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Ebullient revelers. Photo by David Kinder
The Revels Jubilee celebration night has come and gone. If you didn’t make it over to the World Forestry Center, you missed a great party and fundraiser for Portland Revels .
The Jubilee looked back to our past with a memory wall of photos, (un)traditional mummers play, music and dance. On the Jubilee night we also thanked retired Executive Director, Debby Garman, for her many years of shepherding the organization through to where it is today. We couldn’t have done it without her.
Debby Garman and two of her favorite peeps
Portlandia weds the Revels Spirit
We also took a look forward. Portland Revels has a new interim director, Jenny Stadler, who introduced herself. We have a new 2014 home, St. Mary’s Academy in downtown Portland. We have slightly adjusted show dates, a little later in the month than they have been past years with performances beginning Dec. 19th. And we have a new website, same url but an updated look at http://www.portlandrevels.org.
Like many things in life, this event (and the Christmas Revels for that matter) took a lot of hard work, countless hours and sometimes days in organization, preparation and creativity. People rehearsed, décor features were developed, volunteers were rounded up, logistics taken care of. This took a strong cadre of people from the event committee to the volunteers that showed up for the evening down to the clean-up crew (it only took an hour.)
This strength in numbers is a great reminder to all of us who occasionally buy into the myth of the independent bootstrapper. This is an American myth — that success comes from the effort of the one important individual. The Steve Jobs if you will. Or that organizational or event success rests only on the shoulders of the founder or the creator. Unless you are truly engaged in a solitary art (painting, poetry, a sole proprietor consultant) this is just balderdash. It is a somewhat passé cliché to say “it takes a village.” But it does. No organization will flourish if only one person is committed to it. No event will be successful if only the party planner is involved. Too many times the unsung are truly what holds something together and propels it forward.
Throughout my adulthood observing volunteer activities and supporting nonprofit organizations, what passes before me are cadres of people invested in an organization’s success. They don’t always get the thanks or acknowledgement (other than occasional pat on the back). They may be left off of the list of “stars” or VIPs because their work doesn’t blaze into the night. It is the night. It is the backdrop that makes everything else work.
So I raise a toast, to the best Revels party yet and to all the people who made it happen. You know who you are. You blaze in my night.
Almost the whole committee. So many of us it took 2 pix and I’m still not sure we got everyone. Photos by David Kinder.
REVELS Jubilee 
Beautifully said, dear heart. You blaze in our night, and brightly.