Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/359684
4 Volunteer Reflects on 10 Years of Service Todd Duncan has served many roles during his involvement with the 28th Street Metro Cruise - from committee chair, to ice boy. But one thing has remained consistent - his dedication to the success of the event. This is Todd's 10th, and final Cruise, as he is stepping down from his work on the committee and his involvement in the Wyoming-Kentwood Area Chamber of Commerce. We asked Todd to reflect back on the last 10 years. His thoughtful responses follow. Q: How did you first become involved in the Chamber and Metro Cruise? A: I became involved with the Chamber of Commerce around 1993 or 1994. Consumers Energy is a long-time supporter of this Chamber as well as many other community-oriented organizations. I was "recruited" by a former manager in my department to become involved with the Chamber. Since then I have been involved in many projects including the Metro Cruise and have served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors. My involvement with the Metro Cruise originated as the Board Member in charge of the first and all subsequent Cruises. Q: Thinking back to that first year, what sticks out in your mind? A: The idea for the Cruise originated with then Chamber President John Crawford, former City of Wyoming Economic Development Director Charlie Steen, and Dan Van Dyke from Fruit Basket Flowerland. While we were trying to figure out if this was even a viable idea, we were also trying to figure out how large it could be. During the early planning stages for year one, we actually hoped that we might get a couple of thousand people to show up and hoped to have a couple of hundred vehicles. We actually set up bleachers at a couple of locations because committee members told us people would line the streets to watch the cars drive by. I thought they were nuts! But as you have seen, thousands of people do just that. Q: What is your favorite memory? A: In the early evening of the first year, John, Dan and I were driving on 28th Street going from Woodland Mall to Roger's Plaza and could not believe the participation. The Police has since told us they thought we had 125,000 people in attendance. We could not believe that our Chamber had pulled off something like this. Q: What was your favorite event? A: My favorite event was in the second year when we gave away the new Mustang provided by Fox Ford and AT&T. The level of excitement that it generated throughout the summer and culminating in the late Saturday afternoon event in which we determined the winner has not been matched. AT&T's title sponsorship for the second and third years provided a spring board for the event to become what it has become today. Q: What was the biggest failure? A: In 2009, we tried to have beer tents at two of the venues. Feedback we had been getting indicated that this was an element that would be supported. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately depending on how you look at it, this is the only year where we had consistently cool, damp weather which adversely affected the success of the beer tent. After that, we chose not to pursue this again and keep it more of a family oriented event. Todd Duncan