On September 4, the City-County Communications and Marketing Association (3CMA) recognized Windsor’s "Walk of Light" 9-11 Remembrance Ceremony as the best special event produced in 2002 by a community with a population of between nine and thirty-six thousand. Enita Jubrey, Assistant to the Town Manager, who designed and produced the Walk of Light, attended the 3CMA awards ceremony in Anaheim, California, and accepted the SAVVY Award for Windsor and for the more than 3,000 kids, seniors and volunteers who created the 3,200 luminaries that were the centerpiece of the "Walk of Light" event.

Windsor Town Manager Leon Churchill announced the award at the September 15 Town Council meeting. Mayor Donald Trinks accepted the award on behalf of the community and the Town Council and suggested that it be shown to the children in the Windsor schools as an example of what can be achieved when people work together towards a common purpose.

"The ‘Walk of Light’ and this award make me proud to be a member of the Windsor community," Mayor Trinks said.

3CMA has more than 825 city and county government members and received 700 entries for this year’s SAVVY Awards competition. The association is a leading organization of local governments and focuses its efforts on new and better ways of communicating with citizens by viewing them as customers with important input into the kinds of services offered and how they are provided.

What is a Savvy Award?

3CMA initiated its annual Savvy Competition fifteen years ago as a vehicle to
fulfill its mission of changing the way local government does business. Just like
the Oscar Awards encourage filmmakers to create innovative films, the Savvy
Awards motivate city/county employees to produce top-notch marketing and
communications programs for their citizens.

As 3CMA has grown, the Savvy Program has become a cornerstone, bringing
together city/county employees from across the nation to share great ideas. With
pride and pleasure, 3CMA has had the opportunity to watch the great strides that
have been made in recent years in the fields of government marketing and
communications. The over 700 Savvy entries come from a wide spectrum of
cities/counties and reflect the progress made in fulfilling the organization’s vision.
3CMA members have been working hard to serve their customers/citizens in a
variety of inventive ways. Each year the bar gets set a little bit higher as people
build on what they accomplished last year.

Similar to government attracting its employees from the community, Savvy
judges are involved volunteers from the 3CMA membership. These local
communications and marketing professionals always have a hard task in
identifying the winners. In many cases, there are only small differences that
separate the award winners from the other entries. As the quality of the entries
has increased over the years, the job of being a judge has become progressively
harder.
 

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More than 3,000 luminary bags, one for each individual who lost their life on September 11, 2001 lined the sidewalks of the Windsor Town Green on Wednesday, September 11, 2002. Each bag was inscribed with the name of an individual who lost their life in the disaster and each bag was decorated by a Windsor student or citizen. As dusk approached, red, white and blue glowsticks were placed in the luminary bags providing a breathtaking sight, and offering an opportunity for residents to reflect and remember those touched by the disaster. More than 5,000 people strolled the town green to participate, each in his or her own respectful way. Town of Windsor staff created this unique special event, but as is typical of Windsor, it was executed by a large group as diverse and caring as the town itself.