We're 20 years old this year. Here is our anniversary logo....what do you think? Had some car flags made. Made it myself.

20AnniversaryFlag.gif

 

I like the flag and all but have never liked that particular Olds logo. Guess I am just stuck in the 50's and 60's. Its hell getting old

 

Yeah, I've heard that before. We changed with the times, and our explanition is pretty deep. The Canadian flag shows where we're from, the new logo incorporates the original logo showing the club is open to all Oldsmobiles 1897-2004, the "Northern Light Chapter" is rounding the corner showing that the club was created around the turn of the century.

I came up with that BS after it was designed. . But it sounds good.

 

Congratulations!

 

The flag and logo are great. Congratulations on 20 years!! It feels like that's about when I started the restoration on my car.

 

Looks nice, Ken. Congratulations on the 20th!

 

Thanks guys. Time flies when you're having fun.

 

Ken, I answered your poll honestly. A 20 year anniversary is nothing to sneeze at, it's a major milestone. I read the NLCO Jan edition and the historical founding of the club. You did a great thing and have persevered through thick and thin. That being said, don't you think this is something that should have been identified as part of longer range planning during 2009 or 2010? I know how tough it is to get stuff like this done in advance. I have experienced it firsthand organizing a national curling event back in 2009 (that was dumped on me back in March of 2008- but it was a huge success. It seems that for every volunteer, there's at least 100 people who are "too busy" or just not interested. I can't begin to count the number of volunteer hours that went into it, the letters, emails, logo designs, sponsorhips, prizes, trophies, transportation, accomodation, hosting etc, plus the direct and indirect costs it put on organizers and the ol bank account. I fully appreciate that you and other members of the NLCO vounteer your time.

FWIW, the '20' doesn't do anything for me and the diminished Olds crests don't draw the attention they should. The presentation of the flag and 20 doesn't generate the theme of NLCO and Olds prominently. IMHO, the 20'th anniversary of the club should do that to identify a proud heritage and draw new interest. The flag idea, while being a background shouldn't be the focal point. I think that's the biggest drawback, I see a flag with a a bunch of small stuff on it. IMO, you want an image that can be put onto any surface or media. The flag isn't that important, the message it's carrying is way more so. Nice touch with the rocket flying through the big 20, but the stylizing tends to draw away from the Olds emblem as mentioned before.

Don't forget that while a lot of Olds enthusiasts will be able to spot the logos when they look closely, the emblem that most people will see is a flag....not the biggest draw, especially since it's just a white background.

Now that you've read this, I want you to understand that my comments are meant in a helpful manner. If you are upset by them, I understand. It's always hard to take a negative comment on something you work hard on. I also know that you are the primary idea guy behind the NLCO newsletters and emails. It's hard taking on all the responsibility in addition to your regular day job. As a member of NLCO, I know that you would welcome any suggestions and possibly any renderings for consideration. The problem I have right now is I have 32 working days left at my job and they are taking up pretty much all of my time to get all the loose ends tied up on specific projects. If you can wait till after Feb, I would love to help out or take a more active role as a member.

 

Nice job on the logo Ken, And congrats on 20 years.

 

Allan, Thanks for the comments. I don't get mad that easily (unless people go out of their way to try and insult me, my family, my country....) I appreciate your honesty. I'll be honest too.

When I was asked to return as president in Spring of 2007 I saw that our membership was down to 36 and the newsletter was 4-6 pages (a cover, an application, a president's message an ad, a sign up sheet of the car show which had gone from Oldsmobile to any GM) and another page, sometimes that page was blank. The club was bleeding $600 a year and we had $1300 in the bank. The car show was attracting 30-40 cars for all makes (Since 2008 the show was all Olds 58 in 2008, 75 in 2009, 69 2010 with 80 prepaid)

Technically, I'm not really president. I'm dictator. I don't go to the board and ask what we can do, I tell them what we are doing. If there are no objections (there usually never is), then I go ahead with it. I know this is not right but when only a few will get involved sometimes it must be done.

Right now, i am president and editor. (I became editor when the last one quit because I said I wanted more information and a minimum 16 pages.) He quit 3 days before the newsletter was supposed to be out. So that weekend I put together a 16 page newsletter and sent it out on time. I started to contact old members (with the current Membership officer) who rejoined. I changed the show to Oldsmobile only again. Why hold it in the Town of Olds if it's all GM. We can hold that type of show closer to home.

My duties include: President, Editor, Club contact, Event Co-ordinator (We have one that works at the show however he's a long distance truck driver and can't do things when they need to be done so I mark down who's registering for the show, make up the display card, make up the banquet sheet, buy the door prizes, I gather "stuff" and fill the goodie bags, buy the trophies, make up the flyers and look for the picture to use etc). Membership officer, we have a good one but he doesn't own a computer so I keep the membership info on mine and update it when new members join or others rejoin. I make up the roster and keep it up to date. I also order and design new merchandise for the club. It occured to me in October that our 20th was coming up so I had to design something pretty quick, to at least acknowledge the milestone.

If you can volunteer for a position on the executive I would welcome that. My kids are older now so I enjoy doing this, especially with all the money I'm being paid. By the way, membership is free to executive members.

Our production officer is great. I send him the newsletter and he prints it off for the members without emails and mails them. I don't have to worry about that. I have nothing to do with that. He handles it well and is reliable.

This year I'm going to see if more people will get involved. We have 108 members with one from California just joining (we have three Americans now. The others are in AZ and TX). The bank account is about $9,000 . That's why we buy door prizes and buy hats, pins, t-shirts, golf shirts, license plate frames. I looking at getting club jackets next. Let's see what the members say tothat one. Don't want to buy them if no one wants them.

Yes I agree, the 20th should have been a long design process. However when you only have so much time and and need something quick you do the best you can. The "20" is the hook, the NLC logo is the bait. Hopefully more locals will know about us if we fly these flags at other car shows. Perhaps you can help with the 25th? Since we will have time for that, perhaps in the spring the exec. can meet in my garage and we'll decide what happens next with the club. We can see if anyone wants to come forward as president and if they do, I'll ask in the newsletter for any member wanting to throw their hat in the ring to come forward as well. Then we can vote. Thanks for the comments...can I count on you to volunteer at the show in July? More is better.

 

Thanks bulldog.

 

Ken, With all that your doing when do you find time to sleep ?

 

Right now I'm still enjoying it. But I'll have to get more people to do what our production guy is doing. He said he do the job and I don't have to do anything. I'll start slow and deligate some of the duties...getting people to do it is harder. Our club is like most if not all clubs. 20% do 80% of the work. You know I'll be hitting up Allan R for an exec. position.

You'd thing some would complain that I've been president for almost 4 years and there hasn't been a single vote. That's why I say I'm dictator. No one's complained, probably because no one wants the job and they are happy some else is doing it.

We'll see what spring holds. Our 20th just slipped my mind as I was busy with other "stuff" and so the anniversary had to come together quick when I finally realized it was just around the corner. Time sure does fly.

 

As I mentioned, I will be retiring in Feb. There are some things that I plan to do with my retirement time that will account for a chunk of it, but to answer your questions:
Yes, you can count on me to help out with the show in July. We both live fairly close together (although you have a bigger man cave) and there should be no problems with long distance calling....

Yes, I'd be happy to volunteer as an executive. I just need to know what sort of expectations go with the job (or do I get to make them up like you do???) The free membership is a nice perk, but I think the big thing is having people available to do things that need doing. I'm glad there are others to help in your dictatorship...
How about we get together in March and talk this over? You can have your usual (boring) Coke and I'll have a (boring) Coke right along side with ya.

 

That sounds good Allan. There is a verbal job discription and I'll only a phone call away if need be. You get the idea of the position and run it like you want. As long as whatever needs to be done gets done. You seem like a "Get 'er done" kinda guy so it should be a bonus to the club to have you on the exec.

Retiring...we'll I see you've heard of Freedom 55? I'm on the Freedom 105 plan. My financial planner says I lie a very comfortably for the rest of my life...as long as I don't live past the coming weekend. Of course now that Karen has started working for the Mounties...who knows? . Oh and in case you didn't know...Things go better with Coke (or in my case Diet Coke). I'll look into setting up a meeting in the spring.

 

I feel your pain. I started a car cruise last year and I am sort of regretting it. Granted we had 48 cars which wasn't bad for our first year, but when I had to do almost everything by myself it got overwhelming quick. If it wouldn't have been for my very understanding wife and my best friend and his wife I would have been totally alone. Hopefully this year I can get some more volunteers to help with parking and taking money.

 

Hey, if you took a club that was down to 36 members and bleeding $600 a year and turned it into a 108 member club with 9 grand in the bank you deserve to be the dictator of the club! The flags and logo look awesome.

I am also a member of a small car club and also run a cruise night on friday nights in the summer here and it is alot of work. Congrats on your 20 years Ken!!!

 

Thanks, it had a lot to do with the members coming back and showing up at the car show. Last year 80 registered (payed) and 69 showed. In 2009 77 registered and 75 showed.

 

Do any of the northern lights members go to cruise night in three hills ab. It is just before the olds show in olds and it would be a great place to promote the olds show. I've been going for years and there's not a lot of oldsmobiles there. This is probably the biggest car show in Ab. On a bad year there's probably 5 or 600 cars and a couple thousand people. If you live in Ab. you should definately see it for yourself.

 

Yeah, some members go. I have never been. I stopped going to Radium Hot Springs just because 800 cars is so overwhelming and you can't see them all. I was going to go last year and it snowed! Maybe this year. Do you live in Alberta?

 

I live about 20 minutes drive south of Olds Ab. part of the reason I usually make it to that show. Three hills isn't far either 45 min drive for me. Three hills is the best show I've ever seen in Alberta. Its a must see IMO

 

Ken, you are doing an excellent job as the leader of our club and hope you continue doing it. I like the Logo and think the new shirt designs are great. Keep up the good work! Darryll

 

Thanks Darryl. It's nice to be appreciated. I see you've already registered for the show. See you in July.