McGuyver Award

We got a lot of nominations for different awards from the community this year, and one of our own Cordova Community Council directors was among the nominees.

Since we are in the business of giving awards to our community and not to ourselves, our first inclination was to put in the file and forget about it.

But in this instance we thought it was important to take a moment to call special attention to our own Lee Frechette with something we are calling the McGuyver Award.

Remember McGuyver? It was a television show starring Richard Dean Anderson who ran all over solving problems and getting out of scrapes by putting together great stuff out of chewing gum and popsicle sticks glued together with imagination.

McGuyver was so cool, he has become part of the language of fixing the impossible, as in:

• "I cannot believe you fixed the fax machine with a bent paper clip and a postage stamp... what are you, McGuyver?"
  
• Or, "Just because you can take a pocketknife, a toothpick and a lighter and make a John Deere tractor doesn't make you McGuyver!"
  
• Or, "My car broke down on the highway but I McGuyvered it up with shoe string and glue."
  

Yes, to "McGuyver" is to fabricate a useful device out of seemingly thin air and basic objects. It is to achieve a goal through the ingenious combination of common household items.

When we are putting on many public events we produce - whether it is Kid's Day or iFest or the Fourth of July, we are blessed to have our own McGuyver.

Lee Frechette has solved complex electrical problems, plumbing problems, shot off fireworks and cannons and made it snow in our parks.

He has built signage, stages, tables and train trestles. He makes it look like we plug power cords into oak trees that light up the night.

Lee revives dead machinery, and takes empty fields and turns them into festival grounds. He makes light happen, sound happen and makes technology supporting our events run like a major television network.

Lee takes our ideas and turns them into reality with seemingly a hope and a prayer.

Nobody spends more hours or takes on more complex logistical tasks on the community's behalf than Lee. And he does all as a volunteer.

Lee, we literally could not do it without you.

In honor of all of that, we award you the first and probably last "McGuyver Award," bestowed for the uncanny talent of converting common pieces of stuff into our event magic.