As a 17-year, full-time Fountain Hills resident, founder and lead organizer of Concours in the Hills, I am disappointed with the comments that Councilmember Peggy McMahon made at the meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 15.

Ms. McMahon seemingly has no knowledge of marketing, promotion or publicity. She objects to the $7,000 fee the Town charges us for the two-day use of the park, and feels that we should be charged far more, despite the fact that every penny generated goes to Phoenix Children’s Hospital. She ignores the 40,000-50,000 people who came to the show, many seeing Fountain Hills for the first time.

We had one sponsor, who sells very exclusive multi-million-dollar cars, come from Beverly Hills. We had private exhibitors from as far away as Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver and Las Vegas.

I spoke to many who were smitten with our beautiful town. She ignores the $430,000-plus dollars we raised for Phoenix Children’s Hospital, which has treated a great many of our residents’ kids. She ignores the business done by retail establishments, especially restaurants, on the day of the show, with inevitably more to come – just ask Merita at Euro Pizza.

This show receives not only national, but international publicity. The last show received three color pages in the coffee table book, “The Concours Year,” with worldwide distribution, a value of $7,500. They have asked for more on this year’s event.

As organizer I have three objectives – to raise funds for PCH, to produce a fun event, and last but certainly not least, to showcase our little slice of heaven! I personally incur considerable expense, not to mention that it is virtually a full-time job. The show gets enormous support from so many in the town and we would appreciate Ms. McMahon’s support, too.