RIGGS Company & Design turned 50 years old this month. Amie, Bill and Lauren Kolbe of our PR firm, KolbeCo Marketing Resources, planned a celebration that had all the elements of a great party including great food from McArthur’s Bakery, wine, beer, games and raffles. Best of all, we had a fantastic idea to raise money for breast cancer research. Since it was our “golden” anniversary, we asked everyone to bring any gold jewelry that they could donate to the Young Women’s Breast Cancer Program at Siteman Cancer Center. Jim & Martha Durbin from Durbin Jewelry here in Kirkwood were kind enough to spend their time collecting and evaluating what was brought in. If course, it rained all day, the temperature was in the 40s and the plan was to hold the party outside! Fortunately, they planned for all possibilities by setting up a tent with heaters and a direct connection to the office interiors so that our guests would stay dry and comfortable. But would all our past clients, trade contractors, suppliers and other friends of the company come? The weather conditions made that question even more doubtful.
Before I answer that question, let me give you a little inside story about a division within the company that this party created. We have the “older” generation with me, Steve, Pam and Kathy whose parents grew up during the great depression and have lived through some pretty rough times ourselves and then we have the “youngsters” who have experienced a steady paycheck and boom times over the last 20 years. That would be Bill, Amie, David and Brett. Chris, our estimator is in between and I think he had some reservation but tried his best to be enthusiastic and encouraging. The rest of the crew had their own opinions and I’m pretty sure what they were.
We old folks thought that not only was this party a waste of money, but no one likes coming to these things anyway! How embarrassing it will be to hold a big party and have no one show up. I wanted to say no to the party but in letting go of this company over the next few years, I have to let Bill and Amie make decisions and carry them out regardless of the outcome. It’s the best way to teach them how to run this business. In making mistakes and suffering the consequences we all learn the most enduring lessons.
Then, on the day of the party it started to rain and the temperature began to drop. We said, “See, this is never going to be successful.” They said, “Let’s party!”
Our guests started to trickle in at 4:00 PM; slowly…We were worried. By 5:00 PM it started to get a little crowded and I saw past clients that I hadn’t seen in 5 years! We were surprised. By 6:00 the place was rocking! Even clients we had done little repair jobs for showed up! Our trade contractors, suppliers, fellow Rotarians and Chamber members were there. Art McDonnell, the Mayor of Kirkwood gave us a proclamation making that day “RIGGS Company & Design Day”. The wine ran out and Kathy ran out and bought more and she was happy. The beer ran out and Pam went and bought more and she was happy. The pile of gold kept getting bigger and bigger as did Jim and Martha’s smile. More past and present clients kept showing up, some that I wouldn’t have guessed would take the time to come in a million years. Even the food began to run out and McArthur’s brought enough to feed an army.
It rained all night. It was cold, wet and miserable but people just kept coming. Kathy, Pam, Steve and the rest of the old folks were amazed. We were smiling and laughing and shaking our heads in disbelief. The youngsters just partied on.
We old folks happily admitted that we were wrong and I think we enjoyed the party more than anyone.
I didn’t know that crow would taste so sweet.
