Many of the communities were on the brink, staring into the abyss, and rather than wait for Washington to come up with a solution to their problems, they took it upon themselves to fight the influence of gangs, build new schools and community centers, health facilities, affordable housing, parks, gardens, overcome the ravages of natural disasters like floods and hurricanes.

Jim and I recorded about 15 hours of footage. I got interviews, candid moments, drama, and I captured plenty of comic situations. I knew instinctively as I was filming that this was something special, something I had not fully anticipated. I knew I was capturing precious golden moments that would make a great visual story.

When Jim and I returned from Anaheim, we went right to work cataloging our footage, and we were editing our masterpiece within days. We worked nights and weekends on the project for approximately 30 days, and the result was a 35 minute version of the movie for a business breakfast planned to motivate area businesses into promoting and using the logo. Following the premier of our movie, we got a standing ovation. Not bad for 8:30 in the morning.

We crafted two longer versions of the documentary, one 53 minutes and another even longer version 1 hour 43 minutes long. That one is more for the participants, but it is an in depth look at some of the other players in this competition.

Each city sends a delegation. Ours numbered 37 and was not the biggest, not the smallest. The most spectacular delegation had to be Laredo, TX.  They had about 30 people representing government, business, education, and on top of that they brought their high school marching band which, since this is a border town, is a 35 piece Mariachi "orchestra." 

They were decked out in black sombreros, slacks and vests with silver buttons and intricate brocade stitching. Their turquoise shirts and blouses were the pefect touch.  I never saw so many and varied guitars in one place that wasn't a music store. And could these kids play! Laredo loves its old world Mexican heritage. 

But Laredo has problems just like any rapidly growing city in America. Laredo is 165,000 people on the American side of the border and maybe a million and a half just across the river on the Mexican side.  There are now big walls and barbed wire along parts of the border. I visited Laredo back in the 1980s when I worked for John Deere. We had a proving grounds down there. I loved the city. You could walk back and forth across the border practically at will. Great restaurants on the Mexican side I recall. I was told that Laredo is the number one customs point for commerce in America these days since NAFTA... bigger than the coastal cities.  By the way... Laredo didn't win All America City this year. I was frankly a little surprised.

As personal movie projects go, this could be my Citizen Kane. So far, I can say that this is one of the most ambitious projects I've ever tackled. Thank goodness it happened when it did. I had a very busy summer going, but I still managed to carve out evening time to edit. Sometimes we were up till 2 AM. Jim's family was starting to wonder.

I couldn't be more proud of the results. It is everything I imagined it would be. It's got great pacing. More importantly, it gives us a glimpse into this fascinating world. I had no idea what was involved in qualifying for this award which a city can use to leverage great interest among travel and economic development publications, for example. Local businesses, too, can capitalize on this source of civic pride. The School District, incidentally, has included the All-America City logo in its front page website banner.

Someone asked me recently, "What would you have done if Dubuque had lost in Anaheim?" I considered that possibility, and in that case it still would have been a good movie. A sad ending, but not a waste of effort would have been the concluding message. There is redemption for those who worked so hard, and a lesson to be learned.

Nonetheless, I'm glad we won. -G.O.