There Really Is No Place like Our Home
Here we are in the thick of the holiday season and I’m delighted to have the opportunity to say a few words. And yes, I’ve been doing this fairly regularly for the past 26 years. But this year feels a bit different.
On Monday, November 13, I attended the first full meeting of the 2024 Women’s FEST Committee. It was great to be there just to provide some Women’s FEST history to the crowd of faces mostly new to me. Teri Seaton and Lisa Evans, along with Michelle Manfredi and Kim Smitas, are co-chairing the event, and it’s a new crew’s job to put the FEST together.
I’m certain they will have the kind of magical, enriching experiences I had for almost 20 years, the last 10, ending in 2020, with co-chairs Dottie Cirelli and Nancy Hewish. These 2024 volunteers are already coming up with some amazing plans—as you soon will be reading in this magazine!
Then, on Friday afternoon, November 17, I stopped by the Elkins-Archibald Atrium (how I love that name!) at CAMP Rehoboth for the Volunteer Appreciation party. Looking around the room, I was stunned and pleased to see so many people I did not know. Executive Director Kim Leisey rose to speak, amid welcoming cheers and support and I could see the excitement and anticipation on the volunteers’ faces.
It’s a whole new world at 37 Baltimore Avenue, with our old guard applauding a new generation’s chance to have the remarkable sense of community, success, and enduring friendships we nurtured and enjoy to this day.
Sure, we Boomers will be back for events, fundraising, and a few volunteer hours now and then. But it’s a thrill to see so many new faces running the show.
Actually, Rehoboth Beach is unique when it comes to having a central organizing non-profit to bring the whole community together. Over the past decade, Allentown and Reading, Pennsylvania, have nurtured their own community centers, but years ago, when I worked for Rehoboth Beach Main Street, there were no other organizations like CAMP Rehoboth in small towns in the country.
I traveled nationwide to Main Street conferences, presenting a program called Rainbow Flags on Main Street, talking about how CAMP Rehoboth provides services, social events, and a support system for the LGBTQ+ community. I cannot tell you how many people lamented their towns having none of the same and asking how to start such an organization at home. I was proud to be an advocate for CAMP Rehoboth and our community.
Then, speaking of community, wow. On Friday night, November 17, I had the pleasure, and it was MY pleasure, of performing my comedy show at the Top of the Pines. While we all laughed together, a kind of raucous laughter so needed amid today’s horrors, the spirit of community in that room took my breath away.
Along with the comedy I shared some personal tales of Delaware’s gay rights journey, and stories about a transgender friend, and again, I could feel the emotional energy that makes our LGBTQ+ population and its cherished allies so special.
I’ve had a few weeks to think about this, but it might just be that November 17 at the Top of the Pines was one of my most rewarding experiences ever in Gayberry, RFD. And if you might indulge me in some shameless promotion, I’ll be back at the Top of the Pines again on Thursday, January 11. Tickets at TOTPshows.com.
It’s a fact that our sense of community here, our support systems for our friends, our sense of caring is what makes this place so special. And that’s why friends who once lived here are returning to us from other places, fleeing Florida, leaving the southwest, coming home to be in Sussex County where the heartbeat of the community is on Baltimore Avenue, keeping us all connected.
So yeah, there’s no place like home. And as you go through the holidays and into the new year, remember something important: you don’t stop playing because you get old, you get old because you stop playing! Next stops for me include a trip to Schellville and lots more. After all, life is like a roll of toilet paper. The nearer you get to the end, the faster it goes!
So have fun and I’ll see you in these pages in 2024. ▼
Fay Jacobs is the author of five published books and is touring with her one-woman sit-down comedy show, Aging Gracelessly.