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Hysterically Historical #10

By Pete Jacobsen
Posted: 04/23/2025

   After Eastside Village opened in October 2015, several things happened fairly quickly. Early on, Club Express was introduced to the members as our web presence, largely through the efforts of Mary Bedard. It included a directory of members, and being able to look up a member meant you could find their email address and phone number, which facilitated communication among members.

   As mentioned before, a physical office was open from the beginning, giving members a place to get information and talk to a real person. A number of groups were formed that are still around today, although sometimes in slightly modified form. There was a knitting group, breakfast at Toast, and Tabor Space coffee groups. During that first year, the logo of the "tree of hands" first appeared, although I've been unable thus far to determine who created it (help me out here, folks!)

   The newsletter was started in that first year as well. It included a feature which still appears in our newsletters now, the introduction of a member by asking 5 questions. The first member introduced in that way was Ellen Howard, including the information that she had written many children's books. There were also Village Walks, Potlucks, and an Eastside Information Session, the ancestor of the EV 101 meetings we have today.

   One of the things learned that first year was that it worked best when members organized a group they were interested in rather than having the leadership try to guess what folks wanted. That seems to have become the working model for us over the years!