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Find Fellow Fremonsters At Community Building Events

by Kirby Lindsay Laney, posted 7 August 2015

 

For August, the Fremont Chamber of Commerce has scheduled two community events that get Fremonsters, quite literally, playing together.

Year ‘round, the Fremont Chamber works with area businesses, giving support and engaging the owners and managers to help in the businesses survive and thrive.  The non-profit organization’s primary mission focuses upon building community, specifically the business community, and most of the time, that means informative meetings and networking events.

Annually in August, however, the Fremont Chamber gets more playful, and even a bit silly, as it invites its members and everyone in the community regardless of their job, position or vocation, to come together.  This month we have two different ways to play:

Ducks, Dogs & Suds

The Fremont Chamber started in 1982, and it has hosted monthly meetings nearly year ‘round since then.  In 1996, the organization’s leadership finally acknowledged that August would never be good for discussions serious or meetings of weight.  People prefer to get out in the sun, for fun or frolicking, and to bring along families or friends.  After a few efforts to picnic at the Fremont Troll (where the acoustics made friendly chat awkward, and the dust made dining difficult) a newly arrived business in Fremont offered to take us all for a summer escape

Ride The Ducks was one of the first tours to include Fremont on its route, and its costumed captains and crowds of quackers quickly livened up our streets.  The iconic World War II vehicles continue to lumber through the Center of the Universe, then float gracefully along Fremont’s shoreline, providing the perfect jaunt for even the most jaded of visitors.

Starting in 2000, Ride The Ducks has picked up a passel of Fremont Chamber passengers, for an annual evening’s entertainment.  With most riders more than passingly familiar with Fremont, Ride The Duck captains have been flexible about their routes ‘round the Center of the Universe, and generous in the time spent on Lake Union and the Ship Canal (along with the occasional outbreak of dancing, water fights, jokes and other nonsense that goes along with driving a bunch of Fremonsters.)

Fremonsters, not just Fremont Chamber members, make up the majority of riders.  While tickets cost $30 a piece, for the ride as well as Dante’s Inferno Dogs, soft drinks and Fremont Brewing beverages (for those 21+), anyone is welcome – and everyone will find this to be an outrageously good time.

For 15 years, people have brought family and friends, customers and clients, and anyone interested in a fair weather drive through our neighborhood (and the surrounding area) as well as a dip in our iconic waterway.

Fremont Wiffleball Tournament

In its 4th year, this singular sporting event still hasn’t fully grabbed the imagination or attention of the Fremont community, yet.  Begun at Adobe Systems as a diverting pastime for employees, this one-day, winner-take-all tournament offers everything Fremonsters could want from a summer’s day:  fun, competition, cheap laughs, and raising money for community grant programs!

Wiffleball barely qualifies as a sport, in my opinion, which makes it ideal for participants of all ages – a determined ten-year-old has as much chance of making a home run as a banker who almost-regularly-jogs.  On the Upper Playfields at B.F. Day Elementary School, participants play a pretty determined, competitive game, but it is still Wiffleball – a white plastic ball and yellow plastic bat kind of game.

Teams for this tournament can come from anywhere.  This ‘company softball’ tournament generally attracts area businesses as sponsors of teams that represent them, but parenting groups, families, drinking buddies, book clubs, or random strangers can form teams.  It costs $300 to register a team of six people (each additional player costs $25 each, but helps build a deeper batting pool.)

Registration closes in advance of the Tournament, so those interested in playing need to get on-line to sign-up or contact Fremont Chamber Executive Director Jessica Vets now at director@fremont.com

Of course, spectators also have fun cheering on Wiffleball.  Come watch for a few minutes, or a few games, while familiar friends from the ‘hood lob aerodynamically challenged Wiffleballs to those wielding the standard plastic yellow bats  With the playground nearby, and plenty of (still!) green grass to sprawl on, Fremont’s Wiffleball Tournament on Saturday, August 29th should draw Fremonsters from all ‘round.

Plenty Of Fun To Be Had

This month has a few great ways to gather together, in ways the Fremont Fair and Fremont Oktoberfest don’t really allow.  The Groundspeak Geocaching Block Party on August 15th and the Hallows Church Community Picnic on August 22nd give people a chance to see, share and celebrate summer, and each other.  Why not get out and see what drew others, like you, to this particular place in the universe.

Share your fondness for Fremont, and your sense of fun and silliness, and find out more about Ducks, Dogs & Suds and the Wiffleball Tournament on the Fremont Chamber website, at Fremont.com.  As for the Geocaching Event, visit its event page, and Hallows Church has info coming on its picnics (they have one planned for September too) on their website’s event page.

 

 

 


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©2015 Kirby Lindsay.  This column is protected by intellectual property laws, including U.S. copyright laws.  Reproduction, adaptation or distribution without permission is prohibited.

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