100-Year Anniversary Committee Moving Forward with Plans
With the likelihood of the state of Illinois remaining in the phase 4 of Illinois reopen plan through the rest of the calendar year, the 100-Year Anniversary Celebration Committee recently met to evaluate and develop alternate strategies to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the organization.
The planning group is trying to retain the integrity of the initial event that was scheduled to be held March 28th, 2020 prior to the Shelter in Place order by the Governor. However, many of the activities will be converted to virtual, social media, and online.
Much of the activity will be available this fall with the following in development…
- A photo and video display of historic tools with commentary. We will develop an online “name that tool” trivia game for members to participate.
- A photo and video display of past presidents, managers, framed recognitions, and other historic documents
- An online scavenger hunt that will be available using the archive materials on our website
- A burying of the time capsule in September with the Board of Directors conducting a dedication ceremony. We will produce a photo and video display of the time capsule contents to share with members.
- Our special recognition of members 90+ that were scheduled to attend the event in March will receive a special visit by Cook County Farm Bureau leaders to say thank you.
- We will be contacting many of our older farmer members and past presidents to conduct interviews to submit to the Library of Congress and to use on the Farm Bureau website as a part of Story Corps.
- We are having the Centennial Legacy Patio installed and will be setting up appointments/private showings to those individuals contributing a paver to the patio for a photo op as well as conversation. We will post a virtual tour of the patio upon installation.
- The one-hour Legacy seminar sponsored by COUNTRY Financial will be held virtually using videoconferencing in November 2020.
- We will assemble the 100-year goodie bags and will designate times and dates in the month of September for members to stop by for a curbside pickup of the bags as well enjoy the opportunity to view the Centennial patio, white oak, and other related 100-year items exhibited in the parking lot.
- A version of the mini-planter workshop that was to be held during the March event will be repackaged by the Commodities/Marketing Team.
- Longer term, the Cook County Farm Bureau will host a complimentary member cookout in 2021 to provide a low-key gathering for members as health and safety concerns return to normal.
The white oak planting and dedication occurred in June/July and a video is available in the archives section of www.cookcfb.org.
We hope that members will watch the Co-Operator, the website, Facebook, Instagram, and email regarding announcements of activity availability, dates, and times. For more information, please contact the Cook County Farm Bureau at 708-354-3276 or email [email protected].