

Paulann Doan introduced Darren Divine from Casper College.

Bill DeGraeve’s guest, Erin Essary, introduced herself;

Marybeth Plocek introduced Sheryl Foland;

John Griffith introduced Mary Koernig from the NIC;

Don Harris introduced Nick McNamee;

Angela introduced visiting Rotarian John Regur from the Boulder Club;

 

Dennis Lower treated us to a good chuckle and then Gary Pehrson had us in singing “The Duck Derby Song” in a round to the tune of “Row, Row, Row your Boat”.

 

Hal Hutchinson announced that his son was married this past weekend, congratulations.

 

Robin Mundell nominated Angela Emery for her for the great article in the paper today;

Jesse Helm nominated Tom Thorson for his help with a ride last week.

Brian Deurloo nominated all of those who helped with the Duck sorting and numbering last week, they are: Barry and Stacey Johnson, Deb and Gene Theriault, Grant Stumbough, Dave Elmer, Dennis Jack, Denise Prugh, Dane Rasmussen, Mike and Sonalva McIntosh Martha Rakestraw, Andrew Beyeler, Greg Braundos, Pam Walker, Chad Pew, Mark Owens, Jim Beck, Brian Deurloo, Mandy George, Percy and Doris Anderson, Rob and Paulann Doane, Tom Thorson, Jim and Sharon Fowler, Sonya Pereria, Lydia Rocha, Luiz Rocha, Junior Santos, and John Starnes.

John Griffith nominated Lori Klatt for her hard work in putting on the Wednesday Night Live music at the Nic.

Jim Anderson nominated Barry Johnson and Doug McLaughlin for putting on a great motorcycle road trip.

Tim Monroe nominated Deb Theriault for her great spot on the Radio talking about the Duck Derby.

Kevin Murphy nominated Anne Ladd for being on the Library Board.

Angela Emery nominated John Griffith for all of the work he has done with the labyrinth at Amoco Park.

 

Doug McLaughlin gave a report on the motorcycle road rally, they had a great time.

Barry Johnson reported that the games were fun and ended up raising $310 for the International project.

Gene Theriault spoke about the Duck Derby and the need for help Friday at 3:00 to load the boom, he asked for red badgers to raise their hands and he got the volunteers that he needed. Then Saturday at 8 am they need 10-12 volunteers to help deploy the boom, he got volunteers, way to be Rotarians.

Randy Hein in his cowboy boots and hat, encouraged volunteers to get out there and work in the river rounding up the ducks at the Duck Derby Saturday.

Brian Deurloo advised that if you will be working in the water please bring Life Jackets and a clip on knife. He then thanked the sponsors for all of their support; Angela Emery and the Platte River Trust, GW Mechanical, Black Hills Bentonite, Hilltop Bank and Farmers Insurance for being major sponsors and then he also thanked the medium level sponsors; The McMurry Foundation, Wyoming Medical Center, and Williams Porter Day and Neville. Then several places have donated equipment for our use, Wyoming Anglers for their drift boats and guides, Sonny’s RV for letting us use an RV as Duck Central, The Ramada Inn for allowing us to set up the crane in their parking lot to drop the ducks, and Black Hills Trucking for the use of the crane. He also reminded us that tomorrow night at the farmers market we will be selling tickets but we need to get out there and sell all of our tickets in the next six days.

Theresa Corkill said that we had some additional major prizes come in so you can use those when selling your tickets. We traded with the Thermopolis Rotary Club so we have a swim pass, motel and dinner in Thermopolis. We also have two rounds of golf at the Powder horn in Sheridan and two float trips donated by The Ugly Bug. Also this is the last push for prize collection so if there is anyone that needs her to pick up prizes she is available to get them today.

Richard Schwahn reminded us to get those tickets sold and drop off the money and stubs at his office Altitude Vet Hospital. Also he announced that this Thursday at 4:30 our exchange student from Belgium will arrive so please be there to greet her if you can. He also reminded those who signed up to be at Jonah Bank Saturday morning to sell tickets.

Pam Walker reminded us that we need to get our duck stickers to put on the ticket sales sheet for selling tickets, there are lots of white spaces so let’s get them sold. The signup sheets are on the table so please make sure your name is on there for what you have volunteered to do. We still have space for someone to sell at the Farmer’s Market tomorrow night so bring your tickets and sell away.

Brad Cundy reminded us that he has the big blow up duck that we need to put somewhere at the Duck Derby.

Pam Walker let us know that she and Deb Theriault are doing the Friendship Exchange with Brazil September 17-19^th and still need help with places for them to stay and to drive them to different activities and to drop them off at the end. If you are available to help please let one of them know. There will also be a cookout on the mountain on the 17^th for more of the club to meet them.

President John awarded Percy Anderson a 4-way test coin for selling a Duck Derby ticket to our visiting Rotarian. Percy offered a ticket and our guest said what is the Duck Derby and Percy replied, “You have to give me $20 and then I will tell you.” Sell those tickets Percy!

 

Ethan Dexter sponsored by Steve Domonkos was inducted into the club today, Welcome Ethan; we look forward to getting to know you.

 

Jim Ruble introduced our speaker today from Eaton Colorado, President of the Boulder Rotary Club, Stan Benson. Stan spoke to us about the Rose Parade and his involvement with the Rotary Rose Parade float. Stan has been on the Rose Parade Rotary Committee since 2011 when he stopped by to visit the float and was asked to help. He had a great slide show with some awesome pictures of the floats and the preparation for the parade in Pasadena California. Rotary has had 37 consecutive entries since 1987 and also had a couple of entries in the parade before that. The theme this year is working together for peace. The float committee helps raise money and goes to different Rotary clubs to increase awareness about the parade which in turn raises awareness of Rotary International which right now our new RI President wants all of us to be doing. He said that the parade route has a rose colored stripe that runs the full length of the parade because the drivers of the floats are driving while lying on their stomachs looking down at the road and they just follow that stripe to stay on course. Our float has eight walkers that walk along with the float and eight people who ride on the float. This year these people are the Ambassadorial Scholars. When you build a float you have to have help and it costs around $100,000 to get a float built so we have a company that we use every year to build the float and store it during the year. He showed us pictures of the frame of the float, which was originally an old bus that they strip down to just the steering and rear axle and then they build a framework around it to hold the float. The driver has to be able to escape within 45 seconds so they have to have test runs of the driver getting out. They Place chicken wire and spray foam over the structure to shape it and form it into the base of the float with the foam being colored the same color as what the flowers covering that area will be. The float has to be 100% covered in organic materials such as flowers, bark, seeds, and such. They buy Elmer’s Glue by the 55 gallon drum to use to glue on the flowers and seeds. He showed some great pictures of them decorating the floats, very interesting. The volunteers for the placing of the flowers are always the California clubs. He said that they also help the neighboring floats like the Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts, when they need help. It is like a big family of volunteers helping each other out. They judge the floats the day before and you will never see the whole parade on the TV Live coverage so in order to see it all you have to watch a replay. He then showed us more slides of the floats and the parade. He then let us know that they get the money to build the float from donors, like Rotary Clubs and individual members so if you want to donate go to www.rotaryfloat.org and donate. He said that every year they come up short and one of our wealthier Rotarians makes up the difference so please get the word out and make a donation so that we can get the word out about Rotary and all of the great service work we do.

 

President John Starnes adjourned the meeting at 1:30 with the ring of the bell, reminding us that next week we are back at the Parkway Plaza and Saturday is the Duck Derby!