On Saturday, August 5, my wife, a friend from church and I attended the 3rd Annual Summer Soiree car show in Osceola. The main sponsor was Lakeside Hotel Casino. We all found it to be very disappointing for several reasons. I entered our 1964 F100 Ford pickup, so I was a paid participant in this event. The main reason was the prizes for the scavenger hunt were not car show theme appropriate. These prizes were all female-gendered items.
I won one of the scavenger hunt prize packages. Again, all female-gendered prizes. I went to Facebook and messaged the osceolaiowa.com page. I was told to contact Derek Lumsden/Osceola Chamber Main Street. At first, Derek understood my frustration. Derek was willing to make it right and fair. Soon after Derek looked in to it, he changed his story. Derek told me that the reason the scavenger hunt prizes were female gendered, was because they assumed because two women won it last year two women would win it again this year. But, when my name was drawn they were stuck. Derek offered food gift certificates in place of the female-gendered prizes I received. Was the other winner awarded with food gift certificates?
This is not the point. These prizes were not car show theme appropriate. During the awards I saw a lot of male/ car show theme appropriate prizes handed out. So they had plenty of male/ car show prizes donated. I feel people in charge just didn’t delegate them properly. Since I would not accept food gift certificates Derek told me he would not do anything to make it right. I asked both Derek Lumsden and Samantha Horton if the other winner was even entered in the car show. Neither would answer the question. Were the two women that won last year entered in the car show? The scavenger hunt forms were only handed out to car show participants.
One of the Facebook comments I received from a woman was that the vendors had to donate a set amount of their product to be able to set up at the car show. Does this sound right? At all the other car shows on the circuit, the majority of the vendors are car product vendors and food vendors. If the people in charge of this car show were going off the year before, were the two women that won last year actual car show participants? If I knew the prizes that I had a chance to win were all female gendered, I would have never walked around the square on my prosthetic leg. Once again the prizes were not car show theme appropriate.
I honestly feel this should be made right and fair. We all were very disappointed in this car show event. Even the entrance bag received at registration had car show theme items. Stickers from Summit Racing, JEGGS, key fobs and car show dash plaques. But then when it comes down to the scavenger hunt, all female gendered prizes, because the people in charge assumed. Not a good idea to assume anything. LESSON LEARNED.