Festival Committee Notes
Post-Festival Meeting 2008 - August 12, 2008
The real meeting minutes from Heidi Stevenson, board secreretary
Present: Ron Larson, Chuck Ganzert, Mike Fitzpatrick, Jim Jajich, Ann Gonyea, Joy Bender-Hadley, John Mallo, Steve Kriegel, Pat Saari, Patience Mc Carthy, Al Sherbinow, Jim DeYoung, Karen DeYoung, Heidi Stevenson. Maggie Morgan, staff
Non-festival:
The Ellis Paul concert is confirmed for Saturday, October 18, at the Marquette Senior High School Little Theater, 7:30 pm. Opening act TBA. Ellis is also doing a children's show on Sunday, October 19 at the Peter White Public Library.
The Annual Members Meeting will be on Saturday, November 1, in the Community Room of the Peter White Public Library. The potluck begins at 6 p.m., followed by the business meeting and board elections from 7-8:30 p.m., and the dance from 8:30-10:30 pm. Four board positions are up for election, with two incumbents eligible to run.
The attendees agreed that despite the difficulty in procuring votes, we should stick with nominating and voting on two Volunteers of the Year every year - but maybe with more e-mail reminders.
Hiawatha's monthly traditional acoustic jam session is still being held in the parlor of Grace Methodist Church on the corner of Fair and Norway, 3-4:30 p.m., first Saturday of the month, with the exception of this month.
Festival:
The attendees decided to stick with this year's plan of scheduling the post-festival meeting a month earlier, in August.
The attendees agreed to go with the new festival/board meeting schedule/plan for this year, too: potlucks at someone's house in January, March, and June. We will also try alternating what nights of the week these take place on in order to accommodate as many people as possible.
Camping and Parking: The attendees discussed setting aside another ten Thursday night spots to give away to the first ten $100 memberships signed up for or renewed.
Children's Area: Jim Edwards served his last year with us as coordinator of the Children's Area. He suggested some members of the local Ba'hai faith community to take over, which the attendees agreed with as long as the events were faith-neutral. Joy Bender-Hadley also suggested some members of the Liberty Children's Art Project.
Concessions: The attendees discussed the actual perimeter of Area G, and how the concessionaires may use it. It was agreed that we need to make sure the letter we include in the concessionaires' packets establishes guidelines for Area G's use. The attendees also agreed that Maggie should ask Hugh Leslie if the early setup by some concessionaires is a problem; if so, she can pursue renting the triangle picnic area for Hiawatha on the Thursday night before the festival. The concessionaires that want to set up early could be charged to pay the costs.
Funds: We are still looking for a funds coordinator to replace Lori Everett. We ran short of quarter tokens this year, even though we ordered more. The attendees decided to wait until Sue Bertram and/or Lori could be present before making a final decision on whether or not to order yet more quarter tokens.
Green Team: Al Sherbinow reported that quite a bit of material was recycled. He also has ideas for increasing the amount of waste recycled at next year's festival - assigning sorting to volunteers, and giving campers a recycling packet.
Info Tent: A festival goer brought a concern to Maggie that prompted a discussion about security screening for our volunteers. Maggie will consult Keith Swanson about the legality of this and the privacy rights of volunteers.
Cell Phones: The attendees agreed to continue using private cell phones for monitor/coordinator work at the festival. It was noted that there were some misconceptions about usage that needed to be cleared up, for instance coordinators being asked to leave their cell phones in their areas at all times.
Safety: There were a great many complaints this year about the heavy-handed police presence at the festival. The attendees discussed several ways to address this problem without appearing as though we do not take the security issues at the festival seriously, or as though we do not appreciate the help the police can offer with serious security issues. Some attendees offered to informally chat with some of the community outreach officers in the area that work in the schools. Maggie will consult with Hugh Leslie as well.
Set-up: The attendees discussed replacing the large school bus with a smaller bus with a lift, possibly from AMCAB.
The attendees also discussed ways to eliminate problems during vendor set-up, including having the area coordinators and monitors for the area present during vendor set-up, and providing vendors with a list of cell phone numbers for those people, should problems arise, as well as asking that no vendor set up along the t-shirt tent/main stage side of the street unless they have trailers. Maggie reminded us that some vendors' placements are influenced by power needs.
We need to be more frugal in the future with our "no smoking" signs, the attendees determined.
Maggie also reminded us that ABO, our tent rental company, can technically charge us $5 per staple they have to pull out of wooden tent poles, so we need to make sure nothing gets stapled into them. Set-up volunteers need to use clear tape only.
Shuttles: Many people asked for shuttles to run longer; in particular, many older festival-goers would like a shuttle to run until approximately a half hour after the dance.
The attendees decided it would be ok to sell banner space on the side of the horse shuttles.
Stage/Set-up: There were multiple complaints that Second Stage was too loud. This interfered with acoustic jams at nearby campsites, as well as listening to the Main Stage act, according to some.
Tom Dummer indicated that there is a serious need to increase the number of volunteers who are both available and show up for Sunday night stage teardown. Tom also indicated that more time is needed for set changes on Main Stage.
Teen Scene: There were complaints about adults crowding in on Second Stage during the Teen Dance, as well as smoking and drinking going on near the tent. Considering this and the problem with Second Stage sound interfering with other elements of the festival, several attendees suggested a "rowdier" act be slotted to close Main Stage on Saturday night. Chuck Ganzert, chair of the Music Committee, illustrated the difficulty in doing this, depending on performer schedules and contracts, but the possibility to do so remains.
T-shirts, etc: The attendees decided to start selling the current festival's mugs at the T-shirt booth from here on in, as long as the appropriate number have been set aside for coordinators and monitors. The idea of also selling some at local outlets before the festival, and online afterwards was discussed.
Workshops: There was a request to move the gospel workshop to the main stage area, but the attendees decided against that, as most people enjoy the intimate feel of the smaller area of the dance tent.
Area Coordinators, Monitors, and Volunteers: The list of necessary comps per packet for area coordinators and volunteers needs to be cleaned up quite a bit. The attendees discussed ways to do this, including each area coordinator giving his or her monitor list a "once over," and aiming for better communication between everyone about who gets comped, etc.
The meeting adjourned at 9:25 p.m.
Submitted by Heidi Stevenson, board secretary
Original Post Festival Meeting Report
NOT FESTIVAL:
We're presenting Ellis Paul (who played at the 2007 Festival) in concert at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, October 18, at the Marquette Senior High School Little Theatre. We'll probably add an opening act, to be announced. He'll do a Children's show Sunday, October 19, at PWPL, time TBA.
The Annual Members Meeting and Dance is set for 6 p.m., Saturday, November 1, in the Community Room of Peter White Public Library in Marquette. Potluck supper 6-7 p.m., business meeting and board elections. 7-8:30 p.m.; dance, 8:30-10:30 p.m., band TBA. Four board positions are up for election with two incumbents eligible to serve again. Mike Fitzpatrick and Heidi Stevenson are finishing their first terms; Julie Foster-Lindquist is ending her second term. Jordan Yeatts has moved away, so we also need someone to finish his term through 2010.
Acoustic Jam: Hiawatha still sponsors a monthly traditional, acoustic jam, 3-4:30 p.m., the first Saturday of each month (except this one), in the Parlor of Grace United Methodist Church at Fair and Norway.
GENERAL:
Thanks to everyone who took at least a million steps for me at this year's Festival!! Sorry to have been such a pitiful old wreck. I hope physical therapy and the miracle of pharmaceuticals will prevent that for next year.
This year we're having the Post Festival meeting sooner after the Festival while everything is fresh in mind. Does this work? The financial information is less complete but could easily be updated later.
RESULT: The group likes the August meeting.
Notes: Chuck Ganzert asks us to circulate and sign his traditional thank-you notes to our mainstage bands.
Festival Meetings: This year's Festival Meeting attendance was better. We had potlucks at the Bertrams' in January, March and June (we skipped the potluck in March so more of us could go to a concert). Can we do anything else to make these meetings even more appealing to attend? Do we want to do another year with fewer meetings? Keep the potlucks? Keep them at someone's house?
RESULT: The group agreed to repeat this year's meeting plan: Festival meetings in January, March and June, potluck dinners at someone's home; probably try different days of the week - one Friday, one Monday, etc. for people who might have a regular weeknight conflict.
Budget: Thanks to all who were able to keep their areas within budget! If you need an increase in your area - or if you could withstand a decrease - please let me know as soon as possible.
Volunteers of the Year: Is everyone still happy with selecting two Volunteers of the Year? Any changes? Any nominees for the 2009 awards? Why is it like pulling teeth to get people to nominate and vote for these awards?
RESULT: The group agreed to continue with two VoYs, with more reminders about nominating and voting.
Tax Examptions: If you regularly buy Festival supplies at someplace that does not have a tax-exempt card on file for us, please tell me to set that up for you over the winter. Steve K. has cards for Menards if you need one.
Shut Down List: I'm is still working on a shut-down list for the close of the Festival, when time allows. Several people have contributed info for their areas, and more would help.
Email Suggestion: "How about starting an online version of a ride-share board."
Suggestion Book: Bathrooms cleaner this year. Thanks!
Artists in the Round: Joy Bender Hadley
Suggestion Book: More affordable vendors.
Camping and Parking:
Thursday cancellations: We should more vigorously encourage people who have Thurs. nite reservations that, if they can't be in Thurs., to call Tourist Park and cancel. There is a waiting list. We set aside two appropriate-area weekend tags for everyone on the Thursday-night list from the Park, and quite a few went unclaimed.
Thursday camping as membership premium: Several people have suggested making Thursday night camping a membership premium at the higher levels, like $100+. The Park might be willing to rent us more sites for that purpose; it should be the same money to them either way. Is that too elitist?
RESULT: The group thought a good compromise might be to rent 10 extra sites and make those 10 $100-membership premiums, first-come, first served. That would still allow other people to get Thursday sites without the big donation.
Children's Area: Jim Edwards
This was Jim's last year to coordinate this area. As far as I know, there's no obvious heir-apparent. Jim says a member of the local Ba'h'ai faith community says that group is interested in coordinating the Children's Area, and Jim wondered if that would violate any policy we have. I told him that as long as the content and activities were completely faith-neutral and it was just a group working together, I thought it might be OK. Any thoughts?
RESULT: Those present thought the Ba'H'ai proposal would be OK as long as the activities were faith-neutral. Joy Bender Hadley knows someone who works with the Liberty Children's Art Project who might also be interested in helping and who might have supplies to contribute.
Children's Performers: Becky Weeks
We should look at increasing the budget for this area, as none of these people ask for much money, and they all spend quite a bit on gas to get here. It's been quite a while since we had an increase.
Concessions: John Fegan/Darlene Herkins
Spacing: Some concessionaires would like more room between the north side of concessions and the Children's tents.
Area G clarification: This came up for Concessions and Artists in the Round: how much does Area G - the vendor-camping area - encompass? I thought it extended behind the south-side concessionaires, but I'm told that's not correct. Any guidance on that?
RESULT: Jim DeYoung and others clarified that there should be no camping directly behind concession booths for foot-traffic flow, fire safety, etc. Security patrols that area at night, so vendors should not need to sleep with their booths. Area G does not include the area behind concessions. Problems in this area seemed to center on one vendor with a young crew without much supervision, so may be best remedied individually. Also, we can include guidelines and clarifications with the returned concession contracts.
Thursday set-ups: Every year more concessionaires set up Thursday night. So far, Parks and Rec has not complained, but they'd have every right to, because that is not part of our set-up arrangement with them. It started when some of the vendors started renting tents from ABO like the Festival does. The ABO crew just sets them up where they go; they don't distinguish between us and vendors. One possible solution: see if P&R would rent us the Triangle on Thursday (an extra $150, I think), and, if so, we could charge vendors who wanted to set up early. Seems like P&R would go for it; it would put money in their pocket for a spot that no one will ever rent that night; and, if we charged the vendors to set up there, it wouldn't cost us anything. Do you want me to pursue this?
RESULT: Those present thought this was worth exploring but suggested we ask Hugh Leslie if he considers early vendors a problem, and if so, THEN make the proposal to pay for the area.
Suggestion Book: More like Cafe Bliss or pasties from Jean Kay's
Suggestion Book: Separate early vendor camping. Hard to set up booth and camp
Suggestion Book: Several good comments about Cafe Bliss
Suggestion Book: More vegetarian food
Coordinator: Maggie Morgan
Other than being a pathetic old gimp who made everyone else do a lot of extra leg work - any comments?
Electrical Set-up: Jim DeLongchamp
Jim expects that this was his last year to coordinate this area. I think Norm Duman will assume the Coordinator role. There are wording changes in the electrical part of out 2009-11 contract; not sure how seriously those will be taken.
First Aid: Don Snowden
Funds: Lori Everett
Lori may be able to do Funds at least one more year, but it would be great if we could find a trainee/successor.
Tokens: We ordered more quarter tokens this year and still ran short. Do we need to order still more?
Gate and Traffic: Steve Morski/Karen Bacula
Times: Can we post real, definitive open and close hours for Gate each day - maybe even add it to the website?
Suggestion Book: More directions to overflow parking.
Suggestion Book: Don't let people in free late on Sunday. Some teens in free and drinking. Several comments about this.
Green Team: Al Sherbinow
Lots of compliments from Park staff, Hugh, and Festival guests.
How did the recycling go this year?
RESULT: Al reported quite a bit of material was recycled, and he has ideas for increasing this amount next year. One possibility: give each camper a recycling "packet." We discussed making a volunteer task for sorting trash for recyclables and offering concessionaires a chance to compost.
We tried to use the program and stage announcements to discourage people from leaving large items at their camps. Did it help?
Suggestion Book: More recycling bins
Suggestion Book: more trash barrels by mainstage
Suggestion Book: Need more grabbers instead of spike sticks
Suggestion Book: Trash barrels by portapots not emptied Sunday
Hospitality: Pearl Taylor
Info: Deb Fosler/Pegi Martindale
A Festival-goer complained- three weeks after the fact, unfortunately - that a person working in Info was on the sex-offender registry. If she was right about the name, that's true. Should we start screening this and other areas? Is that even feasible?
RESULT: Maggie will consult Keith Swanson about our responsibilities and the privacy rights of volunteers.
Jeff Baker's 2007 system for keeping track of our golf-cart keys still worked, although we did have times where there were keyless carts parked at Info. Maybe go back to the Big Giant Key Rings. Also, there was a cart parked unattended at the Friday dance for a long time. Seems like someone could have been using that to better purpose.
Add column for children's ages on registration sheet
Suggestion Book: Put big clock in Info or nearby
Musician's Cafe: Jordan Yeatts
With Jordan moving to Idaho, I believe Matt Maki is in line to take on this area.
Phones:
How did it work tfor everyone to use individual cell phones? It seemed GREAT to me. Except I think TracFone cheated us out of time on the "found" phone we used at Info. I'm requesting our call records.
RESULT: Those present were satisfied with this approach and did not find it too burdensome or costly of their personal minutes. One suggestion: if no phone can be left in an area for the Festival, be sure Info knows what Monitor is on duty there and at what phone number.
Producer: Chuck Ganzert
Very positive comments about the line-up. The Duhks sold by far the most CDs. Santa Cruz River Band and Joel Mabus also had many favorable comments.
Suggestion Book: Need music earlier on Friday. Also lots of positive comments on the informal Friday open jam.
Suggestion Book: Jim Supanich for mainstage sound. (not from Jim!)
Suggestion Book: More active group for late spots on Saturday night (several similar comments)
Program: Ann Gonyea, design; Terri Trotochaud, ads
The program made a profit in real money (not counting the "in-kind" for the first time since I've been here. Thanks to Terri and Ann!
Suggestion Book: return small schedule
Publicity: Julie Foster-Lindquist/Chuck Ganzert
Chuck continues to generate lots of press. Thanks to Julie for the great job on poster and t-shirts!
Raffle: Noreen Collins
The raffle generated $944.
Suggestion Book: start sales earlier
Safety: Jim DeYoung
We did add Marquette City Police on Sunday night, because the last two years there were a lot of people roaming, many of them at ages where judgment is not always the best.
There were many, many complaints about the heavy-handed policing of the Festival and the presence of the BAT (blood-alcohol testing) van. This was worse than usual this year because we let them park the BAT van by Info Friday night, and then it broke down and couldn't be moved for Saturday and Sunday. Most of the complaints about the heavy-handedness were related to the undercovers. Sue Bertram couldn't be here, but she noted, "I have talked to organizers from several other events, and they do not have the police presence that we have even though they sell alcohol and people then have to drive home. I know this needs to be handled delicately, and perhaps we want to enlist the help of our festival attendees to write letters to the appropriate people in regards to their concerns in this issue."
**RESULT: Jim Jajich and Joy Bender Hadley will visit informally about this with the community-outreach officers who work in the schools where they teach. Maggie will visit with Hugh about how best to approach our concerns from the City point of view. We don't want to seem too critical of the police, especially with a new Chief. We don't want to seem unconcerned about underage drinking, but there was a very wide consensus that the approach was too heavy-handed.
Need to keep golf carts out of Concession row.
Suggestion Book: Quite a bit of adult drinking outside Teen Dance
Suggestion Book: Some Sunday-night security volunteers were drinking and smoking at mainstage Sunday night.
Set-up: Ron Larson
Dick Pierson sent the following notes:
More dance floor (same comment as last year). Suggest we make about 12 more dance floor pieces (2 rows). We have lost at least one row of dance floor to damage pieces or cutting the corners to fit the tent poles. We could ask Steve to build up the extra pieces during the week before the festival or the set up crew could build them on Friday afternoon after we get things set up.
Back drop for Second Stage (same comment as last year). Maggie says: we still kind of have that project on the table with Jim Finlan, an artist from Escanaba. We ran out of time and people to implement last year.
Larger Musicians Food tent. I think the larger 30X60 tent we got by mistake for the Musicians Food was a big hit. If the budget doesn't bust next year I think we should go with the bigger tent again.
Platform for Workshop tent (same comment as last year). The dirt in that area does not support the folding chairs and the microphone stands very well. The platform does not have to be elaborate. Just some plywood on 2X4s or maybe just some carpet piece rolled out. John Mallo mentioned this.
Need a Potty in Jacobetti Parking lot. I got a request to have a potty in the parking lot area. Especially needed on Friday morning with all the folks waiting in line. The comment came from someone that works at Jacobetti. Folks were barging in messing up their bathrooms. We wear our welcome pretty thin every year; no need to make it worse. Maggie asks: Is Jacobetti a tax-supported public building?
Place a Potty around the C camping area. (behind the Park office). Maggie asks: aren't there large banks of pots at the end of the Triangle and next to Teen Scene? Aren't those enough?
Request the city go thru the Park and remove dead trees and limbs
Request the City repair/replace the street lights in the park before the Festival. I pointed this out to the park on Thursday and they sent the City Electrician out on Friday but there were still several key street lights out around Second stage after he left.
Replace big school bus with smaller Marq Tran bus with a lift. I cringed every time I saw that big bus lumbering down the campground street and little kids running all over the place. That bus driver cannot see all around the big bus and somebody is going to get hurt. Maggie says: This would involve contracting with Marq Tran rather than Marquette Area Public Schools.
RESULT: Jim Jajich says MAPS doesn't have smaller buses, but some area organizations like AMCAB do.
Provide the Vendors with the Vendor Monitor cell phone numbers and direct them to contact them directly with issues. Have the Vendor Monitor on-site Thursday PM and Friday AM to resolve Vendor issues during Vendor setup.
Suggest no Vendor tents along the T Shirt Tent/Main Stage side of the street. Only place Vendors with trailers on this side. There is a very large mud puddle, and you must take into account the large red pine tree in the middle of the parking area. Maggie says: Part of vendor placement is also influenced by power needs.
Better No Parking signs and barriers around the corner where we access the potties next to the stage.
Suggestion book: request for covered eating area.
Suggestion Book: Why all the signs on the trees?
Suggestion Book: need hand-wash station in Area E
Suggestion Book: Add tape or safety cones around trailer hitches, equipment, etc.
Suggestion Book: Coffee cans for smokers
NO STAPLES IN WOODEN TENT POLES! By contract, ABO can charge us $5 per staple they have to remove. Be sure all set-up volunteers know to use clear tape only. Also - maybe got a little carried away with the number of no-smoking signs.
Maggie says: The extra office trailer was much appreciated!
Shuttles:
Can we run the shuttle bus longer?
Can we use a smaller bus?
Does anyone object to selling banner space on the horse shuttle? The board OKd this a couple of years ago, and Strahls are OK with it.
Stage Set-up: Steve Kriegel
Sound:
Multiple comments that Second Stage was too loud, both for the Friday night dance and for the Teen Dance. There were some very heartfelt complaints that the Teen Dance made it impossible to jam acoustically in the parts of A and B closer to the dance tent.
Stage: Tom Dummer
Tom Dummer emailed a detailed analysis of some stage-schedule issues; chief among them is the continued serious need for help in tearing down mainstage sound on Sunday night - a problem with Sunday volunteers in general. Should we double-book people for those jobs to allow for those who don't show? Is there a deal-sweetener to entice more people to sign up and show up?
Tom also says we need longer set changes. The average for Saturday was 17 minutes. The average for Sunday was 14 minutes. Few set changes took 10 minutes or less and those were primarily single or duo acts. Regardless, extra time needs to be allocated for complex setups - dancers, acts with drums, acts with complex electronic setup, etc. Can we work with Doug Lohman (Armadillo Sound) by sending him the stage setup forms to calculate the schedule more accurately? . . . . . Would it be possible to send the schedule to Doug for his input? With general knowledge of the acts, he should be able to estimate his time better. Maggie says: we already provide him with the performers' stage diagrams, but I'm not sure when.
Tom says, "I hate to go to 15-minute set changes because it will ultimately affect set length. If we do not add additional time for set changes, I fear we will constantly have this undercurrent issue with the sound crew. Unfortunately keeping the status quo does not resolve the issues either."
Suggestion Book: Have local groups perform between sets.
Suggestion Book: More blanket seating.
Suggestion Book: a couple of the usual complaints about high-back chairs and blankets.
Suggestion Book: Don't say SOB on stage
Teen Scene: Karen DeYoung
The same email that voiced concern about the volume of the Teen Dance also expressed concern about the kind of electric/rock-like nature of the music, and it that really what we want kids to take away from Hiawatha.
Also, the usual concerns about adults crowding in on the Teen Dance.
Suggestion Book: Smoking and alcohol should be 20 feet away
Tokens: Sue Bertram
Do we need more Tokens?
T-shirts: Pat Saari, Julie Foster-Lindquist
**Any reason we can't sell the current year's mug? We only need about 100 for Monitors and Coordinators, and we buy a gross.
RESULT: The group agreed we should sell current-year mugs, as long as we set aside the right amount for Monitors and Coordinators. Some suggested trying to sell them at outlets around town before the Festival and onlne after.
Pat reported that this year's new item was a women's tank top that sold well.
Pat also reported that her tent leaked for the second year in a row.
RESULT: Ron agreed to put pressure on ABO about that. Since they leave a crew here for the weekend, maybe they could do repairs.
Leonard Podolak suggested that we see about selling CDs at the dance tent for those bands.
We talked about this last year:* the artists - and we - lose sales when musicians take merch with them before the Festival ends Sunday night. If we could work out the logistics, I'd be willing to ship CDs back to artists a week or two after the Festival if they'd leave some. We could do a second consignment payout for everything sold after they left. Any interest in that?
What, if any, merchandise should we add for 2009?
Suggestion Book: request for non-zip hoodie.
Suggestion Book: More baby/small-child clothes
Suggestion Book: T-shirts with all the logos of past years.
Suggestion Book: Sell some Rise Up Singing books
Worker Sign-Up: Pat Dudley/Chris Fries
Did we add age specs for jobs this year? And, as noted above, do we need to screen for sex offenders?
Workshops: Jim Stedman, Dale Eltman
**Lots of favorable comments about the "Get to Know Them" band workshops. Also positive comments about the Acoustic Fourth Stage and the slow-jam workshop.
Request for "alternative spirituality" in the Sunday morning workshop
Request to move Gospel workshop to mainstage area.
RESULT: There was no support for this idea. Most people like the more intimate atmosphere of the dance tent.
Suggestion Book: Informal, participant led workshops, information share
Suggestion Book: Good comments on Rise Up Singing workshops. Identify book ahead of time so people can bring their own
Suggestion Book: More teaching, less performance
Monitors/Vounteers/Area Coordinators
For 2009, I hope we can make a real effort to tune up our Monitor list and make our updates earlier. Many thanks to those coordinators who do this on time year after year! For the other areas, not having the right info early ripples through in t-shirt orders, camp-tag assignments - especially Area F, program recognition, etc.
One area that seems to need a good, hard look is our numbers for under-18 children of Coordinators and Monitors. This year I saw a several people on the list whose kids, I'm pretty sure, have "aged out" of that category, but who still list children under 18. I don't want us to rat each other out, but let's look at that over the winter. It may be lack of awareness. Newer Monitors may not know there's an age cut-off. Or people may just say, "Put me down for the usual," without thinking about the child count.
A couple of years ago, someone asked to include grandkids in the count. The consensus then was NOT do that and, instead, let the original plan be an incentive for adult children of Monitors to become Monitors and comp their kids that way. Is that still the consensus?
What if we allowed every monitor and coordinator a maximum of three or four guest passes to use for whoever they wanted of any age?
An interesting statistic: of this year's attendance, including our white "courtesy" comp tickets, as well as performers, monitors, coordinators and their guests, almost 25 percent of our attendance was comped this year.
Misc.:
Suggestion Book: Many 'older" individuals come from the dance wanting a shuttle. Is it possible for the shuttle to run til approx. a half hour after to accommodate this request?
A couple of years ago, there was interest in a smaller shuttle bus. Might save gas money and maneuver the new exit better.
Suggestion Book: Allow voter registration
Suggestion Book: Section B bathrooms often dirty and out of paper. Several comments about bathroom cleanliness.
Suggestion Book: Give smokers small individual receptacles for butts.
Combined Board and Festival notes - June 16, 2008
Board members present: Sue Bertram, Jim Jajich, Phil Watts, Julie Foster-Lindquist, Heidi Stevenson.
Board members absent: Chuck Howe, J. Pearl Taylor, Ron Larson, Mike Fitzpatrick, Jordan Yeatts
Area Coordinators and Monitors present: Karen Bacula, Deb Fosler, Gene Bertram, Pat Saari, Al Sherbinow.
Staff present: Maggie Morgan
Festival Ticket Sales: Maggie reported that [to date] festival ticket sales are down from last year by approximately $1,000, but every day varies.
Membership Sales: Maggie reported that we've sold about $1,300 in memberships.
Worker Sign-up Party: While publicity for the event was not widespread, we still had a good turnout, sold about $500 in tickets and got lots of volunteers signed up for the festival. Thanks to the Flying Martini Brothers for providing the entertainment!
New Funds Coordinator: We are still seeking a trainee for the 2008 festival that could take the position over for the 2009 festival.
Area Coordinator/Monitor Updates: These need to be done by all Area Coordinators as soon as possible.
Using private cell phones at festival: The attendees agreed that using our own cell phones at the festival was feasible. All Area Coordinators and Monitors need to e-mail their cell phone numbers to Maggie, then, if they have not already provided her with it.
Thank You notes for the program: Area coordinators need to e-mail Maggie with any people who need to be thanked in the program as soon as possible.
New Hiawatha Merchandise: Pat Saari reported that new merchandise as well as special anniversary artwork for merchandise are both in the works for this year's festival. The board emphasized the need to have a contract for any artwork other than existing festival logos.
Northstar Academy trailer artwork: The student-created and painted artwork for our festival trailer has been completed. A picture is up on the Hiawatha Music Co-op website at Hiawatha News
Stage names: The attendees voted to do away with the terms "Workshop Area 1, 2, etc." and refer to all of the stages/workshop areas simply as "Main Stage, Stage 2, Stage 3, and Stage 4" to avoid confusion.
Monitors' meeting: The monitors' meeting will be Monday, July 14, 7 p.m., at the Tourist Park.
Ellis Paul concert board vote: The board voted to accept Karen's proposal for an Ellis Paul concert in the fall, potentially October 18, as long as the total cost stayed close to her proposed cost, approximately $1,600.
The meeting adjourned at 7:46 p.m.
Combined Board and Festival notes - March 14, 2008
Board members present: Jim Jajich, Sue Bertram, Ron Larson, Mike Fitzpatrick.
Area Coordinators and Monitors present: Deb Fosler, Gene Bertram, Pat Saari, Al Sherbinow, Jim DeYoung, Billie Stedman. Also present: Maggie Morgan, staff
Board Actions:
A quorum of board members present voted unanimously to accept the liability and property insurance proposal offered by the St. Onge Agency in Ishpeming. Other board members expressed approval of this proposal during the week upon reviewing it by email.
Festival Committee discussions/actions:
Award vote extended: The group agreed to extend the voting deadline for Volunteers of the Year, as only two people had voted by the original deadline last week.
The June Festival Committee Meeting was set for 6 p.m., Monday, June 16, at Bertrams'. This will be a potluck. The group hopes that a weeknight get-together will conflict less with graduation parties, etc.
Worker Sign-up Party: Chris Fries and Laura Petrie have agreed on 7-10 p.m., Friday, June 13, at the Downtown Commons on Third Street, for the worker sign-up party. Hiawatha will provide the band for a dance and will be able to sign up volunteers, sell Festival tickets, etc. The event will be held in conjunction with the Downtown Marketing Association and the Downtown Development Association. Those groups will provide publicity, contract concessionaires, etc.
Pancake Breakfast: The Marquette Lions Club pancake breakfast is set for April 13, at the Elks Lodge. Proceeds will benefit Hiawatha this year. Our responsibility is to sell tickets and help publicize the event. Those at the meeting took tickets to sell. All other coordinators are urged to do likewise, as the more tickets that are sold, the more money Hiawatha will make.
Concert: Steppin' In It/Rachael Davis will appear in concert May 3, at Kaufman Auditorium. Hiawatha made a monetary donation to support the event in exchange for being listed on all concert publicity. The Music Co-op office is also a ticket outlet, along with Dead River Coffee, the Food Co-op and Mary's Closet.
Volunteer needs: We still need a Funds coordinator to succeed Lori Everett after this year. Ideally, the new coordinator would train with Lori this year. We also need someone to sell program ads. Mike Fitzpatrick knows someone who expressed an interest in that job and will follow up. Thanks, Mike!
Newsletter: The Spring Newsletter should go to the printer March 21, for mailing in early April. Please email anything that needs to be included to the Hiawatha office ASAP.
Cell phones: The group discussed the possibility of Coordinators using their own cell phones for communication during the Festival. Do we all have enough minutes to do this without penalty, and would we be willing to? For the past several years, Cellular One has donated us the use of five or six phones for Info, Mainstage, Gate, Funds, Security, etc., but last year that almost didn't happen due to the Cellular One buyout by AT&T. It would be nice if we didn't have the hassle of trying to hustle up the free cell phones.
Worker schedule: Deb Fosler reported on the effort she and Pegi Martindale are making to fine-tune the worker schedule, in terms of numbers of people per area per time slot, as well as ages required/allowed for each area. Most areas require volunteers to be at least 18, but Deb reported that there are lots of kids around 12 who are very eager to help. We have limited slots for them in Green Team, Playground monitors and Teen Scene. Deb wondered if Jordan could use youngsters that age in the Musicians Food tent to bus tables, etc. Are there other tasks that enthusiastic young Hiawathans could do?
Worker spreadsheet: Deb is also working on a spreadsheet that might allow all Coordinators to view their "staffing" (sorry; only word I could think of) without having to coordinate with Chris and Pat to review the Big Paper Schedule. Maggie is still seeking an online file-sharing site that might allow Coordinators to review and edit something like this without trying to download and open attachments. That could work for the Monitor list, too.
Extend Info Tent Hours: The group also discussed the earlier proposal to keep the Info tent open later and agreed that 2 a.m., Monday, would be a reasonable new shut-down time. Jim DeLongchamp and Norm Duman Ok'd the proposal for the Electrical crew after an earlier discussion.
Security: Jim DeYoung confirmed that we will hire two additional City uniformed officers to patrol the Park on Sunday night, and will continue seek a less costly way to meet that increasing security need. He also reminded Maggie that we need to send our overnight-security job posting to the NMU Criminal Justice program before the end of March.
The meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.m. Thanks to all who squeezed in this meeting on a very busy Friday night!
Submitted by Maggie Morgan, filling in for Heidi Stevenson, secretary, who was helping organizing NMU's part-time faculty into a much-needed bargaining unit.
Combined Festival and board meeting - January 18, 2008
Board members present: Jordan Yeatts, Sue Bertram, Karen Bacula, Mike Fitzpatrick, Jim Jajich, Ron Larson, Phil Watts, Julie Foster-Lindquist, Heidi Stevenson. Board members absent: Chuck Howe, J. Pearl Taylor
Area Coordinators and monitors present: Jim De Young, Karen De Young, Deb Fosler, Ann Gonyea, Jim Stedman, Gene Bertram, Pat Saari, Al Sherbinow. Others present: Larry Alexander, Billie Stedman, Jennifer Yeatts. Staff present: Maggie Morgan
Festival Budget Report: A preliminary copy has been sent around. Maggie let us know that Jordan discovered that we can convert the .slk/Quicken-export files she sends to Excel files by changing the suffix to xls.
Festival Meeting Schedule: We are working with a new system this year and scheduling fewer Festival Committee meetings. The next meeting is another potluck scheduled for March 14, 2008, again at 6 p.m., at the Bertram residence (2233 Evergreen in Marquette). The June 2008 meeting will be scheduled then.
2008 Festival Ticket Prices: Since our insurance rate will be increasing significantly, and expenses for amenities like port-a-potties and tents will, too, the board passed a motion to increase ticket and parking pass prices for the 2008 festival. Tickets for everyone except children will increase $5 from last year, and parking passes will increase $10:
Adult weekend advance: $50
Teen/Senior weekend advance: $40
Adult, Teen, Senior Gate: $60
Children 5-12, advance and gate: $5; Under 5 free
Camping: $10 per tag
Parking: $35 per tag
Friday Dance only: $15
Saturday only: $30
Sunday only: $30
Sunday Night Security: Jim De Young will look into adding a city police presence on Sunday night/Monday morning of the festival. We are also considering having the Information Tent stay open until 2 a.m., Monday morning. The electrical team will have to be consulted about this.
New Funds Coordinator: We are still seeking a trainee for the 2008 festival who could take the position over for the 2009 festival.
Horse Poop Czar: We have secured not only a horse poop czar, but czarina as well! Thanks to Wendy Johnson and Mojo Staley.
New Hiawatha Merchandise: Pat Saari brought a catalog with sample lapel pins for the meeting attendees to look at. Maggie offered to check with her former boss about lapel-pin prices, too.
Volunteers of the Year: Two 2008 recipients will be named. Nominations will be done via e-mail.
Festival Logo Deadline: The deadline for logo submissions is February 1. We've already received some wonderful submissions. The Festival Committee was invited to the February 6 board meeting (or to stop by before that) and help the board select this year's logo.
Worker Sign-up Party: We may have an opportunity to collaborate with a downtown business group, and put on a joint event that would function in part as our worker signup party for the 2008 festival. The event would be in June at the Downtown Commons building on Third St. Everyone agreed that Maggie should pursue that further.
Additional Workshop Area: Everyone agreed that another workshop site is a good idea, as we have not replaced the area that succumbed to the flood. The tents run between $100-$200, and Ron thought he might be able to provide staging after a collaborative building party that is scheduled to take place with the Bluesfest people.
Accountability on Paper: It was proposed that a future meeting be used to create some documents clarifying accountability for every festival area.
Meeting Adjourned at 8:55 p.m.
Submitted: Heidi Stevenson, secretary
2007 Post Festival Meeting follow-up
NOT FESTIVAL:
We're presenting Karen Savoca and Pete Heitzman (who played at the 2004 Festival) in concert at 7:30 p.m., Friday, October 12, at the Marquette Senior High School Little Theatre. You can buy tickets here (even tonight!), at the Food Co-op, at Dead River Coffee and on-line.
The Annual Members Meeting and Dance is set for 6 p.m., Saturday, November 3, at Grace United Methodist Church, 927 W. Fair Ave., in Marquette.
Sonja Prychitko, who received our scholarship to the Augusta Heritage Center, and her dad, Dave, are working to start a Hiawatha-sponsored monthly "slow jam." We're tentatively looking at 3-4:30 p.m., the first Saturday of each month, here. [UPDATE: Now set for that time and day, but in the lower-level lounge of Grace United Methodist Church)
GENERAL:
Jordan suggested having the Post Festival meeting sooner after the Festival while everything is fresh in mind. Would you rather have this gathering in early to mid-August? The financial information wouldn't be available but could easily be sent later.
OUTCOME: The group agreed to have the 2008 Post Festival Meeting on August 12, 2008.
Chuck Ganzert can't be here, and he asked us to circulate and sign his traditional thank-you notes to our mainstage bands.
First Music Committee meeting at 7 p.m., Thursday, September 20, in the Hiawatha office.
This year's Festival Meeting attendance was pretty sad. What could make these meetings more appealing to attend? We've tried more meetings, fewer meetings, meetings by subject, meetings starting later in the year. None of it has helped attendance over the long haul. Have just one or two meetings? Meet on weekends? Make them dessert potlucks? Not meet at all and try to coordinate everything by phone and email? Set up a shared, on-line message board?
OUTCOME: The group agreed to have three 2008 Festival Committee meetings: one in January, March and June. These are tentatively planned to be potlucks at people's homes, with Sue Bertram vounteering to host the first one.
Thanks to all who were able to keep their areas within budget! If you need an increase in your area - or if you could withstand a decrease - please let Maggie know as soon as possible.
Is everyone still happy with selecting two Volunteers of the Year? Was that OK? Any changes? Any nominees for the 2008 awards?
OUTCOME: The group agreed to stay with two Volunteers of the Year, named in the spring.
Anytime we can avoid paying sales tax, that would be great. If you regularly buy Festival supplies at someplace that does not have a card on file for us, please tell Maggie to set that up for you over the winter.
What can we do to get our monitor updates done on time? For most people, it's only a half dozen calls or emails. Not having them early creates a ripple effect of delays in t-shirt orders, packet preparation, program - and especially Area F camping. Many thanks to those coordinators who do this on time year after year!
Maggie is still working on a "shut down" list for the close of the Festival, when time allows. Several people have contributed info for their areas, and more would help.
Suggestion Book: Please keep smokers away from dance areas.
Suggestion Book: Love the no smoking! Now how about no drinking on the dance floor?
Suggestion Book: If you consider another location, please find one that allows for less crowded camping and separates activities further from the audience area so there are fewer distractions and dust.
Suggestion Book: Air quality in mainstage is problematic. Perhaps restrict fires upwind during performance times? Wet dust/plant grass to keep it down? [Maggie says: Predicting wind direction throughout the Festival might be problematic, too.]
The Wiyos said they "would love to be a part of any future Hiawathas any time. It's a really well-run festival you have!" (from Ian MacDonald, Wiyos agent) A member of Yid Vicious said, "The only time we get amenities this nice is when we play high-dollar weddings.
ARTISTS IN THE ROUND: Kristine Granger
Kristine Granger has left for grad school back east. At this time, it looks like the new coordinator will be Joy Bender-Hadley.
CAMPING AND PARKING
Tents without camping tags and too close together were reported on Saturday early evening to Security and nothing was done. These tents were on the other side of the log from the Arts in the Round in Area F.
Suggestion Book: Smoldering fire pits are a real bummer. Either stoke 'em up or put them out.
Suggestion Book: Could we announce to the people who have Thurs. nite reservations, if you aren't going to be in Thurs., please call and cancel. There is a waiting list.
Suggestion Book: The Thursday-night lottery is a good system, but it might be a good idea to limit the amount of space that Thursday-nighters can "claim" for themselves or others before the general public arrives.
CHILDREN'S: Jim Edwards
Survey form: Maypole too long. Kids events too many at once, too hard on all. Need more focused. Something at 1:00, something at 2:00, etc. including performers I'd think.
CHILD PERFORMERS: Becky Weeks
Suggestion Book: "Will teach kid-tent banjo and mandolin. I have several. I was in workshop here with Bob Hokenson in [2006? 1996?] I have students at many festivals. [Contact information and reference included] Help me remember to send this to Becky! (Done 10-02-07)
CONCESSIONS: John Fegan/Darlene Herkins
Suggestion book: Please recruit vendors with healthier food.
Survey form: more non-fried things
ELECTRICAL/SET-UP: Jim DeLongchamp
Need to make temporary BL&P disconnect part of the electrical crew's checklist and get written or email confirmation every year when that's done. BL&P did not disconnect our panels this year and billed us for August. They waived it, but only just.
OUTCOME: Norm agreed to take on that task and include it in his check list.
FIRST AID: Don Snowden
FUNDS: Lori Everett
GATE: Steve Morski/Karen Bacula
GREEN TEAM: Al Sherbinow
Lots of compliments from Park staff, Hugh, and Festival guests.
Confusion with the trash cans at the start of the Festival. The City delivered them when they shouldn't have, someone placed them around the Park before Friday morning.
Green Team removed and Hiawatha paid for a hide-a-bed to be disposed of after the Festival. How can we avoid furniture like this from coming into the Park in the first place? [Magggie says: Maybe add a note to the program - like we do with the picnic tables - so people will know that Hiawatha has to pay when big stuff gets left. Or maybe someone could keep an eye out for stuff and follow-up as people pack up Sunday and Monday. Don't know who would have time to do that . . .]
Some festivals hand out trash bags to each Festival goer.
HOSPITALITY: Pearl Taylor
INFO: Deb Fosler/Pegi Martindale
Suggestion Book: Friday - 9 p.m., lots of reimbursements.
Suggestion Book: Need map of Tourist Park with site numbers in Info.
Set-up monitor Jeff Baker created yet another scheme for keeping track of our golf-cart keys. This seemed to work the best so far, mainly because he numbered the carts, too.
MUSICIANS CAFE: Jordan Yeatts
Volunteer suggestion: "Not enough low carb dishes in the monitor/musician's food tent. Too many high carb dishes.
Volunteer comment: "A monitor's spouse went to the monitor/musician's food tent at 6:50 p.m. on Saturday and was told they were closed. The food tent workers said they wanted to go listen to the music."
PRODUCER: Chuck Ganzert
Very positive comments about the line-up. In Maggie's informal post-Festival poll, the faves were The Carolina Chocolate Drops and the Wiyos.
Suggestion Book: No dance performers!? What's up with that?
Suggestion Book: Consider a wider variety of artists. So many of the acts are so similar that it gets a little boring.
Suggestion Book: Thanks for having a bit more variety to the music this year. I felt 2006 had too much bluegrass. Some bluegrass is fine, but more folk/Irish tunes is even better.
Suggestion Book: Sunday night dance at the White Tent.
Survey form: White Water next year!
PROGRAM: Ann Gonyea
Sugestion book: Pocket schedules reduce program use for schedule only. (Three remarks on this subject)
PUBLICITY: Julie Foster-Lindquist/Chuck Ganzert
Chuck continues to generate lots of press. Thanks to Julie for the great job on poster and t-shirts!
If Sue Dohrman is willing to keep her extra role as The Best Poster Hanger Ever, we should increase this press run. We cut back a few years ago, because we always had a pile of this expensive print job left over. But with Sue on the job, we've used them all the last two years and ran short this year.
RAFFLE: Noreen Collins
The raffle generated $906. The silent-auction dulcimer brought $450. A couple of volunteers hope to put together a past-logo quilt to raffle on the 30th. To do that, we should move up to the more complicated advance-sales type raffle. Could make more, but the costs are higher: more expensive license and tickets, etc.
SAFETY: Jim DeYoung
Discussion of increased security on Sunday night, as more people seem to be staying over.
SET-UP: Ron Larson
Ron was called out of town and didn't make the meeting. He said, "Extend my apologies and let folks know that if there are any concerns or questions for me they can hopefully be put in an email and I will address everything."
Dick Pierson sent the following notes:
More dance floor. Suggest we make about 6 more dance floor pieces. We have lost at least one row of dance floor to damage pieces or cutting the corners to fit the tent poles. We could ask Steve to build up the extra pieces during the week before the festival or the set up crew could build them on Friday afternoon after we get things set up.
Back drop for Second Stage. Suggest we ask a youth group or maybe the Teen tent to paint up an 8 X 30-ft. fabric or hard board back drop with a Festival theme we can attach to the railing we build for the golf cart trailer.
Suggest we put sides on the back side of the Second Stage tent to try to block some of the sound that interfers with the Workshop tent. [This suggestion also came from C Area campers who like to jam without competing with sound from second stage.]
Maggie says: Had a note in the Suggestion Book from an artist in Escanaba. He's interested in doing a mural for behind the mainstage performers. This might also be a solution for the backdrop for second stage.
Larger Workshop tent: I think we could use a 30X40 instead of the 20X40 tent for the workshop by the Park office. Several times the crowd overflowed and people were trying to get out of the sun and find some shade. Some of my best times at Hiawatha are at that workshop tent.
Platform for Workshop tent. The dirt in that area does not support the folding chairs and the microphone stands very well. The platform does not have to be elaborate. Just some plywood on 2X4s or maybe just some carpet piece rolled out. Talk to the Monitor that does the sound at the Workshop tent [John Mallo]. He is the one that mentioned this.
More Handicap parking spaces. We ran out of spaces on Sunday and cars kept blocking access to the stage/potties. About 4 more should do
Better No Parking signs and barriers around the corner where we access the potties next to the stage.
Suggest we hang a few signs in the handicap tent that remind people what the tent is for folks with handicaps.
Suggest we designate the space not used by the sound crew under the Sound test for seniors.
Make some official NO SMOKING signs and place them around main stage on the trees and at second stage. We use hand lettered sing around second stage now.
We could use a few Ease Outs to remove screws on the dance floor. Drilling out screws is a pain.
Request a golf cart with a bigger box and a 1 7/8" trailer hitch next year. [Maggie says: we asked for this one other year, and Meyer didn't have it.]
I found my notes from last year and the distance between poles on the big second stage tent is about 22' center to center. We need to be there when ABO erects the big tent and ensure pole placement to fit our dance floor. Suggest we cut a 22' rope and lay it down as a guide for ABO.
We could use a campground map with sign placement and trash can placement like what we give Stenberg.
I would like my own key to the trailer and maybe Kreigel's box.
We need an up to date count on the number of Hiawatha owned chairs. We had extra tables but not enough chairs this year.
Suggestion Book: Love the new dance floor location. Now let's make it much larger.
Survey form: Please make a larger dance floor for main stage.
Maggie says: We had very nice Funds trailer this year. It and the extra office trailer were much appreciated!
STAGE SET-UP: Steve Kriegel
Maggie says: Had a long note in the Suggestion Book from an artist in Escanaba. He's interested in doing a mural for behind the mainstage performers. He says he's done a lot of public murals in Escanaba and will do with one over the winter in exchange for a comp ticket for next year. I will contact him, discreetly check his "references," and have more info later. This might also be a solution for the backdrop for second stage.
OUTCOME: There was some concern in the group that any kind of mainstage background art would distract people from the musicians. The feeling was that this effort might work better on Second Stage
STAGE: Tom Dummer
Maggie says: The Suggestion Book included a page-and-a-half discourse about the blanket/chair seating issue, complete with many underscores and exclamation points. I couldn't face deciphering and typing it. It's available if you want to see it. The gist was that the rules need to be more clear, the spaces better marked and "enforcement" to start on Friday when people start setting stuff up.
OUTCOME: Quite a bit of discussion about moving chairs/blankets that are set up early or in the wrong places. Because the park is still open to the public til noon Friday, we can't enforce much before then. No consensus on how tough we want to be on these issues.
Tom Dummer emailed a detailed analysis of some stage-schedule issues; he also forwarded it to the emcees and Chuck Ganzert, so I have not attached it. In short, he said, "I would like to encourage an email exchange between the Main Stage Monitors and Music Committee to figure out what the problems might be and ways to work through them. . . . We run a pretty tight schedule and are never exceedingly late ending the show. . . What I would like to do is figure out a way to avoid conflict during the show. I am not sure if that means increasing some set-change times or letting the sound crew know that we typically run 1/2 hour over and for them to be aware of that. Another possibility would be to schedule a very long set change sometime a bit past the halfway mark to absorb any lost time. There are probably other options as well. Insights? Suggestions? Thoughts? Give my best to everyone at the meeting. It was another very good show and all seemed to go smoothly. A hearty pat on the back for all!"
TEEN SCENE: Karen DeYoung
Survey form: disturbed by segregation of teens - idea that trad'l music is no good for them. Back to all ages together. How else will they get exposed to all this great old music.
TOKENS: Sue Bertram
Suggestion Book: Please bring back [quarter and 50-cent] tokens. I know it makes accounting harder, but it makes a difference for folks on a budget.
OUTCOME: We've approved the ordering of 50-cent tokens for the last two years; no one's sure why that hasn't been done, but we'll try to follow up for 2008.
TSHIRTS: Pat Saari, Julie Foster-Lindquist
Suggestion Book: I visited the CD vendor three times Sunday morning to buy CDs, only to be told each time they were not open yet.
Suggestion Book: I bet that having the Info Tent sell a small selection of guitar picks/spare strings would go over. [Maggie says: I put this under t-shirts, because that seems a more logical place to consider this than Info. We've tried for a couple of years to get a luthier to vend with us; that would fill that need, but no luck so far.]
Many comments in the T-Shirt Booth for credit-card payment option. [Maggie says: We can do this with the old-style, hand-crank card readers and enter the info from the sales slips on the card reader in the office after the Festival. We'd pay credit-card fees that we don't pay now on Festival sales. If anyone gave us a fraudulent or over-limit card, we wouldn't know til too late. But that's probably no riskier than taking checks. We could do this at the Gate, too. In either case, we'd have to be very attentive to the security of paperwork with people's credit-card numbers on it.
We talked about this before: the artists - and we - lose sales when musicians take merch with them before the Festival ends Sunday night. If we could work out the logistics, I'd be willing to ship CDs back to artists a week or two after the Festival if they'd leave some. We could do a second consignment payout for everything sold after they left. Any interest in that?
What, if any, merchandise should we add for 2008? Maybe some kind of limited-edition 30th item? Hat/lapel pins? Seems like lots of people buy those.
WORKER SIGN-UP: Pat Dudley/Chris Fries
We need more definitive age specs for every job. There was a lot of confusion this year, even among long-time volunteers, and this suggestion appeared more than once.
WORKSHOPS: Jim Stedman, Dale Eltmam
Suggestion book: "Please include yoga in the regular, hour-by-hour schedule. I completely missed it in the special ad. Thanks! Great Festival." [Maggie says: we had a lot of trouble pinning down a person and time for the yoga, and it got too late to keep fiddling with the schedule in the program, so the little ad was kind of a fall-back.]
Suggestion Book: "Why aren't Ski in any workshops this year? We miss them. They should be mainstage."
Suggestion Book: "When the Cajun Band played Sat. morning, I didn't hear or observe any dance instruction, which is what I really wanted out of that Cajun dance workshop. The music was great, but it was disappointing there was no dance instruction along with it. I really wanted to learn some of those Cajun dances."
Survey form: Looking for Ski at the workshops
MISC.
Suggestion Book: There were many "older" individuals coming from the dance wanting a shuttle. Is it possible for the shuttle to run til approx. half hour after to accommodate this request?
A couple of years ago, there was interest in a smaller shuttle bus. Might save gas money and maneuver the new exit better.
OUTCOME: Pam Christensen, whose husband drives for MAPS, says the buses were very full this year and that the bigger buses are actually a bit cheaper to run.
