Holiday Value Propositions
Of course, Belinda is happy to have me crash at her house! She even wants to get up at the crack of dawn to drive me to the train station.
And my Thanksgiving vacation dance card is filling up with get-togethers with fabulous friends, all of whom seem genuinely thrilled at the prospect of seeing me.
John L_______ texted, I can’t imagine letting anyone stay in my house but yew-w-w-w & by the way, you can drive my Jeep, so don’t rent a car.
John has a fully functioning hot tub, too. Maybe I can spend some time in that hot tub, looking at the stars, listening to the fog horns & the barking sea lions, trying to figure out why my mental image of myself is stuck on Poor Little Match Girl whom everyone despises.
###
After hammering out logistics, my conversation with Belinda turned to the election.
“How are you doing with that?” Belinda asked.
“It is what it is,” I said. “I’m fine. I’m not one to agonize for very long over shit like that. I’m into mobilizing. I assume you voted for Trump?”
“I did,” she said. “I think he’s an awful person. But there’s absolutely no question that my life was better off under Trump than it was under Biden.”
###
Vision of Wallkill is busily preparing for its big winter event, Holidays in the Hamlet. Vendors! Christmas tree lighting! Santa! A Santa letter-writing campaign! Fireworks!
We’ve had back-to-back planning meetings on two successive weeks.
“Fireworks!” I said. “They’re actually gonna let us do fireworks? With the statewide burn ban? And all these brushfires?”
Nervous laughter all around.
This event is Kathryn’s brainchild. I find Kathryn absolutely fascinating. She’s this beautiful suburban Mom & relentlessly capable. Moved to Wallkill three years ago from Alexandria, Virginia, when she & her husband got tired of the traffic & realized that selling their modest cottage there would net them enough to buy a country estate here.
The husband has one of those high-paying IT work-from-anywhere jobs with some Cabinet-level department.
Kathryn had started her own event-planning business in D.C. It was fairly successful, too, until COVID took it out.
These days, she runs a small sign-making business, manages her household, and oversees her daughter’s Olympic gymnastic ambitions.
Later this afternoon, Ellen & I will be roaming Wallkill’s miniscule downtown, knocking on businesses’ doors, to solicit Holidays in the Hamlet sponsorships.
“I’m a little unsure what the value proposition here is,” I said to Kathryn.
Kathryn’s eyebrows raised approvingly at the jargon.
“What’s the bang for the buck? I mean, promotion, social media reach, expected attendance. Plus you’ve got three sponsorship tiers here. What differentiates them?”
“My ultimate dream is a Hallmark Christmas movie event,” Kathryn informed me cheerfully. “But that’s a five-to-ten year trajectory. You gotta start slow.”
And my Thanksgiving vacation dance card is filling up with get-togethers with fabulous friends, all of whom seem genuinely thrilled at the prospect of seeing me.
John L_______ texted, I can’t imagine letting anyone stay in my house but yew-w-w-w & by the way, you can drive my Jeep, so don’t rent a car.
John has a fully functioning hot tub, too. Maybe I can spend some time in that hot tub, looking at the stars, listening to the fog horns & the barking sea lions, trying to figure out why my mental image of myself is stuck on Poor Little Match Girl whom everyone despises.
###
After hammering out logistics, my conversation with Belinda turned to the election.
“How are you doing with that?” Belinda asked.
“It is what it is,” I said. “I’m fine. I’m not one to agonize for very long over shit like that. I’m into mobilizing. I assume you voted for Trump?”
“I did,” she said. “I think he’s an awful person. But there’s absolutely no question that my life was better off under Trump than it was under Biden.”
###
Vision of Wallkill is busily preparing for its big winter event, Holidays in the Hamlet. Vendors! Christmas tree lighting! Santa! A Santa letter-writing campaign! Fireworks!
We’ve had back-to-back planning meetings on two successive weeks.
“Fireworks!” I said. “They’re actually gonna let us do fireworks? With the statewide burn ban? And all these brushfires?”
Nervous laughter all around.
This event is Kathryn’s brainchild. I find Kathryn absolutely fascinating. She’s this beautiful suburban Mom & relentlessly capable. Moved to Wallkill three years ago from Alexandria, Virginia, when she & her husband got tired of the traffic & realized that selling their modest cottage there would net them enough to buy a country estate here.
The husband has one of those high-paying IT work-from-anywhere jobs with some Cabinet-level department.
Kathryn had started her own event-planning business in D.C. It was fairly successful, too, until COVID took it out.
These days, she runs a small sign-making business, manages her household, and oversees her daughter’s Olympic gymnastic ambitions.
Later this afternoon, Ellen & I will be roaming Wallkill’s miniscule downtown, knocking on businesses’ doors, to solicit Holidays in the Hamlet sponsorships.
“I’m a little unsure what the value proposition here is,” I said to Kathryn.
Kathryn’s eyebrows raised approvingly at the jargon.
“What’s the bang for the buck? I mean, promotion, social media reach, expected attendance. Plus you’ve got three sponsorship tiers here. What differentiates them?”
“My ultimate dream is a Hallmark Christmas movie event,” Kathryn informed me cheerfully. “But that’s a five-to-ten year trajectory. You gotta start slow.”