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News3/10/2010 Record Crowd Attends PRECO’s Annual Membership MeetingThe largest crowd ever to attend a Peace River Electric Cooperative (PRECO) annual membership meeting swelled into PRECO Park recently. Headquartered in Wauchula, PRECO has provided electric service to 10 central Florida counties since 1940, when local residents formed the cooperative. This was PRECO’s 70th annual meeting. Nearly 800 registered members, over 100 more than the previous record, along with spouses and children, enjoyed a county fair atmosphere, including a climbing wall, bounce house, snow cones, ice cream, hot dogs and other refreshments. The crowd was estimated at approximately 2,700 people. Live music was provided by local talents, Tony Stockton, recent “Wauchula Idol” winner, and Sherry White, both of Wauchula. A variety of public informational and educational exhibits provided attendees with activities, brochures and door prizes. This year, the cooperative provided a retired service vehicle as the grand prize. “We took a 2000 Ford Ranger pickup truck off the road, repainted and reupholstered it, and promoted it as the grand prize,” said Nell McCauley, Chief Marketing and Member Services Officer. “We usually sell our retired trucks; instead, it was very satisfying to see it generate interest in our Annual Meeting.” In the weeks leading up to the meeting, PRECO received hundreds of inquiries from members asking how to register for the truck. “At the end of the meeting when prize tickets were drawn, Ronald Johnson of Ft. Lonesome was the lucky winner,” added McCauley. At the brief business meeting, members heard from Bill Mulcay, PRECO’s CEO, and Board Officers regarding the state of the cooperative. Also, PRECO’s board of directors was officially seated and co-op members participated in a friendly question-and-answer session. At the conclusion of the business meeting over 200 door prizes, including vacation packages, chainsaws, appliances, power tools, and much more were awarded to members by a ticket drawing. PRECO serves nearly 35,000 member/consumers in Brevard, DeSoto, Hardee, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Manatee, Osceola, Polk and SarasotaCounties through almost 4,000 miles of power lines. |