When all the money donated to the Andover Fourth of July Committee was counted, we were elated to find that we collected $7,037, just making our dream goal. This was just from the door-to-door and mailed-in booster donations. I believe the whole event costs around $15,000. Program ads, raffle, and green rentals and sales make up the rest of the budget.

On good years we break even, but a number of years we have operated in the red. We had a generous donation from TDS which will help our bottom line.

Raffle winners were Jennifer Frost Turner from Maine, who chose the Italian Basket; Paul Currier from Andover, who picked the Garden Quilt and Basket; and Ginny Edwards from Danbury, who won the $50 Market Basket gift certificate. All were happy with their choices.

We missed collecting donations on some streets this year because of a lack of donation collectors. Be warned, I am going to be looking for some new faces to help with the collecting. I did a lot of streets and met some nice people and enjoyed talking to folks.

Doing just one street is really not a lot of work, and we have letters to leave if folks aren’t home.

Thanks again to all the collectors, and a special thanks to Beth Frost, who did all the computer entries for the program donations. (Spreadsheets are beyond my computer skills.)

A big thanks to all who contributed with not only money but also ads, food, books, talent, and time. You are the ones who make this celebration possible.