It Takes A Village
As president of the Orleans Pond Coalition, I’d like to express our gratitude to everyone who planned and participated in the 12th annual Celebrate Our Waters weekend.
We had organized more than 30 free Celebrate Our Waters events, in partnership with the town, but due to the extreme weather forecasts, had to greatly scale back the weekend. The work that goes into creating such a complex three-day event and then carefully unwinding it demonstrated to me that it indeed takes a village to do big things.
In the end we were able to offer a small sampling of opportunities to “celebrate.” On Friday, for example, the town held tours of the new wastewater treatment plant, and more than 50 people showed up to learn about the facility firsthand. Our thanks go to Amy Hunter, of AECOM, Edwin McAuliffe, the wastewater project manager, and his team for leading the tours. Sewering the town of Orleans is the single biggest step we can take to protect our shared waters. Cause for celebration? You bet!
Our thanks go also to the many town employees, vendors and volunteers who offered their time and talent to the events. There are too many to list here. However, I do want to give a special shout out to Jan Donovan, our event coordinator. This was Jan’s first year leading and organizing Celebrate Our Waters, and she did a tremendous job. Thank you, Jan!
Our goal in creating the Celebrate Our Waters weekend is to bring people together and remind us of the vital role our shore, estuaries, ponds, and lakes play in our lives. While Hurricane Lee altered our celebration, I think we can all agree Orleans and our waters are special. Let’s continue to preserve, protect and celebrate them.
Eric Spengler, president
Orleans Pond Coalition
