New Bryan playing cards to be issued

By DON ALLISON - Bryan Times Senior Editor

For Downtown Bryan Inc. it's time for a new deal, with a fresh deck of cards.

As a follow-up to its 2007 deck of playing cards featuring historic buildings of Bryan, DBI is rolling out a new deck. This deck - "The Many Faces of Bryan" - will feature 55 cards of photos of people from Bryan.

The photos may be color or black and white and will be of Bryanites past and present.

"Last year we did buildings," said Jim Funderburg, DBI president, "and we had a number of people who said they had old photos of people, or old photos of family, but there were no buildings."

"So we promised those folks that this year we would do people."

"Hopefully," Funderburg said, "it will be as successful as the deck we did last year." He noted all the cards sponsored on the first deck, and of the 1,000 decks printed, only about 80 are left. They are available at the Bryan Chamber of Commerce office at $10 per deck, and the new deck is to be sold at the same price."

Cost of sponsoring cards ranges from $60 for deuces through tens to $200 for aces.

Any individual, group or business that sponsored cards from the historic Bryan buildings deck has the option of sponsoring the same card or cards in the new deck.

Sponsorship of cards in "The Many Faces of Bryan" deck not spoken for by previous sponsors will go on sale April 1. Anyone wishing to renew sponsorship for the new deck must contact Mandy Hanna at the DBI office, 419-636-2247, before April 1 to do so.

Completed decks are to be available for sale to the public starting at the Bryan Jubilee, June 17-21.

don@bryantimes.com
 

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January 21, 2008

2008 Downtown Events

A tentative schedule of events for 2008 has been set by the Downtown Bryan, Inc. board and committees. Scheduled so far are:

April 1 – Kick off of the new playing card promotion “The Many Faces of Bryan.” This deck will be filled with photos of Bryan natives past and present, and either black and white or color photos will be accepted.

June 28 & 29 – Dayz in the Park, which will be a Saturday event this year. Hanna said DBI is looking for bigger and better rides, and new entertainment and activities.

May 24 - Tri-State Rib Smackdown held at the Bryan Eagles Parking Lot

July 12 – DBI Night at the Wizards stadium in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Aug. 7-10 – World’s Longest Yard Sale. DBI is looking to see Main Street lines with tents and canopies from U.S. 6 north to the Bryan Ford Lincoln Mercury dealership.

Aug. 8-9 – Sidewalk Sales. Inside-the-stores sales begin Friday, with outside sales featured Saturday.

Sept. 27 – Fall Festival

Oct. 18 – “OKTOBERFEST” Halloween festivities for high school aged kids and adults, to take place on the square. Planned festivities include casket races and costume contests.

Nov. 3 – Merchant Christmas Open House

Nov. 7 – “A Taste from the Vine” annual Wine Tasting event.

Nov. 28 – Santa arrival parade.

In addition, DBI has assumed coordination of the Downtown Bryan Cruise-In, which runs each Thursday evening from May 22 through Aug. 28.

Special Cruise-In vehicle feature nights are planned every other week, including a Bike Night, and free games will be set up around the courthouse lawn.

Planned sometime in July, perhaps in conjunction with the Cruise-In, is a new event, “Bryan’s Best Burger Battle.”