If you live in the Quincy area and had the pleasure of attending the 7th Annual Midsummer Arts Faire you experienced a wonderful community event. Downtown Quincy's Washington Park was the backdrop for the beautiful art of 58 fine artists from around the country. There was food, music and children's activities. 
 
If you made it, you probably noticed all these things. What you may not have noticed were two individuals who played big roles in making the 2010 Faire a success: Megan Backs and Jacob McGuire.
 
Megan and Jacob are recent graduates of Quincy University and products of QU's internship program. Megan interned at GREDF for nearly two years before accepting a part-time position with GREDF upon her graduation in December that will last until this fall. Jacob has interned with the Historic Quincy Business District for over a year and will stay on through the end of the summer when he starts his new position as a QU Resident Hall Advisor while pursuing his MBA.
 
As Faire Coordinator, Megan brought the event to a whole new level. For the past nine months, she balanced artists' needs with marketing, grounds and hospitality duties all under the governance of a 9-person board of directors. Jacob participated throughout the weekend as an HQBD liaison. Acting as a goodwill ambassador while attending to the trash takes a certain finesse and Jacob has it.

 

The dedication and passion each brought to their internships and to last weekend's Faire provides hope for tomorrow. These two young professionals are just that - professionals. If it wasn't for their youthfulness and ability to arrive at the park to deal with weather-related issues at 4:00 in the morning and stay until 9:30 at night, you'd think they have been doing this for a much longer time.
 
Congratulations to both Megan and Jacob. Both played a vital role in putting on a successful event. Their resumes, and all of us, are better off because of their contributions to the Faire weekend. We're excited to see what they'll do next.