From A Listener:
It’s been a long 24 hours. Voting is closed and Wallaceburg and friends are anxiously waiting for the results of the marathon online voting.
Before we get the results, let’s look at what happened in the last 12 days.
We (most of us) had no clue as we were enjoying the Wallaceburg Canada Day celebrations that Wallaceburg had been entered for the Kraft Celebration Tour contest. Many were surprised to discover Wallaceburg had made it to the top 20 for the 10 in 10 matchup.
Ironically, most of didn’t know who had nominated Wallaceburg for what. This didn’t come out until the town of Wallaceburg was called on to vote, and most people still don’t know, but, Wallaceburg responded like Wallaceburg always does.
Letters started coming through email from John Ritchie, (Wallaceburg Chamber of Commerce president), Ian Kennedy, (CKSN.CA), and were forwarded throughout the community.
Talk of a pep rally started hitting CKXS FM news and emails from John and Ian late Friday night. By Saturday the whole town knew and with very little notice, a rally did happen.
Even though (at this writing) , we still have no idea who organized the rally, Wallaceburg didn’t care. Wallaceburg heard the call, and support started pouring in. Our thanks to the entire crew of CKXS for all they did to make the rally something special. We saw you, every one of you, and we appreciate the support you gave to the rally.
Tiffany Cadotte, Ian Kennedy and John Ritchie kept sending the letters updating us with the scheduling.
The rally was to spread the call for volunteers for the online voting, and Wallaceburg came through! We enjoyed the free hotdogs and water and special thanks to Mother Nature for clearing the skies beforehand!
And then it was “High Noon” Tuesday, and the voting started.
Wallaceburg and friends of Wallaceburg were asked to cast a vote in favour of Wallaceburg. Yeah, right!
Emails were sent around the world to organizations, family, and friends, and they voted!
We’re not naming names, but a few examples of what happened during the official voting – one family of four with four laptops voted for a total of 80 hours nonstop! A small office in Wallaceburg stopped work and the owners tallied up 26 hours of high speed voting. Members of the Wallaceburg Skating Club logged on and cranked out dozens of hours of nonstop votes. These are but three examples out of the hundreds of stories of Wallaceburg coming together for a common cause. To get a real feel of the outpouring of support, all you had to do was take a look on the CKXS facebook page. Challenges were issued and accepted, and the votes kept going up and up. Groups got together at the UAW hall, and in private homes as Wallaceburg came together for a cause.
When asked who organized all of this, the same answer kept coming back – Wallaceburg!
This was about Wallaceburg. There were no leaders, just people doing what they felt was the right thing to do, in whatever capacity they could. Wallaceburg is lucky to have so many motivators and supporters.
This is not about a club or group, and no one looking for a spotlight to be shining on them. This is Wallaceburg – about and for, and everyone deserves a round of applause for the effort.
If we win, it will be because of the people, and Wallaceburg will celebrate and then go on to the next project.
If we lose to Trenton, we will congratulate them and go on to our next project.
Either way, Wallaceburg gave what Wallaceburg always gives – their best, with pride and dignity.
The best is in Wallaceburg and in its friends!
