A record number of people turned out for this year's Lawrence Chamber of Commerce Fall Mixer.
As he has for the last 19 years, Gary Toebben stood near the entrance of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce's annual fall mixer, shaking hands.
But this year was bittersweet for Toebben, president of the chamber since 1981, because he'll be leaving Lawrence in less than two weeks to take another job in Kentucky.
Hundreds of well-wishers stopped to wish Toebben good luck and say thanks at the annual "Taste of Lawrence" fall mixer at Meadowbrook Apartments, 15th and Crestline.
"It's very reaffirming in the importance the chamber plays in building our community," he said. "It's just really bittersweet for me."
Toebben has seen the annual fall mixer grow in attendance from about 500 in 1981 to about 1,700 on Wednesday night -- a record, organizers said.
"It's just a great event," Toebben said. "People see their friends and make new ones."
The mixer is held to recognize education in Douglas County, including public and private secondary schools, Kansas University, Haskell Indian Nations University and Baker University.
"This is a unique event because it shows how much the whole community supports education," said Lawrence High School Principal Dick Patterson.
"I love it," said James Kitchen, dean of students at KU. "It's a great way to reacquaint yourself with people and meet new people as well. And the food is great."
Cathy Lewis, director of membership and special events for the chamber, said this year's event had food from 25 restaurants and caterers.
She said organizers begin planning for it in June.
"It's a lot of hard work " but how many times do you have an opportunity to make 1,700 people happy?"
In fact, the event can't grow much larger without space problems, she said.
"I think we still have some (lawn) space over here that we can work with, but the parking is really becoming a problem," she said.
"It may come to a point where we'd have to limit the number of tickets. I'd hate to see it come to that, but we'll have to figure out something."
Participants said a starting time of 6 p.m. instead of 5 p.m., as it was in previous years, and perfect weather conditions contributed to Wednesday's large turnout.
-- Michael Dekker's phone message number is 832-7187. His e-mail address is mdekker@ljworld.com.
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