MacLevin's opened November 22,
'98.
... We live and do business here.
LANDMARK EVENTS:
FOOD TAX:
During our time here, we have twice (once in 1999 & again in
2003), spear-headed a restaurant coalition in the protest and subsequent removal
of a proposed food tax.
MAJOR EVENTS:
We have successfully produced, as Jacksonville Events
Guild, four major events for the City of Jacksonville and created one on-going
monthly event, the Jacksonville Art Amble.
The first event, on Feb. 3, 2001, was "Year of the
Snake", a Chinese New Year Celebration, paying homage to the Chinese workers who
helped, by their sweat, the development of Southern Oregon. They were the
railroad builders, the gold field laborers and the general work force...and
treated as outcasts! So, to our thoughts, a tribute celebration was called for.
For the second event, on Feb. 16, 2002, we produced our
second Chinese New Year, "Year of the Horse". It was very successful, both for
the City and the merchants in J'ville in both the attendance and the monetary
returns gained by the efforts of so many volunteers. This event is now held annually.
The third event, on June 30, 2002, was J'ville's 150th
Birthday Celebration, "Americana Jubilee...what was here then"...with music,
dance, Mountain Men, horses, contests, a vintage baseball game and a street of
displays presented by the State and Federal agencies that manage our natural
resources (forests, land, air, volcanoes, ecology and waterways). It was a
rousing success, to be sure!
The fourth event (sometimes the world outside invents
the next undertaking) came in March 2003, when we began a support system to
boost the morale of the 1042nd Air Ambulance Medical Company of the Oregon
National Guard in Saudi Arabia & Kuwait. The effort was coordinated from all
over the Rogue Valley and materials were mailed every Friday for two months. We
shipped over 800 pounds of everything from golf balls to baked goods to music,
etc.: much of what was missing from adopted companies daily lives. This project
then grew to a "Proclamation" from the City of J'ville on May 3, 2003, and the
culmination of our "support" effort for the 1042nd and "Military Rally" sending
invitations to over 25 families of military personnel on duty here and abroad.
... This event contained many different elements: band
music, singing, speeches, displays, a helicopter landing, Color Guard and
military personnel from allover the Rogue Valley. It was produced and directed
by MacLevin's and the Jacksonville Events Guild. It was a tear-filled 3-hour
event ... it was wonderful!
PETER BRITT STATUE:
We rallied the community yet another time with the
creation of the statue of Peter Britt. This took one year from idea to
completion. Working with artist Ralph Starritt of Yreka, CA, we surmounted many
obstacles from the finances to the permission from the J'ville City itself. The
statue is installed beside the entrance to the Britt Festival grounds and stands
94 inches tall. It is made from 18 gauge, cold rolled steel with a bronze plaque
of commemoration.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Everyone has a duty to their community.
Service to the
community plays a great role in that community's existence and how it relates to
the people living there. So, at MacLevin's, we have made community service an
integral part in the daily life of our business so that the community we are a
part of evolves and flourishes.