For the second straight year, Dianne and Mark Gimbel received an email that makes them proud to be a part of the Friends of Windjammer Days crew.

The Gimbels were notified by the North American Bus Association that the Windjammer Days festival is one of only 100 events throughout North America to receive a coveted award for a top event of 2016. The American Bus Association Top 100 Events in North America award is announced in the fall preceding the time of the event. Winners are chosen from hundreds of celebrations, festivals and other events.

The Friends of Windjammer Days Facebook page states: “It is one of the most sought-after lists for travel professionals and the general public, and it receives worldwide media attention.”

Mark Gimbel said the award was presented to the event organizers, all volunteers, last year, too. “As a result, this past summer and fall were by far the largest support of the bus tour industry that we've seen in a long time. There were some days when there were 12 bus tours showing up in a short period of time.”

“Even though the award last year was for Windjammer Days, we think it helped the whole community,” Dianne Gimbel said. “We've already been recognized as being in the top 100 events, so they chose this area as one of their stops.”

Friends of Windjammer Days volunteers had a meeting recently, to begin planning for next summer's festival. “We named Kim Gillies as our new marketing director and Kim Martin to serve on the her committee, so now our marketing committee consists of two people,” Mark Gimbel said.