To All Our Dear Friends, Helpers, Ralliests and Tourists:

I am sorry to tell you that Julia and I have found that we really cannot run the Bridgehampton Road Rally in 2008, and we have submitted our resignations to the Historical Society.

Over the last 10 years, planning and running the Road Rally became rather a fulltime hobby in the Shelly household. Each year we had the reward of watching everyone have a wonderful time at an event we were proud to manage. But 2007 turned out to be a really tough year and we were very hard pressed to accomplish our goals with the Road Rally. Some of our longtime volunteers were not able to help, Julia had a knee problem which slowed her down, and Jim’s business had a really bad year. Luckily everything went very well and the Rally went off with only some minor hitches.

When the weekend was over, Julia and I cleaned up and went home to other things in our lives. After a lot of discussion we decided that we could not volunteer the amount of time needed to run the Rally in 2008 and informed BHHS of our decision.

The president of the Historical Society, Gerrit Vreeland, has told me that they intend to keep the rally going, and that a Rally Steering Committee has been meeting. We wish them luck with the event.

Julia and I would like to take this last opportunity to thank all of the people who have helped us over the years. You are far too numerous to list here but we know that the Road Rally could never have been a success without the incredible mix of friends, business acquaintances, customers, relatives, tennis buddies, and employees who came to help. Over the years you became everything from major sponsors to the cleanup crew. You volunteered your time and energy to make the Bridgehampton Road Rally a success, and you made us proud to know you and be a part of the event. Thank you all for your help. Stay in touch, take care out there, and we’ll see you on the road. Jim Shelly April 2008