Hard as it is to believe, the calendar points toward Buckeye Rural Electric Cooperative’s 2006 Annual Meeting in about six weeks. Changes are in store this year, not the least of which is location.

The Saturday, Aug. 12, event will be held at the Lynn Center auditorium on the campus of the University of Rio Grande. Next month’s “Country Living” magazine will include maps of the new Annual Meeting site, in addition to the co-op’s financial and departmental reports.

For many years, Buckeye Hills Career Center has been the home of the Annual Meeting. The facility was top-notch and the hospitality great. The decision to change locations had nothing to do with problems but everything to do with the size of the crowd.

Many rural electric cooperatives have seen their membership meetings decline in interest and shrink in size. Buckeye’s meeting has done the opposite. For several years, our attendance has increased.

The 2005 Annual Meeting pushed capacity to the limit. We experimented with outside seating and tried other alternatives to over-crowding. However, an admission had to be made that safety, comfort, and convenience dictated a larger auditorium.

Finding a suitable facility was a challenge. The Annual Meeting Committee, led by Executive Secretary Debra Sword, started evaluating possible meeting sites last winter. They looked at anything in the service territory that could possibly handle 1,500-2,000 people: fairgrounds, schools, outdoor arenas, even vacant commercial buildings.

Nothing was both suitable and available. We began to make provisions for over-flow seating at Buckeye Hills, knowing that it would be a challenge to handle even a slightly larger crowd than last year.

To the rescue came the University of Rio Grande. The Lynn Center, where URG basketball games are held, is large enough to handle our current Annual Meeting attendance, with some added room for growth. Plenty of seating will be available so “standing-room-only” crowd descriptions become a moot point. The facility is not air conditioned, but our morning meeting format should allow us to offer breakfast, hold the business session, announce trustee election results, draw for prizes, and be done before noon.

We are excited about the new location. I believe it fits well with our Annual Meeting format. It is bitter-sweet to be leaving Buckeye Hills. The folks there were great to work with and always accommodating. The need for more room was simply an issue we could not ignore. Last year, the Annual Meeting was bursting at the seams; and we knew the trend of attendance growth would necessitate a change.

The new location at URG will be combined with a little “tweaking” of the schedule and the prize drawings. Otherwise, the 2006 Annual Meeting will follow the pattern that Buckeye members have told us they prefer.

Annual Meeting is a time of fellowship and for democratic governance in keeping with the Cooperative Principals. The purpose is serious; the venue encourages members to enjoy themselves. There’ll be pancakes and all the trimmings, a health fair by Holzer Medical Center, door prizes, and drawings.

Next month, we won’t be holding our collective breath for fear of exceeding fire codes or not having enough seating. Rain or shine, the Annual Meeting tradition continues. We invite you to join us.