2020 Person of the Year Nominee: Pam Gualtieri

Walter Sprague
Art and Culture Reporter
 
“I’m tired of the way things are done!” Pam Gualtieri said at the Candidate Forum for the Weston County Republican Party on Aug. 12. Gualtieri was the last speaker at the forum, which was held at the Newcastle Lodge. Her passion and message presented a stark contrast to many of the other candidates who spoke that evening. Her speech struck a chord with voters, and they elected her the new mayor of Newcastle by a 273-vote margin on Nov. 3. Her election and the renovation of the Antlers caused several Newcastle residents to suggest that she should be Person of the Year.
“I felt like our citizens weren’t being heard,” Gualtieri said, “Being at the Antlers and the Pizza Barn and being involved in what I was involved in, I kept hearing a lot. But I felt that nobody else was (hearing the people). I kept hearing about what people thought was broken in our community. And nobody was doing anything to fix it. That’s why I got fed up, got tired of how our government was doing things. It wasn’t working.”
She said that if something isn’t broke, she will leave it alone. But Gualtieri said that if it needed fixing, and she could do something to fix it, even if she had to find the person with the skills to do so, she had to act.
“I just go,” she said, “It’s not that I don’t put thought into something. But we can think ourselves into inaction, and that’s not me. I also have found out that if I can’t do what is necessary, I can probably find the person who can take care of it.”
This frustration was part of the reason she decided in mid-2020 to run for mayor. The
lack of action where needed, and the frustration the people expressed, gave her a drive that she had to see through, Gualtieri said. She knows the work hasn’t even started yet, she said, but she also knows that there’s a lot she has to learn. But she is tired of the same old way it’s been done for years. 
“Especially in communication and how our resources are used,” Gualtieri continued, “I know I’m not a politician, even though I’ve served on the city council for two years. I’m a business person. So, when I see how things could be done better, well, that’s just a part of me, of how I think and act. You grab ahold of the good ideas, and then go! Talking only goes so far.”
“Once you’ve talked about an issue, what’s left? Action. I think that’s how Trump does things too, and I like that. I think a lot of people do. I know I won’t please everybody, but that’s not why I ran. I’m here to listen to people even when they disagree with me. I need to weigh the pros and cons, and then do the best job for the people that I can.”
Gualtieri said she does not easily give up on a good idea.
“I don’t give up on what is a good idea,” she said, “But if other people don’t like those ideas, if more people think they aren’t good, then I’ll put them further down on my priority list. Later on, I’ll revisit them and see if I can find a way to make my ideas work while accommodating the people’s wishes. After all, I work for them, not for myself.”
This ”never give up” attitude is a big part of why the Pizza Barn and the Antlers have been successful, even during these hard COVID-19 days.
“This hold makes some sense,” Gualtieri said about the response to the current pandemic by elected and unelected politicians, “But it makes me a bit anxious. I really want to see the country open up again. But many of the things we need to do, the cleanup and restart, are not happening right now. I know we’ll get it (the economy) going again soon, but I hate being held back. I feel as if COVID is holding us back. I’m tired of waiting.”
This shutdown became a big concern for Gualtieri as Christmas approached. One of the passions she has had is for nonprofit organizations. It hit her hard when she talked about Totes for Hope during
the Festival of Trees a few years ago.
“I was dumbfounded that there was this lack of food for our kids right here in Newcastle,” she said, “One kid had told me how he had to spread the food he was given for the weekend, just so he and his sister would have enough to eat till the next week. It shocked me. There are a lot of people here that don’t have enough food. At that time, I think it was something like 80 bags of food going home with kids each weekend. That’s heartbreaking and unacceptable.”
“When I heard that many of these fundraisers were canceled this year, I couldn’t stand it. I love what Decker’s did with the pie auction. I know that it didn’t raise even half of what is normal, but it’s still better than nothing.”
Canceling the Festival of Trees was the final straw for the action-oriented Gualtieri.
“Then I found out the Festival of Trees was canceled.” Gualtieri continued, “All I thought was, ‘this can’t be!’ I had to do something and started thinking hard about it. I remembered that Matt Ramsey had an online auction site, so I called him.”
She talked with Ramsey, and he jumped on board right away. She then went to Pinnacle Bank and also spoke with the flower shops. After some talking, everyone was on board, and the Festival of Wreaths was born. The florists ordered artificial wreaths this year, and Pinnacle Bank bought them. Ramsey provided his online auction free of charge. Gualtieri started reaching out to businesses right away. Initially, the group planned on 45 wreaths. Not satisfied with that, Gualtieri kept reaching out, and the number of wreaths auctioned off increased to 52.
“I knew we weren’t going to raise anything close to the normal $30,000 that usually gets raised. But these nonprofits are more in need now than ever, and something is better than nothing,” she said. 
In the end, the festival raised $8,194 to be split between the Weston County Ministerial Association and Helping Hands. Gualtieri was pleased with the response, especially from the nonprofits themselves. She said a few of them she contacted to register told her that they were OK, so they wanted to sit this one out and give other more needful organizations the opportunity for these funds.
“Part of me is very humbled by the constant support this community gives,” Gualtieri said. “I don’t like to let people down. But the people here make it easy to get things going.” 
She said it was one reason she decided that Newcastle would be home when she moved here. Now she feels as if Newcastle is looking to her to work things out, to make things better.
“I don’t know every issue that people are concerned with here,” she said. “But just come and talk to me. That’s important. I can’t fix everything, and I know that I wasn’t always there for people when I built up the Pizza Barn and the Antlers. But I’m here now. I can only try to do the things people are concerned with if they talk to me. And I want to be available to the community.”