Hey there - I wanted to let you know, I've added a {prod} tag to the article you've created, Maquoketa Gold. I'm sure it's a real event, but you haven't shown signs of notability, and there are no sources that might show this either. As it is a new event, only held in 2006 for the first time, this may be difficult to show. If the 'prod' tag remains in place for a week, the article may be deleted by an administrator. You're free to remove it, but if you do so then it will almost certainly be taken to articles for deletion for a community concensus on whether or not it has a place in Wikipedia. If you'd like to discuss this, please don't hesitate to leave me a message on my talk page --Mnemeson 14:51, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hey - I can't say how pleased I am that you dropped me a line, too often people just leave, Im really glad you want to stick around. The Wikipedia 'notability guidelines' that come closest to helping are probably Wikipedia:Places of local interest. The biggest problem you're going to come up against is probably the feeling that Wikipedia is not a directory. Mainly, you need reliable and verifiable sources, to show why this event matters, and deserves a place in the Encyclopaedia - things like newspaper references might help, but if they're only local papers then they won't register with a lot of people.

An example that might go well is this article - it also doesn't include references, so it's not a good article, but it does assert the notability, by referring to a national phenomena, rather than any one show, and by saying they've been around for two centuries. Obviously, you'll never be able to create an article saying that yours has been around that long (;-)), but it gives an example of how to assert notability, even without proving it with sources. To be honest, letting the article on Maq Gold be deleted, and then recreating it in a few years when it's shown its longevity, its relevance, and you can find newspapers (or even books) that refer to it might be best. I'm not telling you what to do, for all I know the closing administrator might decide that the {prod} was wrong and the article should stay, these are just some ideas to bear in mind. Oh, and thanks for the invite - really - but I'm in England, so I'll probably never make it. I do hope the event goes well, though :) --Mnemeson 15:44, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]