Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma
Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma
It happened fast; it happened furiously; and it was wildly successful.
The rapidly planned “After the Ashes” street festival – organized by local business owners, with the help of the Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce, Legacy… the Community Foundation and numerous community volunteers, to aid victims of the Fallbrook (Rice Canyon) Fire – looks to have easily met the established goal of $100,000 – and the fund is still growing.
The large-scale event, which took place on Sunday, November 18, and drew more than 5,000 attendees, was planned in a mere three weeks and supported by more than 180 volunteers and a wide network of generous donors. The idea for the street festival event has been credited to Brenda Giblin, who co-owns J.J. “Purty” Landers Irish Pub in Fallbrook with her husband, Ned. “Brenda was amazing with all the contacts she has in the food, beverage and music industry; [the event] was her brain child,” said fellow organizer Dave Fenn, owner of Chattels, a local home décor shop.
“The thing that was amazing to me was whenever something was needed, someone experienced in [that area] was there,” Fenn said. “For the size of the event, it went together really smoothly. All the pieces just fell in place.”
A core group of community volunteers pledged their time, offered their expertise and formed the organizational committee. The group included Julie Reeder (Village News), Marilee Lowe (Prudential California Realty), Julie Edwards, Kim Murphy (Prudential California Realty), Josephine MacKenzie (Village News), Jeaneane Colomburo, Tony and Karen Arietta (Hair Drama), Erica Williams (SIFT Workouts), Tracy Gorman (Pampered Pets), Tara Boyce (Fallbrook Holistic Center), Sue Johnson (Pacific Coast National Bank), Holly Steele (Fallbrook Holistic Center), Greg Coppock (Crossroads TV) and others.
“In the aftermath of the fire, while all of us were trying to get back to normal with our individual businesses, it was refreshing to see so many business people want to focus on doing something for others,” said Julie Reeder, publisher of the Village News. “There were some big fears in the downtown business community that everyone would focus on loss and devastation. I think
was probably healing for everybody.”
Reeder said when Village News Marketing Representative Josephine MacKenzie began to hear several different individuals mention how they wanted to ‘do something’ for the fire victims, she and Reeder wanted to facilitate bringing them together.
“It was nice to have our new office [Elder House] in the middle of town to help bring these business owners and other individuals together to get this done.”
Reeder also said many ‘new’ individuals came forward to work on the community event.
“It was fun to work with a new group of people to do something big,” Reeder said. “It was nice to have the more mature organizations – the Chamber, Village Association, Fallbrook Area Visitors Bureau, Legacy and members of Connections Networking – help the newly formed group accomplish their goal.”
While volunteers were busily moving forward with plans for the event, Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Bob Leonard stepped up to tackle a critical – and what some feared might be almost impossible – task: securing the necessary county permits in time for the event.
“Normally, to get a community event permit and ABC
While Leonard took the task in stride, other volunteers who know the permitting system said his finesse in making it happen in such a short period of time was ‘amazing.’
Leonard, who wouldn’t acknowledge any difficulty associated with securing the permits, had just come off an exhausting time fielding thousands of calls from community members during the fire (with his team) at the Chamber office.
Speaking with many residents who had lost their homes appears to have steeled Leonard to his purpose.
“It was a joy to work with so many people wanting to assist the fire victims,” Leonard said. “The purpose was what was good about it.”
Leonard said it was ‘extremely valuable’ when Chamber member Phil Delaney, who also serves on the (nonprofit) Legacy board, was able to facilitate setting up a fund through Legacy to handle the money raised at the event for the fire victims.
“Phil placed a key role in two organizations involved in this,” Leonard said. “To see it go from an idea to reality in that short of time was great. To see the community respond to that concept was even more fantastic; then, to see it be a successful, pleasant event was the coup de grce, the frosting on the cake.”
Julie Reeder said Eileen Delaney also provided valuable assistance with the event, providing support in many areas and key contacts.
“Eileen was very helpful by communicating and involving our elected officials in the event,” Leonard explained. “In addition to that, during the fire disaster, she helped man phones at the Chamber office and served as our information officer.”
Leonard said he feels the “After the Ashes” event can lead to two great benefits for the community: first, to provide financial help to victims of the Rice Canyon Fire, and second, it can possibly be the catalyst for a long-term fund that could prove valuable.
“I hope this will lead us, in the future, to institute an ongoing community disaster fund where there are funds on deposit to deal with the immediate needs of victims of disasters,” Leonard said.
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