November 2015

Although it was cloudy, cool, and even raining at times, this year’s Astro Assembly was a lot of fun. Many people commented about how great all of the speakers were, and that they enjoyed the variety of topics presented. I could not agree more! On behalf of Skyscrapers, I wish to thank all of our speakers that contributed their time to provide us with such a fine program.

Talks were held in our meeting hall this year, rather than holding them outside under a large tent as we had done for the past decade. The expense of renting a tent had steadily increased over the years and was costing us nearly $800. Due to the efforts of the trustees and other volunteers over the course of the last year, our meeting hall was cleaned up and reorganized in order to accommodate all of our Astro Assembly attendees. Having the talks in the meeting hall, complete with heat, provided us with much comfort during the cold and damp day. Thanks again to all of you that helped getting our meeting hall ready for Astro Assembly. You made everyone very comfortable and helped us to save a lot of money, too!

Another great improvement to this year’s Astro Assembly was the gazebo built by Alex Bergemann for his Eagle Scout project. We used this space for our grills, which provided our volunteers with much comfort whenever it rained. Alex, thanks again for our new gazebo!

Much effort goes into getting ready for Astro Assembly each year, and we could not do this without the help of so many volunteers. In addition to contacting potential speakers and arranging a program, our buildings need to be cleaned, grass needs to be cut, registrations collected, tents, tables and chairs set up, food prepared, and much more. On behalf of Skyscrapers, I wish to again thank all of our volunteers that contributed their time to help out making Astro Assembly so enjoyable.

Linda Bergemann and Tina Huestis spent a lot of time out in the damp cool air of the registration tent. You deserve special thanks for volunteering your time and braving the cold!

Our co-chairs, Steve and Kathy Siok, did a great job helping to organize this event. And as soon as Astro Assembly was done, they were already thinking about some ideas for next year. If you think you might be interested in helping to organize next year’s Astro Assembly, please talk to Kathy or Steve at one of our upcoming meetings. I know that they would love to hear from you.