Illinois State Fair PDRacer Hatch and Demo
By Guest Articles #30 (3ad 64ar)Next year's Illinois State Fair will be held August 8-18th 2013 in Springfield, IL, which is a 2- hour drive North of St. Louis, 4 hours South from Chicago. Part of the grounds is a large natural area called "Conservation World", run by our IDNR, the Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources. Here is the map from Google
IDNR wants to sponsor a group of PDR enthusiasts to come RV camp in Conservation World free for the ten days, while building one to two PDRs during the days of the fair.
Your "work" days are from 10 AM to about 4: 30 PM, you build a little, talk a little, sail a little, rinse and repeat. You will be interviewed by various press over the week. IDNR will cover a free RV campsite and utilities hookup for the build team near the pond, inside Conservation World, where you'll row or sail the already-built PDR once or twice a day for a short while as crowds watch. The team will have free daily passes to get in and out of the fairgrounds for the duration, and can enjoy the fair attractions while staying here, as long as one person always stays with the exhibit during working hours. We usually have great country and rock acts every night of the fair. Google this year's State Fair Grandstand for examples. We also have daily horse racing the first week and motorsports the second week.
Your team will bring with them, one, already-built PDR on a trailer, which will participate as a float in the state fair parade, August 8th, and be displayed/demonstrated in the Conservation World pond each day of the fair. It will also be hauled out and displayed at the build site periodically for fairgoers to inspect close-up. Fairgoers will not be allowed to sail, but your team will be. Your team will publicly build at least one brand-new PDR in stages on the grounds over a 9-day period, between Aug, 9 and Aug. 17, with the boat christened and raffled off to a fairgoer on the 17th.
You bring the tools; the electrical power and all the building materials will be supplied on-site by sponsors.
Are you so crazy in love with PDR's, you'd take a "working vacation" to spend ten days building, sailing, and promoting them?
We want you in Springfield, August 8-18th, 2013!
More details to follow.
Mark Suszko mark.suszko@att.net