Making democracy work at the fair

Dear editor, The 2008 Napa Town & Country Fair may now be behind us, but many who attended this event will have at least one or two special memories about their fair-going experience this year that will stay with them for many more to come; I can count myself among them.

I was tasked with the responsibility of organizing the Napa County Democratic Party fair booth operations again this year and, as I look back at the experience now, I am reminded of just what makes it all worth the effort: our wonderful volunteers who came out in record numbers to contribute their time at this year’s event, without whom this effort would not be possible.

Some of the volunteers this year knew one another before they arrived, but others met for the first time when they reported for their scheduled shifts. Yet, without exception, it was clear that they each immensely enjoyed their interaction with the steady stream of visitors to our booth and the visitors clearly enjoyed that, too. That was not in anyway unexpected, although I must confess that I felt we were especially warmly received by fairgoers this year.

What was really stunning was that the level of mutual respect that the volunteers demonstrated for one another, the clear presence of an unspoken recognition of and commitment to a shared organizational outcome, the complete absence of any competitive rancor between them, and the unmistakable level of trust they had for one another was more than uncommon; it was extraordinary. It offered a promising glimpse into what human beings are collectively capable of when they set aside their own personal agendas and ambitions to come together to achieve a common goal and actually get that right.

Volunteers are an indispensable part of making democracy work. Although the list of our volunteers’ names is too long to print here, on behalf of the Napa County Democratic Central Committee, I wish to publicly thank each and every one of them for making such an extraordinary contribution individually and collectively to the democratic process.

Joanne Gifford / Napa

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