Thursday, April 7, 2011

Hizzoner

Well, there was nothing boring about this day! This was the morning we met with the Mayor of Afton and others to discuss the economic development of the town and the restoration of the defunct Chamber of Commerce. Susan Roberts and Bonica Brown from the Northeastern State University Business Services Center set up the meeting, which was attended by them and Mayor Harrison, as well as the Economic Development head from the town, Dave Deffenbaugh. My ex-husband/co-owner David was also there. Many encouraging plans were discussed, and as things progress, I'll be reporting them here. We also had a lot of good chat about the history of Afton and Afton's current state of health, which needs vast improvement. The meeting was not only informative, but also fun! Ron M. was there too, to take care of any tourists that came in during the meeting, and also added some important comments to the discussion. Mayor Harrison, David Kane and Dave Deffenbaugh from Economic Development

This was also the day that our first tour buses of the season arrived. Two small buses holding 31 senior citizens from a Baptist Church in Tulsa arrived in the afternoon and toured the Station. They had been to the Coleman Theater and Waylan's KuKu for lunch, and when the finished admiring our car collection, they headed off to the Will Rogers museum in Claremore.Baptist seniors listen to my one-minute intro to Afton Station


There were quite a few other visitors, including folks from Gravois Mills MO, Gerard KS, and Grove and Tulsa, OK. Toward the end of the day, these extremely handsome French gentlemen appeared at the door. They're from the city of Lille in the north of France, and are doing a three-week Route 66 tour on Harleys. They didn't speak much English, so I communicated with my extensive knowledge of French, which includes about a dozen words. :-) Somehow we managed, and they left to move on West after about a half hour. Sorry to see them go!


6 comments:

Trevor Hilton said...

Here's a complete list of my French; Briggette Bardot, Sophie Marceau, Inspector Jacques Clouseau, and Jean Reno.

Afton has a good base to attract tourists; your museum, Darryl Starbirds museum, the picturesque ruins of several motor courts, and interesting architecture. Now all that's lacking is leadership to take advantage of it

Laurel said...

We're working on the leadership. What we really need are more revenue producing businesses. Working on that, too.

Anonymous said...

Hi Luarel
I had them in the Station Thursday ...They ask if they could have a hug ...talk about your FRENCH benafits I love my Job
Melba 4 Women on the Route

Susan Yates said...

What a great day for you, Laurel. Must have been the morale booster you've been needing--a real political parlay about Afton's future, bus loads of Baptists, and those extraordinarily photogenic Frenchmen. It's good to be you, isn't it?

Laurel said...

Melba -- I agree! And I got to hug them, too. DEFINITELY a benefit of our work! :-)

Susan -- Yep, a great day. I'm now getting psyched for the weekend, knowing that the "season" has started and even our foreign visitors are on the road.

Anonymous said...

I truly appreciate work on about senior citizen trip.
dean graziosi