Manchester Planning Commission Chair Wears Many Hats

Chairman of the Manchester Township Planning Commission, Les Kopka, has deep roots in Manchester community, but his interests and activities sometimes venture beyond his hometown.

Manchester Township Planning Commission Chairman, Les Kopka, has been part of the Manchester community since his childhood.

A 1970 graduate of Manchester High School, Kopka also was one of the original members as well as President of what started as the Manchester Jaycees Fat Lamb Club. In the past 40+ years, dozens of young people have added to their college funds or started off a savings account thanks to the  Lamb Club, which has become one of the hallmark events of the annual community fair. which is now an institution at the Manchester Community Fair. Les' father, Elmen Kopka, was an active Fair Board member for many years, and raised registered sheep at his farm south of Manchester.

"Dad was extremely involved with the fair," Les recalls. "He was one of the instigators of the Lamb Club; in the year before there actually was a lamb club, he donated two fat lambs to the livestock auction and the proceeds from that auction went to start the club."

The Kopka family moved to their Manchester Township farm in 1954 and have remained part of the community ever since. After graduating high school, Les worked in Ann Arbor and Tecumseh for a time but returned in 1978 and built a home on a 10-acre plot just south of the farm that was part of his parents' homestead. He remains there still, with his wife Linda, and has been part of the Manchester Township Planning Commission for 18 years, serving as chair for the past 13 or 14 years.

Les currently works at O'Hara Chrysler in Clinton, and enjoys being close to home. Along with his involvement in Manchester area events, he also is an active member of the Clinton Rotary Club, currently serving as the club's Secretary/Treasurer. For the past five years he has headed up their Ribs-Blues & Wheels celebration, based on one of his favorite Manchester events--The Blues & Ribs festival hosted by the Manchester Men's Club each May.

"This will be the fifth year of the Ribs and Blues event," he explains. "But it will be the first year that we've incorporated a car show. We're getting a lot of response to this, partly because we are raffling off a vintage 1990 Corvette, and have been taking it to other local car shows to sell raffle tickets."

Les and Linda had already attended a few of the Manchester Blues and Ribs festivals with friends, when he came up with the idea of adapting it to Clinton and holding it in the late summer rather than the spring.

"It has evolved into a more involved, more elaborate, two day event," he explains. "This year, we have a three-piece opening act on Friday, September 5--George Bedard and the Kingpins. They perform all over the USA. We have some really high-caliber bands and four different food vendors. Each of the food vendors offer the basics, of course, but they all have something else special to add to their menu--peach cobbler, strawberry shortcake, french fries, and smoked barbecue chicken legs."

George Bedard and the Kingpins are one of the headliner groups that will be playing at next weekend's Ribs-Blues and Wheels event in Clinton.

The event is also very family friendly, Kopka adds.

"We'll have a monstrous bounce house for the kids," he says. "It's 15 feet tall and 30 feet long--it was a huge success last year. We have it inside a corral, so parents can do their thing and don't have to worry about their kids."

The festival also has several varieties of beer, along with juice for the kids, a Culver's ice cream trailer, coffee, tea, and cocoa. In addition, there are two 50/50 drawings and other fun events to keep people interested.

"I try to keep things moving by giving all attendees a program/survey/menu," Kopka explains. "It lists the band times, where each food vendor is located and what they are serving, and the survey also asks for comments about the bands, the vendors, and the refreshments."

One wild card in this year's event will be the car show, which will be held on Saturday, Sept. 6.

"We've had a good response, but not a lot of registrations so far," Kopka says. "That's not unusual because attendance by people who have vintage cars is usually based on the weather. If the weather is good, we are looking forward to a great turnout based on the response we've received."

Just in case the weather is cooler this weekend, the Clinton Rotarians have made arrangements for patio heaters and warming barrels, to keep their guests comfortable.

The event will be held at the corner of US-12 and Matthews Highway, starting at 6:30 p.m. on Friday and running until 11 p.m, with gates open from 4-11 p.m. on Saturday, September 6.

For more information, visit www.clinton-rotary.org

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.