Anniversary committee needs more volunteers

Only three weeks away from the opening ceremony, the Sun City 50th Anniversary Committee is still looking for help.

Paul Herrmann, executive director of the Visitors Center, said the group needs more volunteers and more interest. Addressing a small group of attendees at the committee’s town hall meeting Wednesday afternoon, Herrmann said more needs to be done.

“A crowd this size is not going to cut it for the opening ceremony,” he said. “We have seating for 1,200 people. We need more involvement. We need to get the word out.”

The opening ceremony will be from 1 to 3 p.m. Dec. 9 in the Sundial Auditorium and feature local dignitaries, entertainment and a drawing for a 2010 E-Z-Go RXV Golf Car.

“We have contacted Gov. Brewer’s office to see if she can attend,” Herrmann said. “We have put in requests to Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl, (state Sen.) Bob Burns, Supervisor Max Wilson, as well as the mayors of surrounding cities, who have been very supportive of us.”

Bill Pearson, publicity chairman and vice president of the Del Webb Sun Cities Museum, said the committee knew from the beginning they would have to rely on the people who live in Sun City.

“We set as one of our goals to bring people together,” Pearson said. “Sun City’s 50 years of success came because the residents worked together and said, ‘We can do it.’ We realized that if this year of celebration was going to be successful, it would be because all 41,000 of us came together and made a contribution.”

The news is not all bleak, however. Herrmann announced that two more golf tournaments have been scheduled in addition to one set for Dec. 10.

“We announced it and people just kept calling, so we had no choice,” Herrmann said. “We added a second tournament for April 10 and a third for Dec. 10, 2010.”

Herrmann said a few events are planned for the anniversary day celebration from noon to 2 p.m. Jan. 1 in Bell Social Hall.

“At 1 p.m., every church in Sun City is going to ring their bells, because that is the time when Sun City opened in 1960,” he said.

Afterward, Pearson said the Del Webb Sun Cities Museum is going to be open to the public, and a barbershop quartet will perform.

“Interestingly enough, one of the guys in the barbershop quartet back in January 1960 will be singing with us at the anniversary party,” Pearson said.

Herrmann said when he moved to Sun City 10 years ago, the 40th anniversary was just wrapping up.

“They invited me to a luncheon, and there were hundreds of people there,” he said. “That’s what we’re looking for. Some of us now are too old to participate, and some are too young, they still have jobs. The pool of available people has shrunk for us, but we still think we can make it happen.”

For information, call 623-977-5000 or visit www.suncity50thanniversary.org.

Jeff Dempsey may be reached at 623-876-2531 or jdempsey@yourwestvalley.com.