The ARRL will celebrate its centennial in 2014, and is already making plans to commemorate the highlights of the League’s first century -- and looking forward to what the second century may bring. This is your League and your centennial and ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN, is inviting all ARRL members to provide suggestions to help make this once-in-a-lifetime event truly special.

“Centennial theme publications and special sections of regular publications are in the works,” Craigie noted, “as is an operating event that all members can participate in. We will have centennial merchandise in the ARRL store and artwork you can use to design items for yourself and your club. We’ll be drawing on the ARRL’s historical collection and the memories of living amateurs.”

Local radio clubs are encouraged to develop public relations events in 2014 that are both meaningful to amateurs in your area and that are also tied in to the observance of the ARRL’s 100th birthday. “These events could celebrate the anniversary of your club’s founding, mark an Amateur Radio-related event in local history or honor outstanding amateurs who have made a contribution to your community through the years,” Craigie said. “You could organize and publicize an event for local youth who are amateurs or studying to become amateurs, shining a spotlight on the future of Amateur Radio as we follow in the footsteps of the forward-thinking pioneers of our first century. In all your club public relations and outreach plans, the ARRL encourages you to highlight the technologies and applications that make Amateur Radio just as exciting for Americans today as it was for people 100 years ago.”

The ARRL Centennial Celebration Committee wants to hear your ideas and suggestions about how the centennial should be celebrated -- both at the national level and through local radio clubs. What should the League do? What can local clubs do to capitalize on the public relations opportunities of the national organization’s centennial?

“Every idea you suggest will be considered, even though it likely won’t be possible to implement them all,” Craigie explained. “Publications, operating events, public relations opportunities, displays, themes, merchandise, highlights of the past, the excitement of the future -- you’re invited to be part of designing the centennial of our League!”

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