An idea wacky enough to work?

Welcome to the department of wacky ideas. At the moment, apparently, I am the chief proprietor.

I can't help it. A wacky idea will occur to me, and before I have had a chance to dismiss it as silly or unworkable, someone else makes it work.

The latest started as a joke.

It was Friday morning, and I stuck my head into the Community Resource Center after picking up the newspaper's mail.

The joke went something like this: Next year, instead of hosting an engine and tractor show at the fairgrounds, maybe we should just have the world's biggest golf cart convention.

Okay, so it's not much of a joke. More of a wisecrack that would be appreciated by anyone who navigated Portland's streets last week during the Tri-State show.

But before I could even try it out on Bill Bradley of Jay County Development Corporation and Vickie Tague of the Jay County Chamber of Commerce, a wacky idea hit me.

It literally occurred to me between the car and the front door of the building.

Why not, I wondered, do something interesting with all those golf carts? The engine show brings tens of thousands of visitors, and more and more of them like to use golf carts to get around. Given the size of the show, that makes sense.

Meanwhile, the community has long wished there were better ways to multiply the impact of the engine show by getting visitors to see things beyond the fairgrounds. Garage sales are fine as far as they go, but it would be great to have a more lasting connection.

That's when it hit me.

If life gives you golf carts, build a golf course.

What we need is 18 holes.

I'm not talking real golf, of course. The Portland Golf Club does a fine job of that.

What I'm talking about is establishing 18 "greens" around town that were the equivalent of putt-putt golf holes. They could be as elaborate or as simple as you'd like.

It makes sense for No. 1 to be at the fairgrounds, and No. 18 should probably be there as well.

As to the rest, use them to create an opportunity to show off the county seat.

Only a few minutes of brainstorming came up with a list of likely locations: Freedom Park, Arts Place and the quilt show, Jay County Public Library and its book sale, the resource center with its vintage Haynes, the Jay County Historical Society Museum, the Museum of the Soldier, Hudson Family Park, John Jay Center for Learning, the courthouse.

And commercial promotional possibilities then jumped to mind: The Jay Garment Antique Mall, downtown shops, restaurants, banks with ATMs.

The possibilities are endless.

The way I see it, wacky as it is, those interested in golfing the "Tri-State Open" would get a scorecard with a map at the engine show. Then, at their leisure, over the course of the show they'd try their hand at putting each of the holes. They'd get their scorecard stamped, and those who played all 18 holes - seeing the most of the community - would be entered in a prize drawing.

Sure, I know, it sounds a little crazy.

But I hear rumors that Tiger Woods is secretly an engine collector.

Who knows how this will play out?[[In-content Ad]]