The Chronicle stops the presses- Play offers new twist on classic story
- Students create illustrations for Georgia Ports Authority
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Graduate student channels classic horror in thesis film - Alumnus creates mobile gallery
- SCAD libraries hold artist’s book competition for students
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- Noted author speaks to students
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- Baseball takes series from St. Thomas
- Women’s basketball wraps up second place in Florida Sun
- Athletics updates for Feb. 15
- Baseball off to best start in program’s history
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Trivial Pursuits
 Herrington brings organizational skills to event planning
 Photo by Wayne C. Moore Kim Herrington, advertising executive at The Chronicle, applies many of the same skills she uses in her job to her hobby, event planning. By Monique Bos Published: Friday, June 16, 2006 Through her role as advertising executive at The Chronicle, Kim Herrington rediscovered an old interest: event planning. One of her jobs for the paper is to organize the Vendors’ Fair each fall, an event at which local businesses come to SCAD during orientation to offer their services and present their products to students. For Herrington, the process of planning the fair and ensuring that everything runs smoothly rekindled the enjoyment she experienced as a teenager planning parties with friends. “We were pretty responsible. We’d contact the city of Savannah about noise ordinances, and we’d have free security because the police would come by every hour or so to check on things,” she said. “I’ve enjoyed dealing with the Vendors’ Fair and seeing what it takes to put on an event of that scale. That sort of got me back into event planning. I’m an organization freak anyway so it’s kind of natural that I would take that up as a hobby.” One of her primary challenges — and goals — is to work well within a budget, another skill she developed from throwing high school parties. “For lanterns, we’d take paper bags, fill them halfway with dirt and then add candles,” she said. Most recently, Herrington and her mother planned a June 11 wedding reception for her sister Keilah, who was married April 16. They transformed the social hall at their church, 50th Street Church of Christ, into a festive scene with a few inexpensive touches. “We got together with a lot of women at the church, and we just had a bag of full of stuff from inexpensive places like Dollar General,” she said. “We covered this wall with rose petals and wedding lights and tulle. That looked really cool.” They also used flowers and wedding bell decorations to enhance the bridal atmosphere. They filled the base of a clear vase with rice and then added white lilies. “It looked really tropical, Hawaiian,” Herrington said. “Everybody brought out all of their silver. It was really nice. All kinds of things just pulled together — we even found napkins with roses and lilies.” Their efforts impressed the guests. “Everyone was really, really shocked at how we made that room look,” Herrington said. Another success was the family reunion she and her mother organized in June 2005. More than 130 members of her mother’s extended family attended the event. “We had to figure out what to do in Savannah,” she said. “A lot of these people have been coming to the city for years.” Because of the size of the group, Herrington said the Emerald Princess cruise line in Brunswick offered them a discount, which put the price of the cruise at $7 per person. “Everyone thought we paid a lot for the boat, but we didn’t,” she said. “The boat gave us two full meals — we had dinner and we had breakfast.” They also enjoyed music and dancing as part of the cruise. For the children, Herrington arranged a dolphin cruise. “The kids really enjoyed it,” she said. “Most of them don’t live near the ocean, so for them to get on a boat and have the dolphins come up to the side of the boat and to feed them fish was really exciting.” The reunion concluded with a barbecue at Skidaway Island State Park, and Herrington and her mother received many compliments on the event’s success. “We provided hospitality and an itinerary from day one,” she said. “There was something for everyone to do. It was the 25th annual family reunion, and people said it was the best one ever.” In fact, the family enjoyed the event so much that they asked Herrington and her mother to also organize the next reunion, scheduled to take place Aug. 4-6 in Roanoke, Va. “We started planning the trip and trying to give people the best value for a small amount of money,” she said. “We’re staying at a lodge in the mountains. It has an amazing view — that’s something the kids will remember forever.” She and her mother also are tackling an appreciation luncheon for their minister, Col. Linnie L. Darden III, who is retiring after 30 years of military service. As much as she enjoys organizing functions, however, she admits that her hobby has its drawbacks. “With event planning, you always have to be there, and you’re the point person,” she explained. “You have to stay there from start to finish.” It also has perks. “The part that I like is that you get to shop with other people’s money,” she said. “And you just have fun. People aren’t really into how nice it looks but whether they have a good time. And you’ve got to have food — good food is important!” |
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