Director's Reports
July 7, 2010
BOARD ACTIONS REQUESTED
Public Works contact re one-way signs, etc.
Select and plan Bryan Bowers Thursday performance
Performer Housing
Raffle Prize
Accounting Bill
PR90 Contract
Festival Survey
FESTIVAL
Monitor Meeting: 7 p.m., Monday, July 12, Tourist Park. Thanks, Sue, for offering to haul the t-shirts out there. I am very grateful!
Ticket sales: Ticket sales to date: $52,651. To same date 2009: $48,539. Not as far ahead as I'd like it to be, given the price increase. I am going to do another emailing to our 2009 ticket-buyer and member distribution lists. Found out today the Mining Journal lost our press kit, probably as part of A Dreaded Software Upgrade; Chuck Ganzert has provided them a new one.
Campground traffic help: We are still working on the signs we need for the new one-way campground loops. Jeff Baker, who created the map, thinks we will need five each of One Way and Do Not Enter signs. Can someone call Public Works and see if those could be added to the signs we get from them this year? Thanks!
Last Volunteer sign-up: Chris plans to do another last-chance volunteer sign-up the evening of our last day of sales, from 7-9 p.m., July 13, here in the Conference Room. No band, but will bring the jam box and play 2010 performer CDs. I plan to sell tickets here in the office and have signs directing people from the sign-up to here. If we are going to make this a regular event, I think next year we should revise the ticket sales deadline to 9 p.m., the last Tuesday and make it official.
Food Tent: The Google Shared Document is looking a little thin for Coordinator and Monitor sign-ups. I will circulate a hard copy tonight and at the Monitor Meeting. It will involve the same choices as before: salad or dessert, Saturday or Sunday.
City issues: As we probably all heard, at its June 28 meeting, the City Commission voted to give Art on the Rocks and SeaFood Fest a price break on their Park use. I didn't attend or watch the meeting, but I am told they left the door open for other user groups to state their case for similar breaks. We will always battle the issue of our paid admission, which separates us from all the others, but I figure it's worth a try. This could connect with the possible fall-back you discussed on the tent: we offer to waive any special considerations for tent use and ask, instead, for a price break on our first few Thursday-night Park rentals.
Talked to Nikke Nason today re the Arabesque Tent, the set-aside fund, etc. The June 16 deadline was the end of the City fiscal year. She assures me the money has not been taken from the set-aside fund, and I assured her we would pick up the thread on this again after the Festival.
Performer Housing: We have almost 50 performers who want housing in homes, not camping! So Pearl is really scrambling, so much so that she is even considering The Morgan Home out in the sticks! If any of you have not been approached by Pearl about this and would consider housing a musician or two, that would be great!
Board Swap: Wheatland is offering us a board swap again this year, as well as a ticket/t-shirt package for our raffle. If you are interested in the swap, please let me know. Or, if you know Lola Tyler, their director, you can contact her directly.
Hiawatha Raffle prize: What about giving our own Festival grand prize in the raffle, like the one we do for the Annual Meeting: two tickets, Thursday camping in F, weekend camping, parking pass? Ya think?
Bryan Bowers Thursday gig: As per my earlier email, Bryan Bowers will be in town Thursday and has offered to do a free concert for someone we choose on Thursday night. This has all been discussed in a couple of phone calls. I asked him Tuesday if he could send us some kind of email confirmation, but he was on the road without a computer. I am a little uneasy about setting something up on word of mouth only. Hope it will be OK. Several board members made suggestions of places to do this. Once you decide, can someone else set this up?
He will fly out of Seattle at 1 a.m., so will need to get to his housing, take a shower, sleep about three hours and maybe grab a bite before the performance. So the concert should be about 8 p.m.
He is severely allergic to cats, so there should be NO CATS living at the venue, not even cats that are put outside when he's there. We need to check that carefully, as lots of nursing homes, group homes, etc., have pets on site.
We need to know the size of group and if a sound system is needed. If it is, that adds a whole other thing to manage, unless the place has one.
Someone will need to transport him to and from the site, bearing in mind this will be the night before the Festival starts.
Mugs: Globe will deliver the mugs to Tourist Park on Friday with the programs, but Kurt dropped off a dozen today as a sneak preview. I figured you could take yours tonight, if you want to.
MISC:
Credit Card: Will shop around for this after the Festival if you continue to support this idea.
Large Accounting Bill: A couple of weeks ago, our accountant, presented us with a $2,520 bill. It included several items that he had neglected to bill us for in the past two or three years. I checked our payments and statements, and none of the items had been paid before. I believe he has done a very good job for us; in the seven years he's been our accountant, he has only filed for one extension, and only made one error, which was not big, and for which he paid the modest penalty. Still, his bills are rising faster than inflation, and I would like your permission to shop this job around this fall. Better to pay more for a good job, but won't hurt to look around, if you don't mind.
PR90 Contract: We have our proposed contract for PR90:
Five day sponsorships between now and the Festival (total 50 spots): $365
One year sponsorship In The Pines, Sundays and Thursdays: $1,000
Total Contact, prepaid lump sum: $1,365
If you approve this contract, will an officer stay after and sign the check?
Memberships: The Marquette Food Co-op made a $1,000 membership donation last week! Matt Gougeon, manager, and I talked about doing reciprocal memberships but that amount was totally unexpected! I am not sure if they are considering this a life membership, as it would be in their system. They also bought a $300 program ad. I'm not sure we can reciprocate at that level, but we should definitely do something after the Festival. I also met Linda Hirvonen of the Ray and Peg Hirvonen Foundation. They made a $500 membership donation last winter, and she encouraged us to send a request for their upcoming donation year, which I have done.
Music Can Be Fun: The July Hiawatha old-time acoustic jam will be this Saturday, 3-5:30 p.m., in the downstairs parlor at Grace United Methodist Church. Big thank-you to Grace, which continues to be a generous host for this monthly get-together.
June 2, 2010
BOARD ACTIONS REQUESTED
Set next Festival Meeting, Parks and Rec update, Tent update
FESTIVAL
Next Festival Meeting: We need to set another Festival meeting this month. Any preferences on date? I really need to have it here this time. Chris Fries has set the Worker Sign-up Party for June 23, so that's out.
Ticket sales: Ticket sales to date: $9,752. To same date 2009: $6,073. Fun Fact: in the five days the office was closed last week, including Memorial Day weekend, we had $2,840 in online orders, including $967 on May 28. So far people are doing a good job of not screwing up their orders, too! Expanded office hours of noon to 6 p.m., Monday through Thursday, will start June 14.
Food Tent: Al and Janet met today to discuss the menu for the Musicians Food Tent. We are going to try doing the sign-up sheet as a Google Shared Document. Please watch for your "invitation" to access that form. It will involve the same choices as before: salad or dessert, Saturday or Sunday.
Funds: Lori Everett has accepted a job in Idaho, starting June 28. She hopes to return for the Festival but is not sure because of travel and relocation costs. Mark Krist, who has been a Funds monitor and works at Pathways, so is known to many of our volunteers, has agreed to coordinate or co-coordinate. He and Lori have each other's contact information, so I hope the transition is happening.
City issues: I had an informal chat with Karl Zueger a couple of weeks ago when I dropped some Thursday-night stuff off at Parks and Rec. He seemed to agree with Keith that some of the 'boiler-plate' wording in the contract can be thinned down, but he did not sound very optimistic about the changes we requested for price, use, location, etc.
Thursday night: As it turned out (long story; details at the meeting if you're interested) we did kind of draw the winners. Parks and Rec would not let us draw specific site winners - never understood why not - but they did let us draw enough entries to fill each type of site (so many electric-only, so many full hook-up, etc.) plus a couple of spares for each area. Parks and Rec actually assigned the sites, handled the money and sent out the reservation notices. We sent out the reject notices. There were about 300 of those, and it took between three and four hours. I have been keeping notes on ways this could be streamlined for next year.
Workshops: Rob LaLonde and his crew expected to finish last Friday, but I have not seen a schedule.
Volunteers of the Year: Honorees are Chuck Howe and Heidi Stevenson. Chuck, please remember we need a photo and short bio for the program. Heidi - thanks for sending yours!
TV-6 Documentary: We are still working on the recording-release phase of this. Chuck G. and I originally thought it would be easiest to adapt our PR90 recording release, but then we had a re-think and decided the release should come from TV6, since it's their show and they are the ones doing the recording and airing. However, we have written a letter to go with that indicating our support and involvement in the documentary. That will be enclosed when the station sends out the recording consent.
MISC:
Debit Card: Wells-Fargo is really pushing corporate debit cards. Even the drive-in teller was pitching it the other day! No need to decide now, but please consider if this would be appropriate for us. I have mixed feelings. It would make my job easier in that I would not have to remember at the end of the day whether I need a check to buy stamps, office supplies, etc., on my way to work the next day. Not to mention the whole issue with Office Max and our checks (about which don't get me started!) It would be easier to order things like Tokens (about which also don't get me started!) and other non-local supplies. On the other hand, there's the sad fact that anything that makes it easier for you makes it easier for someone to rip you off. So if, at some point in the future, you think a business debit card would be good for us to have, let me know, and I'll get the details.
Music Can Be Fun: The June Hiawatha old-time acoustic jam will be this Saturday, 3-5:30 p.m., in the downstairs parlor at Grace United Methodist Church. Big thank-you to Grace, which continues to be a generous host for this monthly get-together.
Also, Scandinavian SummerFest is June 19, at Presque Isle, with lots of music and dance.
The Derrell Syria project is doing the July First Thursday concert at PWPL: 7 p.m., Thursday, July 1, Community Room, free, but $2-$5 donations requested. He says it will be mostly swing.
May 5, 2010
BOARD ACTIONS REQUESTED
Parks and Rec update
Arabesque Tent Letter
FESTIVAL
Next Festival Meeting: 6 p.m., Wednesday, May 12, location here. Potluck. Please bring plate, utensils, beverage and a dish to share.
City issues: Just talked to Keith this afternoon. He is OK with the revised rejection letter, but he recommends we call Nikke and Karl first and let them know it's coming. I think I will email instead, just so we have a record of everything that's said. Keith has also talked with City Attorney Ron Keith, who agrees there is a lot of material that can come out of the agreement. Karen, if you can sign the letters tonight, I will mail them on my way home and we can get this going again.
Thursday night: Park Manager Cindy Noble sent us a timeline for the lottery. It was more "them" and less "us" than I'd anticipated in our "learning year." I visited with her today and have adjusted that a little. I will circulate a copy and email to anyone who's interested. I have also been keeping Leah LaCasse up to date, as she has volunteered to help.
Dam: Erik Booth from Board of Light and Power called today and confirmed their intention to avoid disrupting our Festival. I told him a little about what we set up on the north end of the park and when - particularly the acoustic workshop tent overlooking the river. I also asked him what kind of equipment the contractors might have on site and what impact that might have on our security operation. He said they planned to park all the equipment across the road and didn't think it would be a problem. He said it would be OK for people to still access the river. They will meet with the contractor next month, and he says he will email us complete details about June 18. I said I wanted something I would forward to our Set-Up and Security teams, especially.
The Spring Newsletter: I couldn't tell from the level in the box: was anyone able to take a stack out to the Visitors' Center on the way to Harvey?
Workshops: Rob LaLonde seems to be making good strides with the Workshops. Chuck Ganzert provided him with the mainstage schedule (also now on our website), performer contact information and a list of workshops suggested by the Music Committee. I realize there is concern about the number of people working on this area, but I do not believe it is Rob's intent to make them all monitors. Plus, most of them are people who usually participate in workshops, like Rob and Brent Graves, so we would most likely have partially comped them anyway, and this way they'll do more work!
Volunteers of the Year: We have three nominations: Janet Koistenen, Chuck Howe and Heidi Stevenson. Janet is one of the people who flung herself into the gap during The Great Food Tent Crisis of 09. I was going to solicit votes before I left, since we said "nominate by March 30, vote by April 30." But that would have made a lot (I hope!) of extra emails for someone else to keep track of. I sent a vote reminder last night and extended the deadline to May 15.
TV-6 Documentary: On May 4, Brian Caball of TV6 called to touch base about the proposed half-hour documentary about Hiawatha. I anticipated that someone would call him to report last month's board vote to approve the project, but he seemed not to have received the message. Not sure what was up with that, but he's up to speed now. Next step is for Chuck G. and I to get some kind of recording release for this project to the performers. I believe it will be fairly easy to adapt the current PR90 recording release.
MISC:
Travel Bug:Literally and metaphorically. Mercy, it was nice to get back to the U.P. We are grateful that we didn't take too bad of a beating from the volcano. I caught a cold on the trip that I have not been able to ditch yet, so use your hand sanitizer! Sorry!
Music Can Be Fun: Dan Flesher is doing this month's First Thursday concert at PWPL: 7 p.m., Thursday, May 6, Community Room, free, but $2-$5 donations requested.
Music Can Be Fun 2: One of my old jam pals from Missouri days has a weekly old-time/bluegrass show on the public radio station at U.Conn-New Haven. It's on the internet noon to 2 every Monday. If you're at a computer on your lunch break, it's usually a pretty fun play list. http://www.wnhu.net
Music Can Be Fun 3: My friend also recommends an all-bluegrass/old-time online station that I've been enjoying: http://bluegrasscountry.org/
April 7, 2010
BOARD ACTIONS REQUESTED: Parks and Rec update, Festival Documentary, Sign and mail check for Pride Printing
FESTIVAL
Next Festival Meeting: 6 p.m., Wednesday, May 12, location TBA. Potluck. Please bring plate, utensils, beverage and a dish to share.
City issues: As of April 6, our letter to the City rejecting their version of the Arabesque Tent proposal is back in Keith Swanson's hands awaiting a final sign-off and some word from our insurance agent. If you need to finalize and send the letter it's in the Mac.
As noted by Nikke Nason in the email I forwarded to you March 30, the City has a June 15 deadline to wrap this up. I am not sure what that deadline is; possibly for the final report on the state grant that funded the rest of the tent purchase. As also noted earlier, the City did not respond to our September proposal until February.
Thursday night: Former Park staff member Leah LaCasse has agreed to help with our end of the lottery. She handled the lottery for six years on the Park staff and knows that system as well as anyone. Jesse and Chuck H. will also help so we will have some depth in terms of who knows how to do it.
The Spring Newsletter has been mailed, and the printing has been paid for. I have a check ready for Pride Printing for the postage and bulk-mailing service. If an officer could sign and mail that Wednesday, that would be great.
The extra copies are in the box on the typing stand behind the blue vinyl chair in the office. If you know anywhere that would allow us to put a stack of those, please feel welcome to take some. If someone could take a stack out to the Visitors' Center on the way to Harvey, that would be great! Thanks!
If someone requests a copy of the newsletter, you will have to put real postage on it. The bulk mailing rate only applies to the original bulk batch. So mark out the bulk-mailing bug in the top right corner and put a 44-cent stamp over it
Workshops I hope we are all set on Workshops. Rob LaLonde will be the Coordinator and will do the immediately-before and at-the-Festival stuff; Jim Stedman will be the Monitor and will do some of the early stages of it, as he will only be here through June. Rob hopes to involve John Mallo and maybe Brent Graves, too, and we have discussed the need to not add additional Monitor positions to do that. Chuck G. has provided a list of suggested Workshop topics compiled by the Music Committee during their work with the artists, and I sent that to Rob and Jim.
Volunteers of the Year: We have three nominations: Janet Koistenen, Chuck Howe and Heidi Stevenson. Janet is one of the people who flung herself into the gap during The Great Food Tent Crisis of 09. I'd like to do a vote reminder when I get back and extend the deadline to May 15.
TV-6 Documentary: On March 16, I emailed all of you, as well as Keith Swanson and Chuck Ganzert, a proposal from Brian Caball of TV6 to do a probably-half-hour documentary about Hiawatha at this year's Festival. Keith Swanson has OKd it provided we can work out the recording-release issues. I have discussed that with Brian and Chuck, and the tentative plan is that, if the Board OKs the project, we will send a letter and additional recording release to our mainstage artists concerning this program. Brian has also checked with the station's BMI rep (and, mercy, I hope that doesn't set that bunch grasping into our pockets any more than they already are!), and believes they can manage their end of that issue. He believes they can get enough sponsors to get the go-ahead from their station manager.
If you elect to go forward with the documentary before I get back, it would be thoughtful if someone could contact Brian with that news. Chuck G. and I can work with him on the details. Brian Cabell, TV6 News Director, 906-361-6828 (cell), 906-475-4141 (work)
MISC:
Van Riper mini-festival: Any news on this?
March 3, 2010
BOARD ACTIONS REQUESTED: Parks and Rec update, office help in April
FESTIVAL
Next Festival Meeting: 6 p.m., Tuesday, March 23, Bertrams'. Potluck. Please bring plate, utensils, beverage and a dish to share.
City meeting: As you know, Sue, Chuck, Jesse and I met with Karl Zueger, Doug Smith and Cindy Noble of Parks and Rec, Nikke Nason from the Arts and Culture Center, and Gale LaJoye on February 11. We discussed the Arabesque Tent agreement and opened the discussion about the prospects for our taking over Thursday night, the lottery, etc.
I am attaching the notes from that meeting to this report for the board. The Thursday-night changes discussed have been implemented, and we are posting the lottery form on our website, as well as directing people to the Parks and Rec site. I am trying to recruit a former Park staff member as a volunteer to help with our end of the lottery. it's someone who knows that system as well as anyone. Nothing definite on that yet.
We seem to be pretty far apart on our Tent-use agreement. One possible compromise that I thought of: to agree upon a number of free uses to be used at any time through the life of the tent. That would free us from some of the concern about our current ABO contract and might allow the City to be more receptive to a higher number of free uses. Disadvantage to us would be that, the Tent will age every day we wait to use it.
Spring Newsletter: I expect to have the Spring Newsletter to the printer by the first of next week, with mailing scheduled for the first week of April. Noreen Collins is updating our mailing list again this year, so please give her a huge thank-you if you see her!
Contracts: Chuck Ganzert and I prepared the mainstage performer contracts last Friday, and, once two deposit checks are signed tonight, I will mail those tomorrow.
MISC:
Van Riper mini-festival: Any news on this?
Office help: I will be out of the office for most of April. Someone will need to pick up paper mail, pay bills, check email, check voicemail, etc. Is there anyone on the board (ideally someone who already has office keys) who could take on all or part of these tasks? I will also miss the April board meeting as currently scheduled.
February 3, 2010
BOARD ACTIONS REQUESTED
Budget Approval
Parks and Rec update
Logo contest late entries
Bonifas Donation
Maggie's Trip
Van Riper festival
FESTIVAL
Budget: Festival Committee reviewed a preliminary budget proposal at their January 19 meeting, and I have not heard of any changes needed. The proposal needs board approval, especially for the ticket prices, so our funds coordinator can order the tickets.
The prices proposed are:
Weekend adult advance: $60 - $10 increase
Weekend teen/senior advance: $50 - $10 increase
Weekend adult, teen/senior gate: $70 - $10 increase
Friday only (all ages but child): $15 - no change
Saturday only (all ages but child): $30 - no change *
Sunday only (all ages but child): $30 - no change *
Camping: $15 per tag - no change
Parking: $40 per tag - no change
* In looking at these prices again, I see something I did not notice earlier. While our new advance price is still better than single-day gate prices, the weekend gate price is higher than the single-day gate prices for people who buy Saturday and Sunday only. Is that going to create a "run" on single-day tickets? If we raise the Saturday and Sunday single-day to $35, will that be a hassle for the Gate crew? Is $40 unreasonable for a day ticket? Will an increase re-open the issue of a reduced-price ticket for later in the day - say, after 6 p.m.? Sorry I missed that factor earlier.
Next Festival Meeting: 6 p.m., Tuesday, March 23, Bertrams'. Potluck. Please bring plate, utensils, beverage and a dish to share.
Logo contest: We have 41 entries from 18 artists. Do you want to consider entries that arrived after the deadline? Because the office wasn't open Monday, I figure anything in the mail or under the door by noon yesterday was OK. Four entries arrived after that. Three were late because two art instructors offered to turn them in for students and then had conflicts that kept them from doing that on time. A fourth was in the mail today with a February 2 postmark.
Arabesque Tent: As you know from recent emails, Sue, Chuck, Jesse and I plan to meet with Karl Zueger, Doug Smith and Cindy Noble of Parks and Rec on February 11. We will discuss the Arabesque Tent agreement and open the discussion about the prospects for our taking over Thursday night, the lottery, etc. Any thoughts that any of you feel should be conveyed to that meeting?
MISC:
Bonifas donation: The Bonifas Arts Center in Escanaba will hold an Auction For The Arts on May 8. If there are no objections, I'd like for us to donate one weekend Festival ticket. We've done similar things for other organizations, it's a bit of good PR, and it might bring us a new Festival-goer who might pay in the future.
Van Riper mini-festival: Last October, we had a phone call from Doug Barry, the park manager at Van Riper. He was interested in collaborating with us on a one-day music/craft festival there in late summer - probably the end of August. I explained that that was pretty close to our Festival for us to work on something else, but that, if he would email a proposal, the board would discuss it. I didn't hear anything else until Tuesday, when we received an email from the park "event planner" announcing that they are having a one-day festival August 28, and asking if she could have our list of performers and vendors. I referred her to the performer links and AITR links on our website, as we don't have that info for 2010 yet. I was a little surprised that we somehow fell off the proposal. I hope we didn't miss a crucial message over the winter. If there's interest in working with Van Riper on something like this, I'll see if I can get us reconnected.
Travel Bug: Clyde's travel bug will have us in Europe for two and a half weeks this spring. Someone will need to pick up paper mail, pay bills, check email, check voicemail, etc. I will work on that in the next few weeks and keep you posted. I will also miss the April board meeting as currently scheduled.
January 6, 2010
BOARD ACTIONS REQUESTED
Board terms, meeting times, etc.
Check and update board roster
FESTIVAL
Budget: I intend to have a preliminary budget proposal for the January 19 Festival meeting. I believe we will have to raise ticket prices this year.
Festival Meeting: 6 p.m., Tuesday, January 19, Bertrams'. Potluck.
Logo contest: We have 18 entries to date. Please remind all the artists you know that the deadline is 6 p.m., February 1, and take flyers if you have someplace apt to post them.
Arabesque Tent: No word yet.
MISC:
Holidays: Thanks again for the Christmas bonus, the parking pass and the days off.
Donations: I mailed our $100 Friends of Falling Rock Cafe and Bookstore donation on December 8, and we received a nice thank-you. I asked Dean and Bette Premo about their sponsorship levels for the 25th season the Second Sunday Concert and Dance Series at Fortune Lake. Dean said he will send them when they are set. (They kindly agreed to let me email them a "see Bryan Bowers again at Hiawatha" flyer, which they have printed to put out at his performance there this Sunday. We plan to go, but, this way, if the weather stops us, the flyers will be there.)
Board biz: Remember we need to set the 2010 meeting times, decide who gets the one unfinished term and elect officers. Also, I am attaching our current board roster. Please check your information and let me know if it needs changes. Thanks!
Travel Bug: My husband's getting the itch to travel again. Our friends in Germany are likely to return to the States next year, so we may take a trip across the pond this spring. I'll keep you posted.
December 2, 2009
BOARD ACTIONS REQUESTED
Budget report
Tent update
Set January Festival Meeting
Holiday requests
Possible donations
FESTIVAL
Results: Festival budget report attached. This should be pretty much final, now that the Waste Management bill has been resolved (I hope). I printed a couple of almost-year-end all-category reports to pass around. Since it's not final (and since I caught an account-code mistake right at the end), I didn't want to print copies for all. However, I can make one tonight for anyone who wants one.
Festival Meeting: We need to set the time and place for our first 2010 Festival Meeting in January.
Thursday night: Still nothing on the Tent agreement. Want to go ahead with this?
Waste Management: As noted in earlier emails, I hope that issue is settled.
Arabesque Tent: As you know, the informational meeting on November 18, was kind of cancelled. Nikke Nason was ill; Gale LaJoye was there with a handout, which I will circulate. Most of the information did not apply to us, or at least did not apply in a known way, because our use agreement is still churning through the various levels of City administration. Only two people attended: a guy from the City Band and me.
MISC:
Holiday requests: For the past several years the board has approved closing our office the last two weeks in December (four office days). This year, that would be December 22, 23, 29 and 30. I would check paper-, voice- and email daily during that time. I respectfully ask for those days off this year.
Also for the last several years, we have sent Christmas cards to 20-30 of our friends in the community, like the Parks and Rec staff, our attorney, our accountant, etc. If there are no objections, I'd like to do that again this year.
Accounting: Ron Perkins did get our 2008 year-end reports done in time for the Annual Meeting, and I have them here tonight. He also completed our Federal 990 Form. Jim signed it November 5, and I mailed it November 7. The extended-extended deadline was November 15.
Possible donations: The Falling Rock Cafe and Bookstore in Munising has a "friends of" program for which the annual dues are $100. FRC&B is a huge supporter of traditional, acoustic music, both in their weekly concerts and in their new Wednesday-night jam. If you think we could spare $100, I think it would be nice to support them in this way.
Also, next year's season (2010-2011) is the 25th for the Second Sunday Concert and Dance Series at Fortune Lake. I do not know what their sponsorship levels are, but, if we can spare the money, I think it would be nice to support that as well. Sponsors are recognized in stage comments at each event and also on the website. Dean and Bette have always been generous in announcing our events, putting out our flyers, etc.
Memberships: We have $810 in 2010 memberships to date, including two $100 memberships that arrived December 1, one by mail, one from the website. Most memberships and renewals come with ticket orders, so this is a good early start.
November 4, 2009
BOARD ACTIONS REQUESTED: Budget report, offer from ABO Tent Events, Annual Meeting
FESTIVAL
Results: A to-date budget report was presented to the board.
Thursday night: I would be more comfortable pursuing this after the Tent agreement is resolved, but I will go ahead if you prefer.
Waste Management: Still no response on this, but no additional bills, either.
ABO Tents discount offer: Last week we received a notice from ABO, our tent contractor, offering us 5 percent off our total bill if we send our deposit before January 1. That would save us almost $250, not huge but not to be sneezed at. I'd want to mail the check at the end of December and enter it in the checkbook with a January 1 date, so it doesn't show twice in 2009 and never in 2010. Other than that, the only possible downside I see is that sometimes those early-pay enticements are a sign of cash-flow problems in a business. Hope that's not true of ABO, although I'm sure the bad economy has hit them.
Arabesque Tent: Hope you got my forwarded email from Nikke Nason on November 2. The potential tent-user meeting is 7 p.m., Wednesday, November 18. I plan to attend and would appreciate someone else from Hiawatha being there, but I'll be OK with it if not.
Food Tent: Al Sherbinow confirmed that he will do the Musicians' Food Tent in 2010.
MISC:
PWPL Winter Wonderland: We had another opportunity to participate in the Peter White Public Library Christmas-tree display. We (using the term "we" very loosely!) put up a tree the last two years, and I recently emailed the Board and Festival Committee to see if anyone was up for doing it again. I only got one response of the "I will if nobody else will" type. Since there seems to be no real spark for doing it, I do not plan to sign us up. We have a pretty good stash of ornaments built up from our last two trees, and I will hang on to those for a while.
Annual Meeting: Karen booked the Billy Butcher Bayou Band (Randy Seppala's Cajun band) for the dance, and Randy has returned our contract. I included meeting information in the Fall Newsletter. Invitation postcards were mailed the first full week in October. I also sent news releases to our media email distribution, the Mining Journal Virtual Newsroom, the PR90 Calendar and Marquette Monthly.
Jim Jajich bought extra paper plates, utensils, beverages, etc., and arranged for coffee from Theo McCracken. Please remember that we are bringing the desserts. Thanks!
We have five board positions up for election with four incumbents eligible to serve again. Phil Watts, Ron Larson, Chuck Howe and Pearl Taylor are finishing their first terms; plus Matt Maki's first term through 2011. The agenda should include comments from Jim, a Treasurer's report, comments from me, and elections. We can draw for door prizes while the board votes are counted. Anything else we need to think about?
Accounting: I have reminded Ron Perkins about the need to have our 2008 year-end report this week and about the extended November 15 deadline for our Federal 990 Form.
Lions Club Dinner: I graciously (I hope) declined our invitation from the Marquette Lions to their 90th Anniversary Dinner. As per your vote last month, I offered to donate two 2010 Festival comps for their silent auction. I sent a certificate that the successful bidder can redeem when we start selling tickets. We received a lovely thank-you note this week, which I will pass around.
October 7, 2009
Board actions requested: Review Budget report, Update on Waste Management bill, update on Annual Meeting, Lions Club dinner and/or donation
FESTIVAL
Results: an updated Budget report was presented
Thursday night: I would be more comfortable pursuing this after the Tent agreement is resolved, but I will go ahead if you prefer.
Mugs: The mugs are here, as is the donation for the second color.
Waste Management: As we discussed last month, I submitted our request for the donation of trash receptacles to the WM public-relations firm. The company website said to expect a two-month response time on gift requests, and we are still waiting. This week WM sent us another bill including a small late fee. I called to see about putting our bill "in suspense" until the price issue is resolved. After disconnecting me once, they refused. I hate for us to have anything in arrears, but I suspect that, if we pay it, we will forfeit any chance at seeing a dime back. I'd like to wait at least til early next month to see what response we get from the PR firm.
Arabesque Tent: So far the City has been silent in response to our use-agreement proposal. I have left messages for Nikke Nason and have not heard back. She is out of town this week til next Wednesday.
Coordinator vacancies: Deb Fosler has stepped down as Info Coordinator, and Lori Everett may not be able to coordinate Funds. Mark Petrie is willing to coordinate Info but may not have time for the advance work it needs to run smoothly. Please be thinking about prospects for these important roles.
Dance Floor trailer: Ron Larson reports that one of his colleagues will take our new, enclosed dance-floor trailer to be weighed within the next week or so, and that person will also provide free storage at a secure site between Gwinn and Little Lake. Once it is weighed, we can proceed with the title transfer and plates to start using it. Ron will also reinforce the roof and tarp it for the winter. He says we will owe a little to the guy for hauling and weighing it, and that the title and plates will be about $70. We will keep you posted.
MISC:
DBA renewals: These were filed and paid for on September 9, and are good through September 2014.
Annual Meeting: Karen booked the Billy Butcher Bayou Band (Randy Seppala's Cajun band) for the dance, and Randy has returned our contract. I have included meeting information in the Fall Newsletter, which should be in the mail by mid-October. I expect to mail the invitation postcards late this week or early next. (Our Bylaws require mailing at least10 days before the meeting.)
Are we all set for extra paper plates, utensils, beverages, etc.? Please remember that we are bringing the desserts. Thanks!
We have five board positions up for election with four incumbents eligible to serve again. Phil Watts, Ron Larson, Chuck Howe and Pearl Taylor are finishing their first terms; plus Matt Maki's first term through 2011. I have attached an Annual Meeting budget.
Lions Club Dinner invitation: We received an invitation from the Marquette Lions Club to send someone to their 90th Anniversary Dinner, 5:30 p.m., Saturday, October 24, at UpFront. Cost is $30 per person and will include dinner, music, awards and a silent auction. Three questions: (1) Does anyone want to go? (2) Would the Music Co-op want to pay for anyone to go? (3) Since the Lions Club gave us $880 as their 2008 pancake-breakfast proceeds recipient, would it be appropriate to offer them a couple of Festival comps for their silent auction?
September 2, 2009
BOARD ACTIONS REQUESTED: Budget report, Protest Waste Management bill, Arabesque Tent discussion, Annual Meeting planning, Thank-you card for Matt Maki
FESTIVAL:
Results: A to-date budget report was presented to the board
Return of the Jet-Rod: This morning we received a final, adjusted bill from with City for the revised total we requested below. As I bcc'd you earlier, someone at the City had second thoughts about the half-price jet-rodding, and, after generally agreeing to our bill adjustments, Karl Zueger asked for documentation on the that issue. I have all the emails concerning that. I sent Karl the message from Hugh confirming the City Manager's decision on that. I also offered to send him The Whole Magilla (not in those words) if he needed it, but apparently the one memo was enough.
Here are the adjustments and new total:
Original Amount Billed: $13,314.47
-5,056.00 for 50 percent rent remainder paid 07-24-09
- 842.15 for Half sewer jet-rodding
- 81.85 for Repair to electrical pillar bent before Festival
New total: $7,334.47
Thursday night: Between the billing issue and the Tent, we have not pursued this yet.
Mugs: At the Post Festival Meeting, the group voted to order mugs. Julie has forwarded a proof and a tentative price from Globe. The tentative plan is to print two colors, black and red, on a white mug. Depending on the mug price, that will be between $422.64 and $447.12 plus shipping. Our mug budget is $300. Julie says an "anonymous donation" will make up the difference. That will keep Hiawatha's mug cost within budget.
Waste Management: As some of you know, when WM consolidated their business offices into Green Bay, they stopped being the good corporate neighbor they had been in the past. After dragging their feet til the last minute to send us a contract, thus endangering our Health Dept. permit, they announced they would bill us for our containment devices (two 30-yd. "roll-offs") instead of comping them as they have for years and years. That almost doubled our potential bill. It seemed pointless to try to work with Green Bay, so I wanted to approach their corporate PR department instead. That seems to be a separate contractor. We now have their bill for $859.05. Al and I see two possible approaches:
1. Pay it and say goodby.
2. Try to get them to drop the charges for the roll-offs, as they have in the past. If I read the bill right, those are $175 each. Subtracting them would bring our 2009 bill to $509.05, more than we've paid before, but still within budget.
I would like to try Plan 2, and I hope I am attaching below a proposed letter for that purpose. Al has OK'd the letter, but I believe this needs board in-put, if not an actual vote.
Arabesque Tent: As you know, the City has made that purchase and "debuted" the Tent at SeaFood Fest last week. Some of you wanted to discuss our proposed agreement one more time before we sent it.
MISC:
DBA renewals: I'll attend to it; we're good til the end of this month.
Annual Meeting: We have reserved the Community Room at PWPL for the first Saturday evening in November (November 7). Last year, we changed the times to 6-7 potluck; 7-8:30 meeting; 8:30-10:30 dance. (In the past, we did 6:30-7:30 potluck; 7:30-8:30 meeting; 8:30-10:30 dance.) It seems like we need 90 minutes for the meeting these days. Is the 2008 schedule acceptable for this year?
Lately, board members have provided desserts; Hiawatha has provided beverages, napkins, etc.; and we've asked members to bring non-dessert dishes. Does that still work? Can someone arrange for beverages, etc.? Dead River might donate coffee and maybe loan us coffee makers, if we are smart enough to use them, which we weren't last year.
We have a $400 band budget. Can someone recruit a band?
For the last few years, we have given a grand door prize of a Festival weekend package: two adult tickets, one weekend camping tag, one Thursday-night site (Area F) and one parking pass. That does seem to help our attendance. OK to do that again?
Five board positions are up for election with four incumbents eligible to serve again. Phil Watts, Ron Larson, Chuck Howe and Pearl Taylor are finishing their first terms; plus Matt Maki's first term through 2011. We have a card to circulate thanking Matt for his board service.
I will have a full Annual Meeting budget for the board meeting.
Holy Wah! This morning we received a check from the Ray and Peg Hirvonen Foundation for a $500 annual membership! The letter, which I will pass around, sounds like they might renew. I nearly swooned.
Personal Note: I know you are all sick of hearing about it, but just to update: we put Clyde's mom in the Marquette County Medical Care Facility in Ishpeming on Monday. Thanks again for your patience with me, and for your advice and kind thoughts for our family.
August 5, 2009
BOARD ACTIONS REQUESTED: OK City bill, discuss mug omission, vote on DBA registration renewals
Festival
Results: 2009 Total Festival deposits (not yet categorized): $76,456.03; 2008 Total Festival deposits: $65,160.54
2009 advance sales: $80,837. 2008 advance sales: $75,139.50.
2009 concession share: $35,842.47. 2008 concession share: 38,628.38
2009 consignment share: $7,713.46. 2008 consignment share: $9,862.90
City Bill: As I bcc'd you, some adjustments are in order, but I think we're on the same page as of our latest from Karl Zueger. Here's what I've figured
Original Amount Billed: $13,314.47, minus 5,056 50% rent remainder paid 07-24-09; minus $842.15 Half sewer jet-rodding; minus $81.85 repair to electrical pillar bent before Festival. New total: $7,334.47.
I have all the paperwork for your review. The only thing significantly higher was the Park staff because they charged us for administering the lottery. That seems fair to me. It's a big job of work related solely to our event. We didn't pay for police in 2008 because of the MIP grant, but in 2007 our police bill was $2,027.47, compared to $1,763.70 this year.
I will send Karl this adjustment, and, if it looks good to him, I'll ask Jim or Phil to come in next week and sign the check. We have til August 23 to pay, so that should be plenty of time.
Thursday night: The City seems interested in our taking over Thursday night. That would make a lot of things easier - early vendor set-up, fewer limits on the lottery by-pass, doing the lottery earlier in relation to ticket sales.
Health Department: As many of you know, the Wednesday before the Festival, Parks and Rec said the Health Department was refusing to issue our temporary campground permit because they didn't like our Waste Management Document and they said our campsite counts for areas D and F were wrong. I faxed the WM contract again and seemed to fix that. The staff member I spoke with did not, initially, understand that the camping figures were dictated to us by the MCHD and the DEQ; that the MCHD had signed off on them for at least 10 years (even after the flood, for area D); and that two days before our event was not the time for revisions. She blamed us for turning the paperwork in late, but I explained that (a) we could not get WM to send our contract - which is a whole other issue; and (b) in early June I called the staff member we worked with last year and offered to send everything else with a copy of last year's WM contract to get the process moving, and he said that was not necessary; and (c) they have had those documents on file for years. When her boss, Fred Benzie, returned to the office, the staff member had looked at the records and found his signature on everything. They agreed let the permit go forward under the current guidelines this year. However, they want us to reduce the camping count for 2010.
Mugs: One of this year's many "Dag-nabbit!" moments occurred Saturday morning of the Festival when we realized we had not ordered mugs. There were a number of understandable reasons for the oversight. Julie and I decided that the midst of the Festival was a poor time to decide about placing the order. Someone suggested deciding at the Post Festival Meeting, so, if that's OK with the board, that's what we'll do. The money is in the budget you approved for this year.
Festival Meeting: Next one: 7 p.m., Tuesday, August 11, here
Credit-card reader for T-shirts and Tokens: This kinda worked. We never devised a secure containment device for receipts for the T-shirt Booth so did not use the machine we had for there. The one we ran directly to the phone line in Info for Tokens worked fine except for not letting Sue batch out early Sunday night. If we do OK monetarily this year, it would be nice to upgrade to a card reader that would store and upload transactions made off line.
Worker sign-up party: Having the second worker sign-up party after the last day of advance sales like to have killed me, but, financially, it was worthwhile. We sold quite a few tickets and signed up a lot of volunteers. We used the borrowed "store and send" card reader, and had about half our sales on that.
Someone DID OK this! Tom Dummer says the Windows Store set up their display sun-room in Area A, did not use it for camping, kept it lighted all night, and had all kinds of brochures with it. As cc'd to you earlier today, the sunroom was being used by the Bertram campsite, and seems to be no different than someone using a commercial van or truck as a camping unit. I'm OK with that if everyone else is. Because of the earlier question from the business, it did initially seem like someone was deliberately ignoring our policy, so I'm glad that was not the case.
Arabesque Tent: Apparently the City has made that purchase and plans to "debut" the Tent at SeaFood Fest the end of this month.
MISC:
DBA renewals: In 2004, we registered five Hiawatha "assumed names" (also know as "Doing Business As" names) with the County Clerk: Hiawatha Music Co-op, Hiawatha Traditional Music Festival, Hiawatha Festival, Hiawatha Music Festival, and Hiawatha Music Organization. Those registrations will expire September 29, 2009. Renewals are $10 per name. I recommend that we renew the DBAs. If the board agrees, I'll attend to it.
Band Shell Concerts: Mike Beauchamp's Local Talent Bandshell Performance Series has become a City-sponsored event, apparently allowing him to use the Bandshell without rent and to be covered under the City's liability policy.
Audio tapes: Thanks, Jim J., for taking these to St. Vinnie's
July 1, 2009
BOARD ACTIONS REQUESTED
Festival updates
Bandshell Concert letter
FESTIVAL
Worker shirts: Done and delivered
Ticket sales: 2009 year-to-date advance sales about $3,510 ahead YTD (06-30-09) this year over same date 2008.
Festival Meeting: Next one: 7 p.m., Monday, July 13, Tourist Park
Credit-card reader for T-shirts and Tokens: We have borrowed two card readers from our internet service, MidWest Transaction Group. We paid $35 for shipping (including the return).
Posters: Still some left. Sue plans to make another sweep after the Fourth and replace any that have been taken down. Please take some with you if you have places to put them.
Worker sign-up party: Last night's worker sign-up party went well. Chris is thinking about having a second sign-up event on July 14. I would not sell tickets at that because of all the advertising we've done about the 6 p.m., advance sales cutoff that day.
We sold quite a new tickets and memberships at the event and could have sold more if we had a credit-card reader that could save and upload later.
Arabesque Tent: Not sure where we are on that. From our end, we're somewhat becalmed because of Keith's surgery on Monday. His son Jason was just in and said the procedure went fine, but not sure when he'll get to go home.
MISC:
Band Shell Concert letter? Hope you received Monday's forwarded email from Mike Beauchamp about the Local Talent Bandshell Performance Series. Mike organized this free concert series on Friday nights last summer and featured local musicians performing all types of music. He could not get grant money for a 2009 series and is struggling with the City Commission to waive the $50/hour rental fee and newly required liability insurance (as Mike says they do for the city band). Mike maintains that the user fee for the band shell generates little money and deprives musicians and the public of this facility. He hopes to organize a large public gathering at the July 13 City Commission meeting. That conflicts with our Monitor meeting. Do we want to write a letter of support for this endeavor? I could probably crank out something quick, if appropriate. I did forward the message to our Coordinators and to all the pickers I could think of.
UP Art Map: I bought us a spot on the Upper Peninsula Art Map produced by the Bonifas Center in Escanaba. They sent us a pile of copies, so help yourselves. I hope to have them in Info at the Festival. It only cost $50 and looks nice.
Audio tapes: Is someone still willing to take these to St. Vinnie's in exchange for a tax credit?
June 3, 2009
BOARD ACTIONS REQUESTED
Festival updates
Sign raffle license app
Discuss renewal of office lease
FESTIVAL
Worker shirts: Julie is struggling with the usual delays in trying to put together our 2009 t-shirt order. Still waiting for some Monitor updates and performer sizes. Our 2008 re-order came while I was gone. I saw it in the office once but am not sure where it is at this minute.
Ticket sales: 2009 year-to-date advance sales: $8,065. 2008 year-to-date: $9,286. Difference: $221. Pegi is a huge help, so big shout-out if you see her!
Raffle License: Help me remember that Jim and Karen need to sign our raffle license app.
Festival Meeting:
Next one: 5 p.m., Sunday, June 7, Bertrams'
Credit-card reader for T-shirts and Tokens: Pat Saari and I both fell off the Hip Sled at about the same time, so there has been no follow-up on this. I wonder if we should wait a year - especially introducing something new into T-Shirts if Pat won't be there much. I'll bring this up at Festival meeting.
Two nominations to date: Pat Saari and Karen DeYoung. I can't imagine two better picks and plan to recommend that we select them by acclamation.
Posters: They're here. Sue Dohrman plans to hang most of them, but please take some if you have good places for them.
Pins: The hat/lapel pins Pat ordered as this year's new merchandise item look great! (I should have one to pass around.)
Ticket-back disclaimer: Done
Arabesque Tent: Not sure where this is; the state arts cuts may whack it. I'll keep you posted.
MISC.
My Medical Mishap: Thanks for all who stepped in and kept things going during my twice-as-long-as-expected absence. Pegi has put in a lot of hours helping get caught up, and we at least have the tickets under control. I am sorry I did not have a plan for that extra month's time off.
Ow, ow, my brain! I generally feel OK, but my brain still seems a little scrambled from its journey through the medical system. I also see evidence that, before I left, pain was bossing me more than I realized. If you think something has fallen through the cracks, or if you see something that doesn't look right, please speak up. You can't hurt my feelings, and I'd like to catch screw-ups sooner rather than later!
Office lease: Our office lease with The UP Children's Museum is up for renewal, and they are finally, after six years, raising our rent. The increase is just under $20/month. We have budgeted an increase for the last couple of years, and this is still a good deal. I hope you will vote to renew our lease for another year. I have a copy of the lease if you'd like to see it.
Audio tapes: Is someone still willing to take these to St. Vinnie's in exchange for a tax credit?
Arts and Culture Award winner: Dave Bett did win one of the 13th Annual Marquette County Arts Awards (like the one Hiawatha received in 2006). Hope some of you were able to attend the presentation. This is the second year we have nominated a winner!
No director's reports were presented in April and May because of the director's worse-than-expected Medical Misadventures.
March 4, 2009
BOARD ACTIONS REQUESTED: Festival credit-card update, Vote on ticket-back disclaimer, Discuss what to do with unwanted cassette tape, Farewell to My Hip
FESTIVAL
Worker shirts: I emailed our extra-shirt order to Screened Image right after the December board meeting and finally had someone get in touch February 10. As I emailed you at that time, they originally quoted us $9 each for 25 shirts. We only need 10, and the price on just that amount is $16.68 each. That sounds high, but the total is still less than for 25 at $9 each, plus no extra shirts to deal with. Since there were no objections, I have ordered those 10 shirts. They should be ready by around March 18. Julie and I agree that we need to order more shirts next year. I thought storing extra shirts was a bother til we had to do re-orders!
Festival Meeting: Next one: 6 p.m., Friday, March 20, Bertrams'
Ticket-back disclaimer: Keith Swanson has OKed the following wording for a possible ticket-back disclaimer. It will fit. That's why they call it fine print, right? "In consideration of the price paid for admission, the Hiawatha Music Co-op grants to the holder a revocable license to attend the 31st Annual Hiawatha Traditional Music Festival to be held July 17-19, 2009, at the Marquette, Mich., Tourist Park. Licensee agrees to abide by all rules governing festival attendance and acknowledges that the license granted hereby may be revoked without refund for violation of said rules. Scheduled festival events will proceed regardless of weather conditions unless dangerous conditions arise. Licensee acknowledges that in case of severely inclement weather, the Hiawatha Music Co-op reserves the right to stop said performances and shall issue no refunds on account of inclement weather. By attending this event, the licensee consents to being photographed."
Arabesque Tent: Not sure where this is; the state arts cuts may whack it. I'll keep you posted.
City Contract: I have emailed Karl Zueger to go over some of the details, as well as update our Thursday-night info for the newsletter.
Spring Newsletter: I expect to get the pages to Globe by March 20 for mailing not later than the first week in April. Please let me know if you have something that needs to be in it.
MISC:
Dire news: Despite my best efforts to avoid it, I have to have my hip replaced on March 30. I am working on a plan to cover the office. Here's what I expect to happen, based on what I know so far: I hope I can resume checking the email and voicemail and updating the website within less than a week. In the meantime, someone needs to attend to those duties, especially the email. It should be someone with high-speed, someone who can stop by the office daily, or someone REALLY patient. Our "away" email has a multi-step log-on that will make you sprout cobwebs on Planet Dial-Up. Someone should check the paper mail at least a couple of times a week. The only time-critical things should be performer contracts and bills. It would save time and effort if the person doing that was a check-signer, but it doesn't have to be. Someone should check the voicemail daily, if possible. That's easy. The website shouldn't need much updating at that point, but it would be nice to keep the "Other Traditional Music Events" part updated, at least. I plan to update the "Away" instructions I have used for vacations.
Memorial gift: We sent $50 to the Covington Finnish Festival in memory of Johnny Perona, as well as a sympathy card to Randy and his bandmates.
Audio tapes: Two students from Northstar completed our past-Festival performer roster and sorted the played-here from the didn't-play-here cassettes. Surprisingly, there were only three tapes from bands we'd booked. The others are ready for St. Vinnie's or the t-shirt booth or where ever they need to go.
Tourism DVD: Yesterday we received our $125 refund from this postponed project, and I've put it in the bank.
February 4, 2009
Board actions requested
Vote on price and compensation changes recommended at Festival Meeting; Arabesque Tent update and meeting; Budget revisions; Johnny Perona memorial
FESTIVAL
Worker shirts: I emailed our extra-shirt order to Screened Image right after the December board meeting and haven't heard a peep from them. I called to check but have not heard back.
Festival Meeting: At last week's Festival meeting (which was pretty well-attended), the group agreed to raise parking to $40 per tag; to raise camping to $15 per tag; and to leave ticket prices at 2008 levels. I believe this needs a board vote. I did not have time to calculate the change that would represent to the budget. Sorry.
We also discussed raising performer consignment to 15 percent from 10 percent, but Karen later reported that some mainstage negotiations had included the 10-percent figure, so we will revisit that for 2010.
Pat Saari is ordering 500 enamel hat/lapel pins for this year's new merchandise item. This is also something we could use as a membership premium. She also recommended getting a credit-card reader for t-shirts, and we agreed that one for Tokens would be good, too. I need to visit with our credit-card company, as well as Lori Everett, about logistics.
After an interesting and productive discussion, the group determined that making a Thursday-night spot a $100-plus membership premium would be too complicated and too confusing for the potential campers. Instead, the group recommended drawing five Thursday-night, lottery-bypass slots as raffle prizes. Winners would pay for their Thursday sites just like our bypassing coordinators and monitors do, and we would handle those the same way. The idea is to make it less confusing and more affordable for more people, and, we hope, boost raffle income. We'd draw this summer for 2010 slots.
The group also discussed AC/Monitor family-wristbands and decided to give each AC/Monitor the option of up to four guest passes (in addition to self) that could be used for anyone. This will be kind of a test of the honor system, and we hope ACs will encourage monitors to take what they need but no more. This would allow more flexibility for people raising grandkids, etc. I think this needs board action, too, as it will change the Compensation Policy.
The group agreed to change the term "camping tag" to "tent/structure tag" and include tarp covers among the things that need to be tagged.
Next Festival Meeting is 6 p.m., Friday, March 20, at Bertrams'.
Ticket-back disclaimer: Our printer says we can add wording to our ticket backs for an extra $50 for the whole batch. That seemed too cheap, but he says if it's the same for all, the set-up is minimal. Haven't heard from Keith Swanson yet about the wording.
Arabesque Tent: Nikke Nason of the Arts and Culture Center had a meeting February 3, for potential users of this tent, including Exchange Club, Scandinavian SummerFest, (possible future) Finn Fest, Blues Fest, City Band, sound and light guys (Jim Pennell, Jim Supanich, Gerry Kippola), Children's Museum and us. The City has approved the tent purchase, but now some kind of stage needs to be added. Gale LaJoye and Nikke say that will run about $50,000, so they need "letters showing high levels of interest" from groups who might use the set-up. One big issue discussed: set-up and transport costs. That alone could be more than $1,000-1,400 per use in addition to the cost of renting the tent. The tent will be "assigned" to the Arts and Culture Dept., so Nikke will see if she can use contracted workers like she does for theatre productions, etc., rather than more-costly Public Works staff. She's out of her office til Monday, so it will be a while before that's clarified. People did seem a bit daunted by the rental and set-up costs.
I reminded them that, in the original discussions, we were offered several years of free use if we approved use of the set-aside fund. Nikke wondered if we would still pay the set-up/transportation costs, but nothing was decided. If the purchase goes forward, Nikke and Gale hope the tent can be set up in Mattson Park for Fourth of July to introduce it to the community and show people what it can do.
City Contract: I signed this January 16. Karl Zueger has asked me to meet with him later to go over some of the details. We're shooting for March to give him and Doug time to get their re-org under control.
Budget: Several budget updates and revisions came from the Festival meeting. I have attached an updated budget proposal. Biggest change is that somehow the Public Works line item dropped off the Quicken report I used to create this. I wish could blame that on other than operator error. Anyway, it's in there now. Sorry.
MISC:
Memorial gift: The board voted last year to limit our memorial gestures to cards except for the passing of an active volunteer. Would you be willing to bend that for a memorial contribution to the Covington Finnish Festival in memory of Johnny Perona? They have a lot of music, and Johnny played a lot of Hiawathas. Also maybe dedicate a percussion workshop at the Festival to him this year?
Audio tapes: As you recall, we arranged for a student from North Star Academy help sort through our tapes as a service-learning project. She was supposed to start November 26, but ended up in the hospital. She recovered and hit it a good lick on January 21. I learned today she is back in the hospital. The service-learning person at NSA has lined up two other students who expect to start next week.
Tourism DVD: As you know from my email bcc of January 28, the Marquette Tourism DVD project is on hold until the economy improves, and the agency putting it together is supposed to refund our money. I will keep after it if a check does not appear soon. Which it hadn't by today.
January 7, 2009
BOARD ACTIONS REQUESTED:
Set first Festival Meeting
Arabesque Tent update and meeting
Request to delay potential added membership benefit
Proposed Festival budget
Another proposed new website look
FESTIVAL
Worker shirts: I emailed our extra-shirt order to Screened Image right after the December board meeting and haven't heard a peep from them. I'll check again by phone.
First Festival Meeting: At the Post Festival meeting, we agreed to have this year's meetings in January, April and June, keeping the in-home-potluck format and possibly using different nights of the week each time. Earlier I emailed the Area Coordinators, and the only one who indicated day preferences cannot attend on January 14, 15, and 21. The 21st is out anyway; see next item. I think our family has enough flexibility in our elder-care schedule now that we can go ahead and set a time and place tonight, if you like.
Arabesque Tent: Nikke Nason of the Arts and Culture Center has slated a meeting for all potential user groups at 6 p.m., Wednesday, January 21, at the Arts and Culture Center in PWPL. I expect to go and would welcome at least one board member, so it's not just me representing us - although I'm OK with that if you are. Keith Swanson, our attorney (and a new grandpa), stands ready to review any proposals.
Contract: Also as noted before by email, I looked over the final copy of our new City contract, and it's all as we expected. I stopped at Parks and Rec on my way in today to sign it, but it had been shuffled to City Hall. It also needs Sue Bertram's sig. Thanks, Sue! One reason it's been harder than usual to get this done, besides my own distractions, is that . . .
Parks and Rec Director: According to the secretary at Parks and Rec, the City decided not to fill Hugh's position, and, instead, to divide the Parks and Rec Director duties between Karl Zueger, asst. city manager, and Doug Smith, Lakeview Arena manager. It sounds like they are both scrambling, especially Karl, who shuffles between City Hall and Lakeview who-knows-how-many times a day. I emailed Karl again today; said I'd stopped by, apologized for missing him, reassured him we'd keep after it, sympathized about his job crunch. At some point after we sign our contract and after things settle down for those folks, we need to define which of them will be our contact person for the Festival. Also, in view of that staff change . . .
Delay possible new membership benefit? Last year we discussed making a Thursday-night reservation a premium for at least some $100 (and up?) memberships. Several Festival-goers have said they'd pay that for a spot. We discussed whether making Thursday-night for the well-to-do only would be un-Hiawatha-like, but we said maybe we could do something like: "Thursday-night camping for the first ten $100 and up annual memberships for any year." We'd add those 10 members to our "lottery by-pass" list and leave plenty of luck-only sites for those who can't give that generously. I still think that's a promising plan, but I hate to spring something new on the new Parks and Rec "co-directors" while they're still getting to know us and our Festival. I realize over-thinking and over-caution are among my not-so-good traits, so I will pursue this idea for this year if you like.
Budget: I hope you were able to open the budget I emailed, and there's a copy attached. [hard copies at meeting only]
MISC:
Banking, CD renewal: Our second mBank CD matured September 27, and both are now cashed in and parked in our checking account.
Jordan is off the Bell Financial Services account, Phil is on, and we have new checks for the Fidelity Money Market. Bell has set up an easier treasurer-change process for our accounts for the future. As noted earlier by email, the reference to the "EverBank Money Market" was an error. That account was closed, and the approx. $2,000 in question is in the Money Market part of our Fidelity account.
Audio tapes: As you'll recall, we arranged for a student from North Star Academy help sort through our tapes as a service-learning project. She was supposed to start November 26, but ended up in the hospital. She has recovered and expects to start helping us January 14.
New website design: Our webmaster, Nathan Lyle of U.P. Web Maestro, expects to have our new look online before the end of next week. However, in telling me that, he also sent a mock-up of yet another possible new look. I will pass around a printout of each, but I really hope we can go with the first new version. Compelling reasons ready if you want to hear them.
Christmas Tree: Our Christmas tree at PWPL looked great! Thanks for doing that again. I believe things like that keep us in people's minds during the year, but I'm too uncreative to help implement them. I'm a great wrecking ball, though. Thanks to Karen and Zach for being the "back-up demolition crew"!
Thanks again: Thanks again for letting me close the office for the holidays, and for the parking tag. Tuesday was my first day to use it. Also, continued thanks for your patience, understanding and support during the Morgan Family Troubles.
