Over 400 guests assembled at the McGaw YMCA Saturday for a gala celebration kicking off the organization’s 125th year.
Entitled “Back (and) to the Future,” the party benefited the YMCA’s youth programs.
Guests, costumed as everything from 1920s flappers to futuristic beings and everything in between, gave generously.
The event was chaired by Laurie Vree, and with the aid of over 40 volunteers, the Sebring-Lewis Center at the YMCA was for five hours given over to the celebration of 125 years of building community and changing futures in Evanston.
125th Anniversary Co-Chairs Bob Reece, Patty Reece, Jan Hazlett (as Annie Oakley), Tom Hazlett (as Doc Brown). (Photos courtesy of Evanston Photographic Studios Inc.)
Among the guests were: Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl; former Mayor Lorraine Morton; and the co-chairs of the entire Y anniversary year, Patty and Bob Reece and Jan and Tom Hazlett. Board Chair Vickie Burke and ‘Y’ President and Bill Geiger welcomed the guests.
One of the highlights of the evening was the premier showing of a short film by Susan Hope Engel, “The YMCA in Evanston – 125 Years Strong,” on the history of the McGaw YMCA and the Emerson Street Branch YMCA, featuring interviews with people and families whose lives have been touched by the YMCAs in Evanston, in many cases across several generations.
Premier sponsors of this event and of the entire anniversary year’s activities are: Harris Bank; the Lewis-Sebring Foundation; Northwestern University; and Romano Brothers & Co. Additional event sponsors are Hagerty Consulting, SchiffHardin, LLI, First Bank & Trust, Brown, Kaplan and Liss, LLI, Coldwell Banker, Evanston Capital Management, and Resurrection Health Care.
More anniversary activities are planned, including a Brillianteen Alumni Revue in March and “Unforgettable,” an event to honor the Emerson Street Branch Y in May.
What a great event it was!
And the video was wonderful.
I wonder were this wonderful video was made?
It was created using the facilities of the Evanston Community Media Center. Shot in Studio B, edited using Final Cut Pro, with the knowledge base provided by the staff. It looked far better than anything ever shot on a flip video camera.
Can we see it?
Hi Louis,
Perhaps you would care to provide a link so the rest of us can see the video?
Thanks,
Bill
I believe we will be posting
I believe we will be posting the video to our web site, http://www.mcgawymca.org shortly!
Reply:
Thanks, Amy. Looking forward to seeing it.
— Bill
Express written consent of Major League Baseball
Bill –
When a production is created at the ECMC, using City resources and subsidized by the City, is it in the public domain? Does the City, or the public, have any right to rebroadcast, retransmission or other use of the pictures or sounds of the of the production?
Enquiring minds want to know.
Reply:
No. Ownership of the copyright remains with the producer of the program. The producer is supposed to make it available for showing on Channel 6, but beyond that, under ECMC’s rules, the producer retains all rights — which is one of the reasons so little of ECMC’s content is ever made available online.
— Bill
Catch it on ECTV
It will air on channel 6, times TBD. It is up to the individual producer if they want to put their copyrighted program on the web.
And how will we know?
Hi Louis,
And how, assuming someone wanted to watch any program, would they know when to tune in on Channel 6?
I just checked the ECMC schedule page on the ECMC website — and as usual, it shows the schedule for a time period that has already passed.
It’s a big help today, Jan. 27, to know what was on between “January 3 – 16, 2010.”
Perhaps you can put me in touch with the producer of this show? I’d like to be able to give people the opportunity to see it here on Evanston Now.
— Bill
So sick of this
ECTV acts like a bunch of disgruntled cinematographers kicked out of LA and then trying to make a go of it by clinging to “studio work” at a public access station while filming weddings on weekends.
Give it up guys, the control room dudes of yesteryear are like newspaper paste-up artists. No one is arguing what a “good camera” can do, what is being argued is with the LOW participation and MISSION of ECTV, is it really relevant to maintain a studio and fleet with a city that’s drowning financially?
I love the knee-jerk response “oh you’re taking away free speech!” well come on over to my house with my line up of Sony HD cams and lets make some programming. Final Cut Pro? On my mobile work station. Cameras? Bagged in my closet ready for protests, big waves, fires– whatever goes down in this town. School board? Heck, Bill, flip me some coffee money and I’ll film your community meetings. Of course no one is going to WATCH 3 hours of that. So for the price of a bagel with that coffee, I’ll chop it into clips so we can all be disgruntled and informed.
You know there’s all these arguments about equal access, yet they have no women staffed at ECTV doing technical trades. So that’s what I want to know, why is it every time I walk into ECTV it is a bunch of guys sitting around watching the Sox and drinking beer on the clock. (Yep, saw that one with my own eyes.)
I’d love nothing more to see that crew scrambling for wedding gigs because I shouldn’t be paying taxes for a boys club that makes crappy programming.
ECMC
This facility caters to people who want to learn video production and how it gets from the Producer’s brain to our t.v. screens. Yea, the front office guys are always sitting around watching t.v. and doing nothing but that’s because more people aren’t availing themselves of this resource. That said, you can lead a horse to water but…. I think they should find smaller quarters, maybe in the high school or Civic Center where their facility is accessible to more people. Certainly the high school could utilize it for their film classes. If participation increased “the boys club” wouldn’t have time to sit around watching the Sox games and drinking beer.
ECMC vrs. NU Medill
I’ve never seen any of the ECMC nor any of the Evanston cable for that matter. I’d assumed the cable channels were fixed cameras and people came in according to some schedule just came in and blathered about their cause or event—much like and probably the quality of “Wayne’s World.” I was surprised [and disappointed but then somebody on the Council must consider it art] to find out the city paid for more than just a fixed camera.
Given the news program WYCC used to broadcast using the NU-Medill students, which to me was juvenile at best, I have a hard time believing that even the best help ECMC [if they are even qualified/trained for whatever good that can make] can provide would lead to the output rising to even the level of the Medill news.
Funny Money and Public Records
Obviously Evanstonian, no one is participating as you just proved.
Anyone notice that ECTV is going through an audit from the city right now? What kind of Executive Director isn’t aware that you can pull their 990 any old time when you’ve been whining about being broke?
Mystery cash! I love it. And yeah, yeah I get restricted funds and equipment money and yadda yadda.
And suddenly a 100K cut is “okay!”
Does anyone notice this?
Wally, cut the beer fund at ECTV!
Congratulations to the YMCA
Congratulations to the McGaw YMCA and their wonderful 125th Anniversary event! It was a truly special evening – a great deal of fun and a very touching celebration.
I was a little sad to see the thread of comments on their story spin into a separate, heated debate on the ECMC. I know this is an open forum and strong opinons abound, but it just seems by having the discussion pop up here to take some focus from the spirit and tone of the Y’s time to shine.