What a time we had last Thursday as we held our first off-site Weatherdeck Party at the great Syracuse Invitational Sport horse Tournament at the OnCenter. 

As you may be aware, we have had five super on-site Weatherdeck Parties in our own back yard at WSTM Channel 3 over the summer. We had nearly 1,000 invited guests, all of whom have had either terrible tragedies happen to them or they are involved in just doing great things in their neighborhood or community.  Of course, we couldn’t have done it without the help of our major sponsors, P & C Supermarkets and Tarson Pools and Spa. Thanks!  And so, after five parties, it was time to do something a little different…thus our remote Weatherdeck Party.

With well over 1,000 families, groups, organizations or businesses nominated over the summer for our Weatherdeck Parties, we still had plenty of deserving people to choose from for this party.  Still, just like the summer, the selection process was nerve wracking. There are just so many deserving people.

Erikka, Amanda and I did finally make the selections however and invited another 170 people to our Sporthorse Tournament party. What a time it was!  Just like our other parties, we had food and beverages, and certainly no shortage of entertainment with some of the greatest horses and riders in the world surrounding us.  John and Beezie Madden, our great local Olympian rider, came on with me to chat about the tournament and about the retirement of Beezie’s great horse “Judgement”.  Beezie and John couldn’t have been any nicer, and I appreciate their time in coming on with me. We should all appreciate the work they put in to making the Sporthorse Invitational Tournament happen in Syracuse each Fall, all of which has been helped along by State Senator Dave Valesky, so thanks to Dave also.

To make this off-site Weatherdeck Party happen, we must thank the terrific folks at CNY Blooms. They were our major sponsor for this party and even had our remote weatherdeck built at OnCenter, supplied decorations and overall funding for this event. Just like our summer sponsors, CNY Blooms obviously cares a great deal about the Central New York community and it’s people!  These are the same folks that put on that spectacular Flower and Garden Show at OnCenter each March…something you really should see!  It takes place March 3-7, 2010. Here is their website to check out the details:  http://www.cnyblooms.com/

I’d be remiss if I didn’t also thank The Show Trunk tack shop at 205 Thompson Street in Fayetteville. More great folks with great merchandise.

As with all of our parties, thanks to Laura, Erikka, Amanda, Aimee and the whole gang at Channel 3 for making it all happen! 

So what’s next?  Hang on…we’ve got lots more ahead!  This week we begin our Key Bank Salvation Army red kettle drive for the Holidays. Be sure to check it out on this website CNYcentral.com, and I will certainly be talking about it through November. And then, its our annual Toys for Tots drive which we have been doing for 20 years, and to go along with it this time around, a Toys for Tots Party!  Then, before we know it, it’s 2010 and we have more plans in the works. So stay tuned!