Author Topic: COD's Halloween history program  (Read 4906 times)

Offline Paul Farace

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COD's Halloween history program
« on: October 28, 2013, 12:45:36 AM »
Well we completed our second annual Halloween history program (the Strange Tide of History)... it wasn't pimply faced teens jumping out of the dark with rubber knives... but rather the very real and very true and very weird tales of COD and some other subs in WW II!  (we decided not to tell any stories involving scary boat handling by the crew of the USS COBIA, that would really frighten the poor visitors!  :o  ) ... the boat was rigged in full red (I know not all the boat was red, but for maximum lighting effect and safety, we blazed her in red!). Six creepy tales told below rounded out the evening. The public also was treated to hot chocolate and cookies while waiting to go below (cold and rainy was better than windy and snowy that threatened).

The 100+ attendees loved it... even when prodded for critical input! We learned how to improve our performances and produce an even better program if the crew wants to do it again next year! The benefits go far beyond cash... (in fact it's not a major goal)... but rather we use it to provide the crew with an opportunity to show their stuff... keep the boat in the eye of the public, and have FUN!

Anyone else do such a program? I'd like to hear how yours works! 
Johnny Cash's third cousin, twice removed

Offline Lance Dean

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Re: COD's Halloween history program
« Reply #1 on: October 29, 2013, 09:40:16 AM »
I'd say that's a great thing you have going on there. I mean, museum subs can be creepy after hours I'm sure.

Offline Karen D.

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Re: COD's Halloween history program
« Reply #2 on: October 29, 2013, 02:28:27 PM »
HEY!! What's this nonsense about Cobia's awful boat handling?!?! :tickedoff: Ok, well yeah, I guess I have to agree with that statement! :2funny:

Anyway, I've wanted to do something like this one the sub for years, but a certain someone wouldn't let me... >:( BUT we are hoping that we will be able to do something on the boat next year. For now we just wrapped up our 5th year doing our Maritime History Ghost Walk. Occasionally I have to acknowledge that we have to talk about something other than submarines here.  ;)

Offline Paul Farace

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Re: COD's Halloween history program
« Reply #3 on: October 30, 2013, 02:30:01 PM »
The Ghost Walk sounds like fun!  If you'd like some input if you do such a program, let me know... we are the one-eyed man in the blind world at this point!  Scour your patrol reports and oral histories from your crew for weird tales...  and borrow some from other boats...  (I can also send you scripts)...

We had 200+ visitors over the two days... we could probably handle about 300-400 without too much pain.   :knuppel2:

Good luck!
Johnny Cash's third cousin, twice removed

Offline Karen D.

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Re: COD's Halloween history program
« Reply #4 on: October 30, 2013, 04:16:02 PM »
The Ghost Walk has been a fun little event and we feature true maritime tales from the Great Lakes. This year we took stories from the Great Storm of 1913 so that was nice to feature.

The problem is (if given the green light) how do we do it without interrupting the overnight program. We can't block out nights for that since its a major revenue source. We have to put our thinking caps on for this one, but we have time! Fingers crossed this is something I'll finally be able to work on!

And glad to hear you had such a great turn out! We always have some kind of competition in the area, but this year we had 125 people. That's pretty good for this event! :)