Riverside Community Club asks city for $6,000

    The Riverside Area Community Club (RACC) requested $6,000 from the city council Monday night. The council informed the RACC members in attendance that RACC needs to complete a form indicating they are a non-profit group. City Administrator Tina Thomas said that she needs to receive the completed application by Wednesday, March 16, if the council is to consider the monetary request at its next meeting on Monday, March 21. The money would come out of the hotel/motel tax fund.

    Councilor Betty Kaalberg said she has heard numerous complaints about TrekFest, the annual festival in June put on by RACC. She talked to people who were against the idea of giving tax money to RACC. 

    Former RACC president Carol Riggan was in the audience and rose to address Kaalberg?s comment.

    ?If RACC was not involved, who would chair all these events?? asked Riggan. ?When people make a comment like that, what do they want to see in Riverside? We really are like a chamber of commerce. If RACC was not involved, you?d have no town celebration. If the people who make those comments don?t want RACC to do anything, we need to know, because we are spending hours and hours on these projects.?

    RACC member Diane Poch said there is a wide variety of activities at TrekFest.

    ?It?s not just Trekkie,? said Poch. ?We?ve got the rodeo. We?ve got the demolition derby. We?ve got the talent show. TrekFest puts us on the map, brings people here and gives back to the community.?

    Poch said the money raised from TrekFest supports other causes such as the town Santa Claus and Easter Bunny.

    ?We raise $1,000 to give to senior scholarships,? said Poch.

    Riggan later commented, ?When I hear someone say they don?t like TrekFest, I ask them, ?What have you done to volunteer for your community?? The ones who complain the most, Betty, are the ones who sit and gripe and don?t lift a finger. I?m telling you right now, when I go to Hall Park during TrekFest, I see all these people smiling and telling us how they never had such faith in a small town.?

    Councilor Todd Yahnke said one of the complaints he hears is about RACC?s practice of paying Star Trek celebrities to speak at TrekFest. He said he is not impressed with the celebrities, and that RACC should find better uses of its money.

    Riggan said the celebrities are there to attract attention to the event and bring people in from out of town. She said the gains from tourism are not collected by RACC but by the businesses in town, adding that that is what RACC wants.

For the full story, see the March 8 edition of The Washington Evening Journal