Before I get too deep into this, I'd like to thank every person who ever attended Myrtle any time from 1998 on through 2007. It'd be really impossible to figure out exactly how many individual people attended at one time or another over the course of our decade, but I'm sure each and every one of them has some memories that they'll never forget. It was for the creation and charity of those memories that Ken, Jason & I (along with our many crew members) poured our souls into Myrtle for each of the last 120-Plus months.
Myrtle Madness was my 20's. I was two weeks shy of my 21st birthday when 28 of us sat down in the back room at the Hard Rock Cafe on 11/14/98 for the big group dinner of Myrtle Madness '98. I think I still have somewhere the piece of notebook paper that we passed around onto which everyone wrote their names and email addresses. Today I'm two weeks shy of turning 30, and am only a few days removed from our having an entire Planet Hollywood franchise closed early for us to have our final Myrtle Madness awards ceremony. For a third of my life, I've lived for Myrtle.
And now, it's over. And I'm at peace with that.
As Ken referenced - "and now, the end is near, and so I face the final curtain. .."
I'd like to change that just a bit and say "and now, the end is here."
I've seen many threads about "what about next year?" "We want Eleven!!" Frankly, it makes me happier than I could possibly explain to know that we've created this kind of love within people that they want nothing more than to come back again next year. It's that knowledge that has kept us doing this for as long as we have. With that being said though, we're finished. I'm not really choked up; where others may have gotten misty during Jordan's closing comments, I mostly felt pride in the accomplishment. I know what only a very, very few people know - exactly how much has been personally invested in all of this over the years.
The only three of us who made it to each and every Myrtle are the same three of us who, from the very beginning, assembled every Myrtle by hand. There's an intense level of personal ownership that we feel in the entire concept of the meet, and believe me when I say it was VERY hard for us to decide that this was going to be the last one. We promised ourselves when we made the final judgment that we would not renegotiate with ourselves, and I think we're all quite content with the end result.
We ask humbly: if you truly love and appreciate that which Myrtle Madness was, you respect our decision to let it be over.
To all of you who have asked the Core Creators about continuing the meet, who have graciously offered to lead Myrtle going forward, we are flattered, thankful, and excited. You would have our utmost support and our total cooperation, so long as you respect what I wrote just above: let Myrtle Madness be finished.
When Myrtle began, there was no tradition in any other meet, and while what we began has had an amazing run, we truly and firmly believe that it's time for a new tradition. We ask that if there is to be a NEW national Probe Owner's meet, that who ever decides to organize it chooses three new things. #1 - a new location, #2 - a new time of year and #3 - a new name. All we ask of your starting a new meet is: Not Myrtle Beach, Not November, not "***** Madness."
It's been a wild, wild ride for me. My life as I know it now is absolutely nothing like I thought it would be when I graduated high school. Myrtle, and the community of people it represents, has changed everything. No part of my life has not been affected by my dedication to the Kingdom of Probe and to the legacy that was created at Myrtle Madness '98. I still have a Probe, and by God, I want someone to create a new meet that will make me get it out of the garage and have it there on display. I know there is spirit and fire still in this community, it was out for the world to see this past weekend. I really would like for a new group of people to take the initiative to harness that spirit and begin something new. I'm pulling for you, and I can't wait to attend whatever the new meet is next year.
Thanks to each and every last one of you for making my life what it is, and thank you for being a part of Myrtle Madness - The Best Decade of Your Life.
Greg Martin
1990 Probe LX
1992 Probe LX
1993 Mazda MX6 LS
1994 Mazda MX6 LS
Myrtle Madness was my 20's. I was two weeks shy of my 21st birthday when 28 of us sat down in the back room at the Hard Rock Cafe on 11/14/98 for the big group dinner of Myrtle Madness '98. I think I still have somewhere the piece of notebook paper that we passed around onto which everyone wrote their names and email addresses. Today I'm two weeks shy of turning 30, and am only a few days removed from our having an entire Planet Hollywood franchise closed early for us to have our final Myrtle Madness awards ceremony. For a third of my life, I've lived for Myrtle.
And now, it's over. And I'm at peace with that.
As Ken referenced - "and now, the end is near, and so I face the final curtain. .."
I'd like to change that just a bit and say "and now, the end is here."
I've seen many threads about "what about next year?" "We want Eleven!!" Frankly, it makes me happier than I could possibly explain to know that we've created this kind of love within people that they want nothing more than to come back again next year. It's that knowledge that has kept us doing this for as long as we have. With that being said though, we're finished. I'm not really choked up; where others may have gotten misty during Jordan's closing comments, I mostly felt pride in the accomplishment. I know what only a very, very few people know - exactly how much has been personally invested in all of this over the years.
The only three of us who made it to each and every Myrtle are the same three of us who, from the very beginning, assembled every Myrtle by hand. There's an intense level of personal ownership that we feel in the entire concept of the meet, and believe me when I say it was VERY hard for us to decide that this was going to be the last one. We promised ourselves when we made the final judgment that we would not renegotiate with ourselves, and I think we're all quite content with the end result.
We ask humbly: if you truly love and appreciate that which Myrtle Madness was, you respect our decision to let it be over.
To all of you who have asked the Core Creators about continuing the meet, who have graciously offered to lead Myrtle going forward, we are flattered, thankful, and excited. You would have our utmost support and our total cooperation, so long as you respect what I wrote just above: let Myrtle Madness be finished.
When Myrtle began, there was no tradition in any other meet, and while what we began has had an amazing run, we truly and firmly believe that it's time for a new tradition. We ask that if there is to be a NEW national Probe Owner's meet, that who ever decides to organize it chooses three new things. #1 - a new location, #2 - a new time of year and #3 - a new name. All we ask of your starting a new meet is: Not Myrtle Beach, Not November, not "***** Madness."
It's been a wild, wild ride for me. My life as I know it now is absolutely nothing like I thought it would be when I graduated high school. Myrtle, and the community of people it represents, has changed everything. No part of my life has not been affected by my dedication to the Kingdom of Probe and to the legacy that was created at Myrtle Madness '98. I still have a Probe, and by God, I want someone to create a new meet that will make me get it out of the garage and have it there on display. I know there is spirit and fire still in this community, it was out for the world to see this past weekend. I really would like for a new group of people to take the initiative to harness that spirit and begin something new. I'm pulling for you, and I can't wait to attend whatever the new meet is next year.
Thanks to each and every last one of you for making my life what it is, and thank you for being a part of Myrtle Madness - The Best Decade of Your Life.
Greg Martin
1990 Probe LX
1992 Probe LX
1993 Mazda MX6 LS
1994 Mazda MX6 LS
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