by Debbie Gardner
debbieg@thereminder.com
It’s a modest office – just three rooms and a staff to match – tucked around the corner on one of the upper floors of 1350 Main Street. But as Spirit of Springfield’s Director Judy Matt and her handful of dedicated employees and interns prove again and again, it doesn’t take a multitude to create community magic.
And magic is what this 26-year-old nonprofit produces – from the spring Pancake Breakfast on Main Street to the Star Spangled Springfield Fourth of July fireworks on the riverfront to the day-after-Thanksgiving Balloon Parade to Bright Nights at Forest Park – when it comes to boosting the city’s spirit, it’s Matt and what she jokingly calls her “golden rolodex” that makes the connections that get things done.
“You’re just as good as your contacts, and we have excellent contacts and very good working relationships [with our supporters and sponsors],” Matt told PRIME when we visited her office in early October.
Funding the fun
On the cusp of their busy season, the breadth of Matt’s – and the Spirit of Springfield’s – contacts were easy to visualize. The conference table in her office was covered with the components of invitations for the upcoming Bright Nights Ball – Spirit of Springfield’s biggest annual fundraiser. As we chatted, an intern finished up attaching feathers and a small jewel to a stack of the 500-or-so Gatsby-themed invites, stuffing them into mailing envelopes as she went along.
“Most people think we are the city of Springfield, which we aren’t, of course,” Matt explained as she showed off one of the completed invitations. “They don’t realize we have to raise our own funds to do all the things we do. That’s where all our resources come in, and all our contacts, and our reputation.”
It’s those funds and the revenue from things like the Ball and Bright Nights itself, Matt said, that fuel the “community glue” she provides for residents of Springfield – and by extension – members of the surrounding communities.
“You have to give people an opportunity to celebrate,” Matt said, referring to Spirit of Springfield’s many free events – the Pancake Breakfast, Army Band Holiday concert, U.S. Navy Band spring concert and the Fourth of July fireworks on the Riverfront. “The more people you can give a reason to celebrate, the better it is.”
That “reason” for example, translates into 70,000 free tickets to the Pancake Breakfast that are distributed to schoolchildren in Springfield and surrounding communities for the annual “rite of spring” as Matt calls it. Bolstered by generous donations and a minimal ticket cost – enough to cover renting tables, chairs and other equipment – Matt said the event is Spirit of Springfield is at its best – bringing residents together in the spirit of community.
Unsung helpers
But it isn’t always the happy times that calls Matt and her staff into action. Spirit of Springfield often works behind the scenes in places the public might not expect, Matt noted.
“We’ve organized the September 11 remembrance for 14 years,” she noted. “And we help with the Veteran’s Day events.”
When news reached the city that one of its own – Marine Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan – had been slain by a terrorist at the Naval Operations Center in Chattanooga, Tenn., Matt said it was Spirit of Springfield that reached out to help the family prepare for the crowds anticipated at the funeral. With their connections Spirit of Springfield was able to obtain such things as temporary fencing to help control the crowd flow, event-specific air conditioning for the church service and donated food to provide a simple luncheon for attendees following the service.
Spirit of Springfield performed a similar service, helping to arrange a remembrance ceremony when officer Kevin Ambrose was killed in the line of duty several years ago.
“We pulled it together in three days,” Matt said.
Spirit of Springfield is often the unseen organizing force behind
other city events, such as the inaugurals, Matt added.
“If the mayor needs something done, he’ll call us,” Matt said. “They call us when they need special things done, which we’re happy to do.
“It’s the ‘golden rolodex’,” she said. “It’s the relationships you develop over the years. You make one call and they know what you need.”
Putting ‘spirit’ in the season
Matt said Spirit of Springfield stepped up a number of years ago to take over another seasonal family favorite – the day-after Thanksgiving Parade of the Big Balloons – when first the original, and then the replacement sponsors –could no longer host the event.
She saw it as part of the organization’s mission.
“The city doesn’t have a lot of other events [for residents],” Matt said. “The Balloon Parade, the Fourth of July fireworks, these are free events. [Springfield] is not a wealthy community; people would miss them if they were gone.”
That popular annual holiday event dovetails with another local-and regional- family favorite hosted by Spirit of Springfield – Bright Nights at Forest Park.
“Bright Nights is our event, Spirit of Springfield created it,” Matt said of the event that’s been described by Yankee Magazine as the Northeast’s premiere holiday lighting display.
The three- mile stretch of festive scenes turns 22 years old this year, and Matt said plans for this season include an expansion of the popular Santa’s Village stop, located in Forest Park Zoo’s parking lot.
“Santa is so busy we’re moving him out of the [gift shop] building and giving him his own house,” Matt said. “And we’re enlarging the gift shop to three times its size.” Refreshment choices will include such snacktime favorites as hot chocolate, s’mores and kettle corn, and the Village will continue to include all-age favorites such as the carousel, the train and the walk-through giant snow globe.
“It’s a busy area, we gave 10,000 rides last year,” Matt noted, adding that Spirit of Springfield has been working on this expansion of Santa’s Village for about four years. “You have to keep changing things up, and updating things. You can’t just rest on your laurels.”
That includes the lighting displays. Beyond gradually swapping over all the bulbs to more energy-efficient LED lights, Matt said plans are already in the works to add at least one new display for Bright Night’s 25th Anniversary in 2019. She showed off artist renderings of some existing displays, explaining they all start with such detailed sketches showing every light bulb.
“It’s an investment. [The displays] are $100,000 each,” she said.
Matt then shared a little-known secret. Though Spirit of Springfield works in partnership with Patrick Sullivan, director of Parks, Buildings and Recreation Management for the city of Springfield, and with the city to put on Bright Nights, the non-profit actually foots the entire bill for Bright Nights.
“We rent the park,” Matt said, adding that she also pays the traffic control officers and provides an hourly rate to a select and dedicated team of Park Department employees to erect, maintain, dismantle and store the giant light displays each season.
“We have the best crew,” Matt said in praise for the unsung heroes of Bright Nights, adding that prior construction of a grant-funded storage building, these employees worked on the displays in the old, unheated Forest Park stables, ungloved, often in freezing temperatures.
For the joy on their faces
Not many people would opt for a job where you have to raise the funds for everything – even your own salary – but for Matt, her position at Spirit of Springfield is the perfect fit. And it’s one she doesn’t plan to give up anytime soon.
“Everyone has different reasons for working,” said Matt, who started her career championing the community of Springfield with the Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs under then Mayor Richard Neal. “Mine isn’t financial, it’s to accomplish what I do every day to make this city a better place.
“I enjoy it every day, I look forward to the things I can do,” Matt continued. “Not everyone has that chance, to change the lives of a lot of people.”
And of all the celebrations and events Spirit of Springfield organizes and hosts for the city, Matt did confess that for her, one stands out above the others.
“The Star Spangled Springfield, that’s my favorite [because] it’s everyone’s holiday,” Matt said. “I love the fireworks, and I love to see the crowds come downtown.”
