Final New Jersey Lighthouse Challenge
By Sue Clark on Aug 29, 2009 in News 
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Is This the End For Long Running Popular Challenge?
Lighthouse News and many others certainly hope it isn’t. But running such a popular challenge has taken its toll on the two long-standing co-chairs.
Word on the street (well, in the forums) is that the New Jersey Lighthouse Challenge will not be held next year. And maybe not in 2011, either. From Dennis Wheland of the New Jersey Lighthouse Society comes this sad information, which he posted at Lighthousing.Net:
The NJLHS Executive Board voted at the latest meeting on 8-8-09 to suspend the Lighthouse challenge for 2010. It has not been officially canceled after that point but the reasons that are causing it to be canceled in 2010 will not be likely to change in 2011.
Simply put the two co-Chairs both opted to give notice in December 2008 that they would do the 2009 challenge but after that it would be up to someone else to run it.
Unfortunately as of now no one has stepped forward to fill the very large shoes that Doreen Berson and Laura Portee leave behind. They have both been involved in the Challenge- Doreen in some capacity since the first Challenge and Laura for a number of years. They deserve our praise and thanks for the many hours they have given to the Challenge over the years.
This is indeed sad to hear. We certainly hope someone will step up to run it as it’s an extremely popular challenge, showcasing the 24 New Jersey lighthouses in a positive way, and bringing attention to the need for their (and all) lighthouses to be preserved for future generations. Please note that not all of the lighthouses participate in the challenge. Usually it’s half that number. The complete list of participating lights is available at the Challenge website, linked at the end.
On another note, several branches of the Ocean County Library will host lighthouse-themed programs to celebrate the 10th annual New Jersey Lighthouse Society’s Lighthouse Challenge.
The Jackson library, will host Bob Volpe of the New Jersey Lighthouse Society. He will present the history of lighthouses at 10 a.m. Oct. 3. The program will cover everything from New Jersey’s earliest lighthouses to the women who lived in them. The branch will also hold a lighthouse photography contest. All entries must be submitted Sept. 28-30.
The Toms River library, 101 Washington St., and the Ocean County Artists Guild will host a juried exhibit of lighthouse themed artworks during October as well as a reception starting at 1 p.m. Oct. 18.
The Barnegat branch, 112 Burr St., will host the “Leave a Light On” family story time, featuring lighthouse stories, trivia and a craft project for children to make their own replica of the Old Barney lighthouse at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 15.
For additional information, go to www.theoceancountylibrary.org.
This year’s Challenge will be held October 17 and 18. It will be featuring two bonus challenges, and all the information, along with a goodbye from the Co-Chairs, is at www.njlhs.org/challenge/challenge.html.
Photo Credit: Hereford Through the Front Garden by Ted Kerwin. Some rights reserved.
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3 Comment(s)
By Gary aka lighthousephoto on Aug 30, 2009 | Reply
Doreen and Laura have been devoted to the NJLHS Challenge since I moved to NJ and put in a tremendous amount of work into making the Challenge happen. For that matter, I was trading e-mail with Doreen today to make arrangements to get an image file to her that she needs for this year’s Challenge.
I can understand why they want to take a break. It’s a tremendous amount of work for both of them. I too hope that someone else steps up to fill their very large shoes to keep the NJLHS Challenge going.
The same as last year, I’ll be down at Absecon lighthouse in Atlantic City on Saturday if any of the folks reading this are doing the Challenge.
Gary
By Sue Clark on Sep 3, 2009 | Reply
And anyone going be sure to stop and purchase some of Gary’s photos. None better can be found.
Will you be helping with the visitors also?
By Barbara Steele on Sep 11, 2009 | Reply
It would be a shame for this spectacular event to be lost, but if you have ever coordinated one event in your own town, you can imagine how exhausting it is to do one that takes in half the state in 11 different places. Without slighting the many volunteers involved, Doreen and Laura deserve a big thank you as mega-coordinators.