The American Refining Group’s 125th anniversary celebration of
the Bradford refinery was an overwhelming success, according to the
company’s leader.
On Sunday, ARG President and Chief Operating Officer Harvey
Golubock applauded the efforts of the refinery’s employees and the
community in making the three-day event a success.
“I was impressed with the effort put forth by our people and I
was very pleasantly surprised by the tremendous turnout from the
town for the parade,” Golubock said. “It was heart warming and
exciting to see that.
“Overall, we accomplished our goal, which was to raise the level
of understanding of what and who we (ARG) are and about the
petroleum industry and its importance to this region.”
Among the events featured during the celebration were a 90-unit
parade – complete with the history of oil on display, a VIP dinner,
oil and gas industry swap meet, auction, refinery tours and
fireworks, to name a few. Meanwhile, the company broke ground for
its new $20 million hydrotreater and unveiled a state historical
marker, which focuses on the significance of the refinery in
history.
“For a first-time event, I think we learned some things,”
Golubock said, adding officials will have some meetings this week
to review the celebration. “Things went pretty much as planned,
which means an awful lot of people put something into the
event.”
Golubock said employees and community volunteers put in many
hours to make sure the celebration went off as planned.
Particularly pleasing to Golubock was the community turnout for
the refinery tours, which were offered roughly every half-hour
during a large portion of Friday and Saturday.
“The refinery tours were oversubscribed,” Golubock said. “That
came as a big surprise to us because we weren’t sure how much of an
interest there would be. It really gives us food for thought on
providing even greater communication with the public on who we are
and what we do.”
Golubock, who didn’t have an exact figure on the number of
residents and visitors attending the tours, said additional tours
of the refinery could possibly be done in the future.
“There were hundreds of people,” Golubock said. “We spoke to
some of them afterward and they were pleased with the tour and
delighted. I also think a lot of people were surprised and didn’t
know exactly what we do or what we made.”
Now, the focus turns to ARG’s 10th anniversary of taking over
the operations at the Bradford refinery, which occurred in
1997.
Golubock said that celebration will likely focus more on the
refinery’s employees.
“This celebration focused more on the community and thanking
them for their support over all these years,” Golubock said. “Now,
we would like to focus on the employees.”
Golubock said the company typically holds a picnic each year;
that was halted this year due to the anniversary celebration. “It
will resume again next year bigger and better than ever.”
According to Golubock, the company also received support from
its affiliates and those it does business with.
