Privateer Days a success

Numbers may have been down over Privateer Days, but chairperson Ann Langille expects to break even, which is good after carrying a debt of $50,000.

“I think it was a great weekend,” she began, “I truly want to thank all of the people of Queens County for coming out and supporting us.”

Compared to last year, Langille said attendance was down.

“There was confusion over the tent because we called it the entertainment tent and people thought we weren’t selling drinks, but we were,” she added.

The name of the tent changed because they used the tent as the main stage.

Other than that, the usual events went really well, continued Langille.

The biggest fundraiser for Privateer Days and next year’s 250th anniversary was the nude calendar.

As of July 11, calendar sales had raised $15,000.

Mortgage Intelligence raffled off tickets for a mini chopper, which raised $1,000 for Privateer Days and the duck race was a fundraiser as well.

There were hundreds of volunteers over the July 3 – 6 weekend.

Langille thanks the committee, volunteers, summer students and everyone who took part in festivities.

The Privateer Days Commission has a board of ten or more people.

All of which are volunteer, she noted.

Langille hopes the 250th anniversary celebrations in 2009 is bigger and better.

“We’re sitting down at the end of this month for just a final analysis of this year,” she said, “and then we’re going to get right into planning next year’s 250th anniversary.”

Anyone with ideas for next year’s festivities can contact the Privateer Days commission at www.privateerdays.com or call 354-4500.

Next year’s Privateer Days will take place July 1 – 5.