Jeff Dorwart wrote in message ...
This sounds like an excellent idea. Perhaps we could
coordinate nationally for one specific Saturday or
Sunday. That might get some national news attention.At 02:18 19 April 2004,

Hmmm. Seems that once again I didn't make things clear. We do it
every saturday night through spring through fall, and the object isn't
to see as many people as possible, it's to see how many return week
after week. By the time you've seen the same face four times in a
row, you know you have another convert, but you MUST be consistantly
there. The first few weeks we try for as many as possible, but then
ALL of our effort goes into keeping their interest. Several times
each season we set up earlier, and before dark spend the time showing
and explaining our instruments. We do NOT have an organization of our
own, but we do have lists of the different astronomical societies and
contact information. From the two of us that started, we now have
many others that join us, and instead of asking questions, they're
bringing their own telescopes. Two people can make a difference, but
the start before you see any success can be long and frustrating. We
have our differences, I like planets, my partner likes deep space
stuff, but instead of competing, we compliment each other in what we
can offer.

Astronomy has their "Great Night Out", but as far as I know, it seldom
wins the interest of many for more than that one night. It's a long,
steady effort, I don't have many weekends in the season that I don't
have to be there, but having a few hardcore converts makes it worth
the effort. It's a damn lot of work, and your only reward may well be
seeing a little girl's or boy's face light up when they seen the
craters on the moon for the first time. If you want to establish
something even halfway permanent, it has to be done. As our season
headcounts exceed any other of the park activities, I'd say we've done
quite well.