Festival Committee Notes
June 15, 2010
Board Members Present: Sue Bertram, Jim Jajich, Chuck Howe, Phil Watts, Heidi Stevenson.
Area Coordinators and Monitors Present: Jim De Young, Karen De Young, Ted Schiltz, Mark Krist, Joy Bender Hadley, Al Sherbinow, Pat Saari.
Staff present: Maggie Morgan
Monitor List: The monitor list is online as a shared Google document. Area Coordinators and Monitors, please update your information as soon as possible if you have not done so already.
Posters: These are being currently being distributed. There is a sign out sheet in the office if any board members, monitors, or area coordinators would like to help distribute them.
Volunteer Signup Party: Chris Fries has scheduled this for June 23 at The Commons in downtown Marquette. The party will run from 7-10 p.m., and feature music by the Flying Martini Brothers. Those interested will be able to sign up for festival volunteer shifts and purchase tickets, camping tags, etc. Maggie hopes to have one of our portable credit card readers there for these transactions.
Astronomy Club Proposal: A local astronomy club asked Maggie for day and parking passes in order to come in and set up telescopes for viewing the night sky on Saturday of the festival. This was deemed an appropriate activity to include along with the activities offered by the Children's Area; Maggie is checking in with that area coordinator to see if there is interest.
Traffic Flow: Maggie brought maps for the attendees to review proposing several options for increased one-way traffic on festival grounds. After discussion of the many factors affected by each option, the attendees finalized their preferences. Maggie will communicate those back to Jeff Baker, who is creating the map. The new traffic rules will be included in the program, indicated with city signs, and further clarified by posted festival security staff.
Security Staff: The discussion of traffic flow led to a discussion of who could help direct traffic. It was decided that additional staff would be helpful in directing traffic; Maggie is going to contact the NMU cadets to see if they would be available for a donation to their program (this is the system they had in place the last time we considered utilizing them). This led to a brief discussion of how our handling of festival security volunteers may need to evolve in the near future.
Festival TV Coverage: Along with the TV6 documentary on the festival, which is in progress, WBUP ABC10 is now interested in producing in several short news segments, to be aired the week before the festival. Maggie collected ideas for volunteers that may be interested in being interviewed.
The meeting adjourned at 7:49 p.m.
Submitted by Heidi Stevenson, board secretary
May 12, 2010
Board Members Present: Karen Bacula, Heidi Stevenson.
Area Coordinators and Monitors Present: Jim De Young, Karen De Young, Ted Schiltz, Julie Foster-Lindquist, Mark Petrie, Al Sherbinow, Pat Saari.
Staff present: Maggie Morgan
Volunteers of the Year: Maggie asked the attendees and everyone else on the board and festival committee to send in votes for two Volunteers of the Year by May 15; the nominees are Janet Koistenen, Chuck Howe and Heidi Stevenson.
Monitor List: The monitor list is online as a shared Google document. The deadline for updating this is also May 15.
Monitor Lanyard Tags: Thanks to Ted Schiltz's family for making the great ID tags!
Worker-Reimbursement Cards: Maggie passed around the newest revision of the worker-reimbursement cards. She is currently comparing printing prices.
Thursday-Night Lottery: This year we will help the city facilitate the lottery. Maggie and Hiawatha volunteer Leah LaCasse will pick up and sort the applications by camping area, and the city will conduct the drawing. Next year Hiawatha will take over the lottery completely. Maggie asks the board and Festival Committee members to begin thinking of how we might handle the details of the lottery's facilitation next year.
Funds Coordinator: There is a chance that we will be without our current funds coordinator starting this year. Maggie asks everyone to forward suggestions for a qualified replacement to her as soon as possible.
Mugs and T-shirts: As we have quite a back store of mugs and t-shirts in the Hiawatha office, Maggie asked the attendees to think of ways to liquidate some of that. Some suggestions at the meeting were: Fire Sale (not literally we hope!); Selling mugs at the gate before noon on Friday; Selling mugs and coffee together, either at the gate or at Dead River Coffee; Throwing a few t-shirts from the main stage; Sell mugs and t-shirts in the office during pre-festival ticket sales.
Temporary Parking Passes: Karen B. mentioned that more temporary parking passes may need to be printed/copied for the gate this year.
Restroom Security: The specific area from which volunteers should be used to "stand sentry" during the times that Tourist Park employees clean the restrooms were discussed.
Dam Construction Schedule: The Marquette Board of Light and Power's schedule for their dam construction at Tourist Park was discussed. Maggie related that their project manager expected to have complete schedule details e-mailed to Hiawatha on June 18, and also that the BLP has so far assured us they're doing everything they can to avoid any conflict with the festival.
Visitors from Belize: The area coordinators also brainstormed volunteer positions that would be appropriate for the teenagers from Belize that will be visiting the festival on Saturday afternoon as a part of a trip coordinated by NMU's International Program.
The meeting adjourned at 7:24 p.m.
Submitted by Heidi Stevenson, board secretary
March 23, 2010
Present: Board Members Jim Jajich, Jesse Luttenton, Heidi Stevenson. Area Coordinators and Monitors Jim DeYoung, Karen DeYoung, Ted Schiltz, Julie Foster-Lindquist. Staff Maggie Morgan
Volunteers of the Year: Maggie asked the attendees and everyone else on the board and festival committee to send in nominations for two Volunteers of the Year by March 30. She hopes to have the votes collected by April 30.
Worker Reimbursement Cards: Maggie passed around a mockup of the revised worker reimbursement cards based on suggestions from the last board/festival meeting. Jesse suggested ordering them on sheets and cutting them ourselves to save money. On March 30, Info Coordinator Mark Petrie stopped by the office and offered a couple of additional suggestions.
Please click here to see the proposed new card, including the changes Mark recommended.
Thursday Night Lottery: This year we will help the city facilitate the lottery. Next year Hiawatha will take over the lottery completely. The lottery bypass for selected festival workers is not affected by these changes.
Maggie passed out bypass forms to attendees who needed them; one can also be picked up in the office. For anyone else interested in entering the lottery for Thursday night spots at Tourist Park, an application can be printed off the Hiawatha website
Monitor List: Maggie is keeping the monitor list online as a shared Google document. She needs updates to it by May 15.
One-Way Park Traffic: Ted suggested working with the park to create one-way traffic throughout the festival grounds this year to decrease confusion and increase safety.
Next Festival Meeting: The next joint meeting between the board and festival committee will be held on Wednesday, May 12, 6 p.m., location TBA. It will once again be a potluck. Board and festival committee members, please bring a dish to pass, and a plate, utensils, and beverage for yourself.
The meeting adjourned at 7:35 p.m.
Submitted by Heidi Stevenson, board secretary
January 19, 2010
Board Members Present: Sue Bertram, Karen Bacula, Ron Larson, Heidi Stevenson.
Area Coordinators, Monitors and Guests Present: Jim DeYoung, Karen DeYoung, Pat Saari, Al Sherbinow, Gene Bertram, Terri Trotochaud, Mary Beth Thompson.
Staff present: Maggie Morgan
2010 Festival Budget: The attendees reviewed the 2010 festival budget proposal. Area coordinators commented on the budgets for their particular areas. Maggie proposed a ticket price increase for the 2010 festival. She provided comparisons between Hiawatha and other comparable area festivals. Even with the ticket price increase, we are still the most affordable festival in the area. We had needed the ticket price increase for the 2009 festival to ensure broke even, but the board voted not to increase prices in order to give people a break at a time when the economy was particularly bad.
Please Click here for proposed 2010 Budget
The attendees agreed to recommend the ticket price increase to the board. The board will review this at their next regular meeting, Wednesday, February 3.
Marquette Smoking Ban: Al proposed that we look into the language of the smoking ban that will be taking effect in May of this year, so we are sure we know how it may affect the festival.
Worker Reimbursement Cards: It is time to reprint the cards used to keep track of festival volunteer shifts and reimbursement. This presents an opportunity to make them more functional. The attendees recommended the following changes and additions to the cards:
Lines for full signatures of monitors and area coordinators, as opposed to just initials.
A place to designate fully the area in which the volunteer shift was worked.
A place to designate reimbursement level: whether the volunteer is being reimbursed for a teen/senior or adult ticket.
Maggie said she will scan the current card into a PDF file, and post it along with her notes from the meeting on the Hiawatha Music Co-op website. [Please scroll past these meeting notes to view the current card.]
Thursday Night Lottery: Maggie asked the attendees if they recommend opening discussions with the city on the prospect of us taking over the duties of the Thursday night lottery. This would entail renting the park for an additional night. We would have to pay for an additional night of security as well. If the details of the agreement were carefully approached, Hiawatha could ensure that this move is cost effective.
The advantages would be controlling the timing of the lottery, which would help alleviate a great deal of confusion and frustration for festival goers. Attendees agreed that we would likely need a Thursday night Area Coordinator. Sue proposed opening up discussions now for the 2011 festival. Our contract with the city will be up for renewal at that time. The rest of the attendees agreed that they were comfortable with this plan.
Festival Security: The attendees discussed ways to combat the problems occurring with some of the security volunteers at the festivals, namely the younger security volunteers engaging in non-security-related, recreational activities in lieu of their duties, yet still donning their orange security vests. The following suggestions were made for the 2010 festival:
Not exceeding the number of needed volunteers per shift. This means the info tent volunteers coordinating last minute volunteer shifts would no longer be able to send them to security, and the security monitors would no longer be able to accept last minute, additional volunteers.
Raising the minimum age for security volunteers to 21.
Pre-selecting reliable, responsible security volunteers.
Requiring all security volunteers to go through a more thorough training/briefing session.
Moving the security area to provide more space for activities like training and briefing.
Creating overlapping security shifts to avoid chaotic turnovers and allow for training and briefing.
Staggering the security shifts so they do not begin and end at busy times, like gate opening on Friday.
Logo Contest: Maggie reminded everyone that the deadline for the logo contest is 6 p.m.. Monday, February 1. More information about the logo contest can be found at here
Next Board/Festival Meeting: The next joint meeting between the board and festival committee will be Tuesday, March 23, 6 p.m., at the Conference Room of the Non Profit Commons. It will once again be a potluck. Board and festival committee members, please bring a dish to pass, and a plate, utensils, and beverage for yourself. This meeting was originally planned for the Bertrams', but they are in the midst of a kitchen remodeling, so this meeting has been moved to the Non Profit Commons Conference Room, across the hall from the Hiawatha office.
The meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m. Submitted by Heidi Stevenson, board secretary
Worker Card Revision
Festival Coordinators and Monitors: This year we will need to reprint our volunteer-reimbursement cards. Please look at the photo below (we hope!) and see if you can think of any useful changes. Suggestions from the January 19 Festival Meeting include making room for the area and full name in the Monitor-signature fields, adding a field for the volunteer's age, and only printing the cards in one color. (We have pink and white ones, with the intention to use the pink ones for pre- and post-Festival workers, but we seem not to have consistently done that.)
Please email any card-change suggestions or proposed budget changes to info@hiawathamusic.org. Thanks!
2009 Post-Festival Meeting Minutes
August 11, 2009
Board members present: Jim Jajich, Chuck Howe, Heidi Stevenson.
Board members absent: J. Pearl Taylor, Bill Hart, Karen Bacula, Phil Watts, Ron Larson, Sue Bertram.
Area Coordinators and Monitors present: Jim De Young, Karen De Young, Jeff Thornton, Deb Fosler, Pat Sarri, Al Sherbinow, Norm Duman, Steve Kriegel, Tom Dummer, Ted Schiltz, Mike Tuominen, Becky Simmons, Joe Le Breque, John Fegan.
Staff present: Maggie Morgan
MISCELLANEOUS:
Annual Meeting: Saturday, November 7, in the Community Room of the Peter White Library. Tentative schedule is as follows: potluck supper 6-7pm, business meeting and board elections 7-8:30pm, dance 8:30-10pm, band TBA. Five board positions are up for elections with four incumbents eligible to serve again: Phil Watts, Ron Larson, Chuck Howe and J. Pearl Taylor. Due to a resignation, there is one position open, first term through 2011.
FESTIVAL, GENERAL:
Mugs: The attendees decided to order festival mugs, a task which had hit a bump in the road up until now, as there is money to do so in the festival budget, and a many people collect them.
Board/Festival Committee Meeting Schedule: The attendees agreed that the same schedule for board/festival committee meetings would work this coming year, with a plan to hold meetings in January, March, and June, and then the post-festival meeting in August. Changing the days has enabled some people to attend in the past, so we will continue to do so. A suggestion was also made to schedule one on a week day instead of the usual Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.
Documentation for Areas: Especially after our last minute food tent challenges this year, the need to document the work that goes into each area is clear. Maggie urged every area coordinator to create a timeline, list of contacts, a general budget, and descriptions of the work necessary for the area to run smoothly. Further, a copy of these documents needs to go to the Hiawatha office. The idea of a single comprehensive book, in hard copy and/or electronic form, was discussed.
Area Budgets: If you need a budget increase or could withstand a budget decrease, please let Maggie know as soon as possible.
Electronic Monitor Updates: Based on feedback from the attendees, Maggie will continue to use a shared, online document for these. If you have trouble accessing the document, of course, you may still e-mail Maggie.
Volunteers of the Year: We will continue nominating two volunteers of the year. Nominees for the 2010 Volunteers of the Year should be sent to Maggie soon.
FESTIVAL, COORDINATORS, MONITORS, VOLUNTEERS:
Monitor Lists: Maggie thanked those who were able to update their monitor lists and apologized for some of the miscommunication that occurred with the new family-comp ticket system. To remind all, each area coordinator has the right to receive up to four weekend guest passes in addition to his or her own, per board vote. Despite this miscommunication, our numbers for guests of area coordinators were down slightly, 169 this year compared to 194 in 2009.
FESTIVAL, RESULTS:
Attendance and Sales: Maggie presented a preliminary budget report for the 2009 festival. Festival attendance was around 2,900. Advance sales, raffle sales, and donations were up, while Ticket Sales (formerly Gate) sales, token sales, and merchandise sales were down.
Economic Impact: Chuck Howe suggested we consider compiling a more detailed and comprehensive report on the positive economic impact our festival has on the community.
FESTIVAL, CAMPING AND PARKING:
Thursday Night: Discussion of Hiawatha taking over responsibility for the Thursday night lottery has been initiated in the past. Some of the possible details that would need to be addressed would be: who is responsible for the logistics of the lottery, whether or not Hiawatha would rent the park outright or not and the financial repercussions of any change to our current situation, how it would affect setup and execution of duties in different areas, who would be responsible for security, how it would affect our Health Department permit etc. No final decisions could be made at this time, but it was agreed that this conversation needed to continue amongst the board and festival committee, as well as with the park officials.
If we elect not to "take over" on Thursdays, Maggie recommends we review the Thursday night bypass list and our intent in utilizing it. The original intent was to allow area coordinators and monitors whose setup duties create a need for them to set up on Thursday or work Friday morning or afternoon an opportunity to set up their campsite. That number hovered between 12-15 spots for some time, but has recently increased to over 20.
FESTIVAL, TICKET SALES AND TRAFFIC CONTROL:
Name Changes: Area Coordinator Karen Bacula suggested a name change for the (formerly) Gate and Traffic areas, as those names cause problematic confusion for the festival goers and volunteers. The attendees thought that "Ticket Sales" could replace "Gate," and "Traffic Control" could replace "Traffic."
Traffic Area Shift Change: At the suggestion of the Ticket Sales (formerly Gate)and Traffic Control (formerly Traffic) coordinators, the Friday shift times in the Traffic area will be changed for the 2010 festival to keep them in sync with the gate, and out of sync with the opening of the festival gates.
One way campground traffic: A suggestion was made to route traffic one way through the campground.
FESTIVAL, INFO:
Worker cards: We need to order more worker cards for the 2010 festival, so it is a ripe opportunity to make those more user-friendly. Attendees suggested color coding them by age so the proper ticket reimbursement amount can be given, as well as creating larger lines for festival area and entire name of area coordinator or monitor to be recorded to avoid fraud.
FESTIVAL PHONES:
Cell phones vs. two way radios: Most reported that using cell phones for communication within and between festival areas works best. The exceptions were mainstage, Ticket Sales/Traffic Control, and Security, the coordinators of which voiced a preference for using two way radios and provided some of the specific reasons.
Central Dispatch: Maggie reminded us that the Info Tent serves as a sort of "Central Dispatch" should the need arise to contact someone when you do not have their phone number. The office phone also gets forwarded to the Info Tent's main line, so calling 226-8575 will always get you there.
FESTIVAL SECURITY:
Security Volunteers: There were a number of complaints about our on-duty security volunteers drinking at camp sites, watching music at main stage, and generally not taking their duties seriously. Area coordinator Jim DeYoung provided some details on this long term challenge. He often finds that too many security volunteers have been signed up for certain shifts, for instance, has had trouble with setting up "security outposts" to which the roaming volunteers could report in the past, and has also had trouble gathering enough help from alternate sources like the NMU Criminal Justice Program. The board had discussed the issue at their prior board meeting and felt that changes needed to be made. Suggestions by this meeting's attendees included adding more security monitors to provide more supervision, requiring training of all security volunteers, and relying less on volunteer security and more on outside groups like NMU CJ students, the NMU Cadets, and the National Guard.
Trespassing: The idea of asking the city police present to arrest trespassers who have entered the festival without a ticket/wristband was discussed.
FESTIVAL SET-UP:
Setup/Teardown Volunteers: Like security, Set-up Area Coordinator Ron Larson has difficulty finding good, capable volunteers, especially for teardown. The suggestion was made to contact the Northern Constructors, a campus group of construction majors from NMU.
Second Stage Backdrop: The attendees decided that the Co-op need not pursue people to create a backdrop for Second Stage.
FESTIVAL MAIN STAGE
Main Stage Seating: After reviewing some of the continuing (and noted in the suggestion book) problems with the seating policies or lack thereof at main stage, different approaches and policies were discussed. It was finally decided to take a "community education" approach to making main stage accessible to everyone by asking attendees to remove their tarps, blankets, chairs, etc. at the end of the night. If problems persist, then we might want to consider enforcing this policy more strictly.
Golf Carts: The need was noted for two separate golf carts for Second and Main Stage, instead of sharing one.
FESTIVAL T-SHIRTS:
Other merchandise: Area Coordinator Pat Saari asked the attendees what other Hiawatha merchandise we might consider ordering for the 2010 festival. Postcards and key chains were suggested.
Meeting Adjourned at 9:13 p.m.
Submitted: Heidi Stevenson, secretary
Post Festival Report, August 11, 2009
NOT FESTIVAL:
The Annual Members Meeting and Dance is set for 6 p.m., Saturday, November 7, in the Community Room of Peter White Public Library in Marquette. Probable schedule: 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. 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; due to a resignation, there is one position open, first term through 2011.
Jams: Hiawatha is still sponsoring 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. Two open, public jams are also held at Donckers, 2-5 p.m., Sundays; and Sweetwater Cafe, 6-9 p.m., Thursdays. Lest we forget that music can be fun!
GENERAL:
Do we want to order mugs with this year's logo? We forgot! But it's in the budget . . .
CONSENSUS: Yes. Order 2009 mugs.
For the second year we're having the Post Festival meeting sooner after the Festival than we used to. Does this work? The financial and general information is less complete but our memories are fresher.
CONSENSUS: Yes. Keep Post Festival Meeting in early-to-mid August.
Chuck Ganzert asks us to circulate and sign his traditional thank-you notes to our mainstage bands, and Heidi asks us to circulate and sign thank-you notes to the businesses who donated food and otherwise helped us during The Great Food Tent Crisis of Aught-Nine.
The GFTCof09 sharply proved the need for all of us to document how we put our Areas together: timeline, contacts, amounts of things ordered, prices, etc. And we need copies of those plans at the Hiawatha office - ideally both electronic and hard copy. It would be great if those could include information on how you shut down your area at the end of the Festival, too.
The past two year's Festival Meeting attendance was better. For the second year, we had potlucks at the Bertrams' in January, March and June. This year, we changed up the days of the week to give more people a chance to avoid conflicts, but that did not seem to make much difference, and at least one person who suggested was still never able to attend.
CONSENSUS: Yes. Keep number of meetings and format the same. Maybe set one for a weekend afternoon.
This year, I used a shared, on-line document for Monitor updates. Not everyone could access the document, but it unexpectedly made the updates easier from the office-drudge standpoint, so, if there are no objections, I'd like to keep doing that. If you can't access the document, you can still email your changes to the office.
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.
Is everyone still happy with selecting two Volunteers of the Year. Was that OK? Any changes? Any nominees for the 2010 awards? Why is it like pulling teeth to get people to nominate and vote for these awards?
CONSENSUS: Yes. Keep awards the same.
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.
Preliminary budget report was attached. Attendance was about 2,900: 2,607 ticket deadwood plus about 300 ACs. Monitors, performers and family members. Advance sales were up (with $5 increases in camping tags and parking passes). Gate sales, Token sales and merchandise sales were down; raffle sales and donations were up. Seems to indicate what we've seen in other economically weak years: most people will do what it takes to get to the Festival and then scale back on what they buy when they're here.
ARTISTS IN THE ROUND: Joy Bender Hadley
CAMPING AND PARKING:
There has been discussion with the Parks and Rec staff about our taking over Thursday night, including managing the lottery, something previous City and Parks administrations opposed. Pluses: we'd have more control; we could do the lottery early enough for people to know their Thursday status before they order advance tickets and camping; we could by-pass as many people as we wanted, do Thursday sites as raffle prizes, etc. Minuses: Would be a lot of extra work and would probably require an Area Coordinator just for the camping issues; we might have to be responsible for another night of security; the money-handling could be confusing unless we flat-out rented the Park another night.
CONSENSUS: Try to have a complete proposal by the Annual Meeting. Sue Bertram, Chuck Howe, Jeff Thornton are willing to help with this.
If that does not happen, we should continue to encourage people who have Thurs. reservations to call Tourist Park and cancel if they can't use them. We set aside two appropriate-area weekend tags for everyone on the Thursday-night list from the Park, and quite a few went unclaimed. I also intend to add wording to our camping information to let people know that the two Thursday-matching weekend camp tags for each lottery winner will ONLY be sold to that person.
Last year, several people suggested making Thursday night camping a membership premium at the higher levels - like $100+. This 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. The board decided that it would be more fair to make the 10 extra Thursday sites raffle prizes, starting with this year's raffle. However, we backed off from that because of the complete change-over of Parks and Rec staff and the fact that our number of Hiawatha Thursday by-passers almost doubled from last year, and Parks and Rec kind of gave that the old hairy eyeball.
If we don't take over the Park on Thursday, we might have to look at our by-pass list. It was designed for Coordinators and Monitors who have set-up duties on Friday and can't be in line for sites. That's been on the honor system, and it seems like an increasing number of people do the bypass who don't fit that criteria. As long as the number stayed around 12 or 15, we let that go. But this year is was more than 20, so we may need to look at the original intent of that plan.
CHILDREN'S: Jeff Thornton
CHILD PERFORMERS: Becky Weeks
CONCESSIONS: John Fegan/Darlene Herkins
Every year more concessionaires set up on 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. This would be another issue solved by controlling the Park on Thursday night.
Suggestion Book: Please get the ice cream cones here next year if you can. [Maggie says: the cone vendor moves every year, so the apps never reach her. John and Darlene considered squeezing her in this year, but it was just too late.]
Survey Form: Yea, Cafe Bliss
Survey Form: Need more healthy, local food
COORDINATOR: Maggie Morgan I was not quite such a pathetic old gimp this year as last, but I do appreciate that people still did a lot of extra lifting and leg work for me. Thanks again! Any comments are welcome. You can't hurt my feelings.
ELECTRICAL SET-UP: Norm Duman This was Norm's first year to coordinate this area. Part of the new City contract required us to pay a commercial electrician to fill out a new permit for us. At first it looked like a waste of money, as no one from the City knew about it. Later, the County Health Dept. required it, so it was good we went ahead with it. Grove Electric gave us a very good price on the work.
FIRST AID: Don Snowden
FUNDS: Lori Everett
We still need more quarter tokens this year, and Lori plans to order those sooner rather than later.
GATE AND TRAFFIC: Steve Morski/Karen Bacula
Karen emails: Is there any way we could change the name of the front gate to something like "Ticket Sales" or some other catchy name ("Tent o' Wristbands")? This is not all that important, as it seems that we didn't lose as many Gate workers to Traffic this year as we have done in the past. In the past it was not uncommon for people to sign up for Gate and end up working Traffic as they are standing at the front gate/entrance to the park.
CONSENSUS: Ticket Sales and Traffic Control.
Karen emails: Workers could use a couple of flashlights to check wristbands during the evening hours when the Gate is moved into the front entrance. This might be more of a traffic thing since they check the bands, but we could certainly maintain them in the Gate storage bin.
Karen emails: I spoke with Steve Morski and the monitors, and they are seriously considering changing the volunteer shift time on Friday to match the Gate shift times. This would stop the shift change from happening when the gate opens on Friday.
Earlier this Karen met with our contact at NMU Public Safety, because someone at the Jacobetti Center complained about our event. Apparently, it was an isolated, one-person issue, as NMUPS seems to be fine with what we do and continue to be very helpful and supportive.
Suggestion Book: Have a few temporary parking passes available with the monitor of Traffic Control on Friday p.m. If someone comes into the line of campers without a permit, it would be quicker to issue the permit and allow smoother traffic flow. If a driver has to run back to the ticket booth, then they are parked in the way until they get their permit. [Maggie says: Is there a line of campers on Friday evening? If the person means Thursday evening or Friday morning, how would the money for the tag be handled?]
CONSENSUS: Keep providing Traffic Control with a sample wristband board
GREEN TEAM: Al Sherbinow
Lots of compliments from Park staff and Festival guests.
We may change our waste-hauling contract to someone other than Waste Management for 2010. Since they consolidated their business office into Green Bay three years ago, they have been extremely difficult to deal with, plus charged us a huge amount more than usual this year.
How did the recycling go this year?
We tried to use the program and stage announcements to discourage people from leaving large items at their camps. Did it help?
Survey Form: Place recycling containers next to trash barrels
Survey Form: I like the recycling bins. Making the festival greener and greener every year is A+
HOSPITALITY: Pearl Taylor
INFO: Deb Fosler/Pegi Martindale
Deb says we need to order more worker cards for 2010. Any changes needed? [Maggie says, we have talked about making a different-color card for teen volunteers. This would especially help for people who come in after the Festival for tear-down reimbursements, as they have often removed their wristbands. For late teens and early 20s, it puts their reimbursement level on the honor system. Not sure there's been abuse of that, but we could eliminate the chance.]
**CONSENSUS: Make room for complete Monitor signatures and Areas, even if it means printing a bigger card. Add field for volunteer's email address. Determine how many we use per year. Maybe print a smaller number for 2010 and tweak for later. Maybe make different color card for Teens/Seniors.
MUSICIANS CAFE: Heidi Stevenson
What an amazing Hiawatha Moment that turned into. Many thanks to all who stepped up, especially Heidi, Janet Koistenen and Pearl!
PHONES:
Did using our individual cell phones continue to work this year? Last year, I believed TracFone cheated us out of time on the "found" phone we used at Info. The phone companies make it extremely difficult and time-consuming to make any kind of protest. I was in the process of requesting our call records last winter when my crappy-old-hip/demented-elderly-loved-one thing came up, and I did not pursue that. This year, however, we seemed to get the appropriate time on our account, so maybe last year was just a fluke.
CONSENSUS: Continue to use cells; remember that two-ways work better for Stage, Traffic Control and Security.
PRODUCER: Chuck Ganzert
Very positive comments about the line-up. Lucy Kaplansky sold the most merch, followed by Feufollet, Cafe Accordion, The Flatbellys and Pat Donohue.
Survey Form: Would like to see Ms Behavin and the Swing Cats. They'd fit in great - swing, jazz, etc. Houghton-area band.
PROGRAM: Ann Gonyea, design; Jim Jajich and Chuck Howe, ads
The program made a profit in real money (not counting the "in-kind") for the second year in a row. Thanks to Jim and Chuck and Ann! We had a technical problem with one of the ads that made Ann and me think we should start sending everyone a proof. Big hassle but probably worth doing.
Suggestion Book: return small schedule
PUBLICITY: Julie Foster-Lindquist/Chuck Ganzert
One of the local radio stations, which gave us a very good rate on spots as well as a lot of free mentions. Then, Friday afternoon, one of the on-air personalities called and asked if they could park one of their promotional vehicles at the Festival. Jim Jajich and I decided it was too late to make a decision like that but wanted to bring it up here.
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 $1,129, up from $944 last year. Special thanks to Wheatland for the grand-prize festival package. We offered to reciprocate but haven't heard back. Maybe next year make a 2011 Hiawatha package a prize. That seems to have helped attendance at the Annual Meeting.
SECURITY: Jim DeYoung
Again this year we added Marquette City Police on Sunday night. Local law enforcement did not receive grant money for Minor-In-Possesssion enforcement, so they were back to their normal presence of two uniformed officers and a few undercovers each night.
Last year, there were many, many complaints about the heavy-handed policing of the Festival and the presence of the BAT-van (blood-alcohol testing) van. This year Ron and his Set-Up crew provided special parking for the BAT van.
Suggestion to make the area around mainstage and AITR a no-wheels/walk-your-bike zone like Concessions.
A number of comments and complaints about our Security volunteers drinking, sitting around camps and mainstage or all of the above, when they were on duty. The board discussed this at last week's meeting and strongly feels changes are needed. One suggestion: cut way back on our volunteer security and use more "hires" from the NMU Criminal Justice program.
CONSENSUS: Be sure we don't have too many signed up. Jim says eight for days, 12 for nights is enough. Try to work harder to recruit enough reliable volunteers. Have fence-jumpers and wrist-band counterfeiters charged with trespassing.
From Pat Saari: Al and I were talking to some folks that organize the Blues Fest and it sounds like they pay for different services from the City then Hiawatha does. They don't pay for the police and the police don't patrol their event, they have a beer tent, and the BAT mobile isn't there. I mentioned this to Sue Bertram and she thought it might be a good idea to take a look at their contracts. Supposedly the City claims all the contracts are the same.
SET-UP: Ron Larson
Ron and his crew continue to struggle with finding good, capable volunteers, especially for teardown. Is there a building-trades class or union that might take this on as a community-service project?
SUGGESTION: Contact NMU Constructors.
Ron emails: The eight-piece dance floor that has been used for the mainstage area has outgrown its use: too heavy and takes up too much storage room. We are planning on making 12 new floor pieces in 2010 to be used in that area. Looking for suggestions on what to do with it, but once it comes out of the truck next festival, it needs to immediately go to a new home. Maybe Dance Committee could take it and store it at one of their homes and lend it to members/friends who want to borrow something small for weddings and such.
Back drop for Second Stage: Is there still interest in this or should we forget about it?
CONSENSUS: Let this go.
Platform for Workshop tent (same comment as last year). Did we do this? I never got to that tent for workshops.
Potty in Jacobetti Parking lot. Stenberg had an extra pot that they set up there this year at no charge. Would be nice if we could keep doing that.
Suggestion book: Bigger dance floor at mainstage, please. Same comment on survey form.
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.
SUGGESTION: Make a one-way loop of all campground roads.
SHUTTLES:
Last year there was a question about using smaller buses. We learned over the winter that MAPS has "dibs" on any local event shuttles, and other providers can be used only if MAPS doesn't want the job. So, for now, we cannot rent smaller buses from MarqTran or AMCAB.
STAGE SET-UP: Steve Kriegel
SOUND:
STAGE: Tom Dummer
Some confusion expressed about open-mic sign-up. A couple of people suggested doing sign-ups only the day of the open-mic. Apprently people sign up early, then don't show, taking slots from others who are there and eager to play. Also, would it be more intuitive to have the sign ups at the main and teen stages, rather than at Info? And would tending the sign-ups be a good job for tweens and young teens who are always eager to work and don't have many opportunities?
EXPLANATION: Tom says they do not save time slots for no-shows, rather divide the time allotted among the number of people who show up to play.
Suggestion Book: Allowing people to put down big tarps and monopolize prime stage area when they sit back at their camps is a big negative here. It's unfriendly and brings out the worst in people. All chairs and tarps ought to be removed every night for a fresh start the next day. Everyone who buys a ticket should have an equal chance to sit in a good spot. [Maggie says: I think piling up other people's chairs at the end of the day is a good way to be hassled for damages.]
Suggestion Book: I agree with above regarding the front rows. As a musician, I'd prefer having the folks who want to be there able to sit up front. Winfield has a good rule - unoccupied chairs removed after 15 minutes. Leaving chairs in the back rows OK with me. [Maggie says: 15 minutes is pretty ruthless; you can hardly get a meal and a wee and back in that time. I still oppose the chair-purge. Tarps maybe . . . or maybe limit tarp size? Hate to see us get any more "rulesy" that we already are, but that's just me.]
**CONSENSUS: Approach this "educationally" with stage announcements, program notes, etc., for at least a year. Encourage people to "poach" unattended seating.
Suggestion Book: On mainstage, announce when token sales end and a count down (one hour left to buy, etc.)
**DISCUSSION: Mainstage and Workshops have been sharing a golf cart, and that isn't working well. May have to break down and rent another cart.
TEEN SCENE: Karen DeYoung
TOKENS: Sue Bertram
We need more quarter Tokens. '
We used a credit card reader in this area for the first time and generated almost $3,600 in sales. Can't tell how much of that would have been received anyway by other means, and there is a cost to doing this, both in dropping a phone line again and also in transaction fees. Overall Token sales were down about $4,000 from 2008.
TSHIRTS: Pat Saari, Julie Foster-Lindquist
Survey Form: Would like to see more blue-brim Hiawatha Music Fest hats to buy
What, if any, merchandise should we add for 2010?
SUGGESTIONS: Post cards with 2004 Greetings From Hiawatha artwork. Refrigerator magnets
WORKER SIGN-UP: Pat Dudley/Chris Fries
Did we add age specs for jobs this year?
WORKSHOPS: Jim Stedman/Dale Eltman
More favorable comments about the second year of "Get to Know Them" band workshops. Also positive comments about the Acoustic Fourth Stage and the slow-jam workshop.
Be sure we're consistent in our stage numbering
Suggestion Book: Amplify Stage 4 if you are going to have star attractions there. You can't hear anything they are saying.
MONITORS/VOLUNTEERS/ACs
Many thanks to those coordinators who update their Monitor lists 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. This was a particular problem this year because several more urgent issues arose at the time we normally fine-tune needs revealed at the Monday Monitor meeting.
Last year, we discussed changes in our family-comp ticket system, and, in February the board voted to "change the family-wristband system to one in which each AC/Monitor has the option to receive up to four weekend guest passes (in addition to self) that could be used for anyone, allowing a greater definition of 'family,' leaving AC/Monitors to an honor system of requesting only as many as they deem appropriate and necessary."
I apologize that I did not communicate this well to Coordinators. At least one person took more than we intended, and I let that go because of the communication deficit on this end. In spite of that, as near as I can tell - and maybe not factoring in some last-minute changes - it looks like we had 169 guests of 112 ACs and Monitors this year, slightly fewer than last year with 194 guests for 112 AC/Ms.
Of last year's attendance, including our white courtesy comp tickets, as well as performers, monitors, coordinators and their guests, almost 25% of our attendance was comped this year. I have not chased down this statistic for this year but hope to have it for a later Festival meeting.
MISC.
Suggestion Book: Post a schedule so people could see it while walking around.
Suggestion from Mike Stadler: have a "now-playing" sign at least on mainstage so people passing by could tell who they're hearing. He suggested having children or teens make this a project.
Suggestion Book: Thanks for a great Festival.
Suggestion Book: Last year I was full of advice. This year I'm amazed at how well-organized things were and appreciated having police here. The toilets were cleaned (mostly); also like that Sunday was a wind-down evening. I loved the crafts. Food still expensive!
Suggestion Book: Great Festival. Give a hand to the Park crew for keeping the bathrooms the cleanest they have ever been. Under-age drinking was handled well. Didn't care for the music as much this year.
Suggestion Book: All is incredibly well-organized
Survey Form: Thanks for another wonderful festival.
Survey Form: Reduced ticket for Saturday evening for local people who have to work the day shift on the weekend.
Survey Form: I love everything about this Festival! It is my most favorite place to be out of anywhere I have ever been. I would like it to stay relatively the same. In my experience, change is a bad thing.
Email comment: Just a quick note to say that I enjoyed the festival. Although I never was able to locate the Friday afternoon musicians' jam session, I more than made up for it on Saturday and Sunday by finding great workshops and very willing musicians.
From Tangled Roots, via Amanda Howe: Now that the dust has kind of settled and folks are winding down from last weekend I thought I'd drop you an email to tell you how much we really enjoyed the festival. The main stage shows and the work shops were a blast. I love the "Get to know" workshop. Great idea! Doug Lohman and his crew did a great job with sound. For a musician that's a key element for sure. The volunteers were amazing and very hospitable. The choice of vendors was so refreshing. A nice variety from your average burgers and hot dogs. (I loved the jambalaya!) The Hiawatha festival felt like a big friendly community with a spirit on its own. When you told me about the [issue with the food tent], I was so impressed with how fast the community got together to make that happen. That speaks volumes about the support behind your event. It's not often my wife and kids come along with me when we travel to play a festival. It's usually because "they've been there and done that" with other festivals and it doesn't always offer something for them. The variety in music and the activities for the kids was a pleasant surprise. They all had a great time! My wife agrees with me about how special your festival really is. Thank you so much for having us Amanda! We would be thrilled to come back next year. Please send a big huge thanks out to everyone involved with the festival! Their time and efforts are very much appreciated!
Festival Meeting - June 7, 2009
Thanks to all who came to the last Festival Committee Meeting, and thanks to the Bertrams for hosting again!
One of the main things discussed was the need for all Coordinators to have a reasonably detailed set of instructions for how to run their areas. A lot of you already have that, either on paper or in your heads. But if, heaven forbid, something kept one of you from working with your area, the rest of us could be really thrown for a loop. So if you already have your notes on paper, could you provide a copy for the office? And, if you've never written down the things you do to coordinate your area, would you please do that and provide a copy for the office? We need things like a timeline, a list of key contacts and volunteers, plus any insights or "tricks of the trade" that make your area run smoothly. When we discussed this, it seemed like this would be easiest to do now, while you are actually doing those steps, rather than over the winter when we all kind of have to stretch to remember our Festival tasks.
A Word document sent to the office would be great for this idea.
We also had a long discussion of the police presence at last year's Festival, which many people thought was quite oppressive, especially on Sunday night. It's an awkward subject, because we certainly don't want to seem like we condone under-age drinking, etc., and we can't control how many officers any law-enforcement agency choses to send, but we all wish there had been a less huge police presence. Jim DeYoung is still waiting for the police department to return his calls about arranging for our regular officers and possibly addressing that issue.
One important volunteer spot that is vacant this year is program advertising sales. Thanks to those of you who have already offered to help. For everyone else, if you have a business contact that seems like a likely Hiawatha ad prospect, please let me know. Or please direct them to our website, where they can pay on line, print the contract/spec sheet and email their ad. (Festival Program Advertising)
We had two excellent nominees for our two Volunteers of the Year, and I would like to suggest that we name them by acclamation: Pat Saari, T-Shirt Booth Coordinator; and Karen DeYoung, Teen Scene Coordinator.
Speaking of Pat, she brought some of the enamel hat/lapel pins she bought for this year's new merchandise item, and they look great. We'll sell them for $3 apiece and possibly use them as a membership item at the $25 or $50 level.
It's too late to affect the t-shirt order, but you can still fine-tune Monitor names, guest counts, camping info, etc., if you need to. And speaking of guest counts, please remember that the board approved the following change in the Guest wrist-band system: "Each AC/Monitor has the option to receive up to four weekend guest passes (in addition to self) that could be used for anyone, allowing a greater definition of 'family,' leaving AC/Monitors to an honor system of requesting only as many as they deem appropriate and necessary."
Finally - you may have seen an item in a recent Mining Journal that last Monday's Marquette City Commission agenda included: "Vote on the purchase of a $47,807 Arabesque Tent from Warner Shelter Systems. The city's art and culture department received a Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs-Capital Improvement grant from the state for $22,600 toward the purchase of the outdoor, non-permanent, performance tent. Matching funds will be used from the existing account set aside from Hiawatha Music Festival rental fees for the past several years." Our board has discussed the community Arabesque Tent as a possible use of the long-dormant Hiawatha/City 'set-aside fund." (To see full details on this issue, please check the News page of our website Hiawatha News) Our board has not signed off on that use of the set-aside fund, and Hiawatha is working with the City to draft a proposal that might enable this proposed purchase and set-aside use to go forward. We'll try to keep the website updated as it develops.
The pre-Festival Monitor Meeting is set for 7 p.m., Monday, July 13, at the Tourist Park. Please encourage your crew to join us, pick up their wristbands, t-shirts, etc.
Festival Meeting - March 20, 2009
Board members present: Sue Bertram, Jim Jajich, Heidi Stevenson.
Board members absent: Chuck Howe, J. Pearl Taylor, Bill Hart, Karen Bacula, Phil Watts, Matt Maki, Ron Larson.
Area Coordinators and monitors present: Jim DeYoung, Karen DeYoung, Jim Stedman, Gene Bertram, John Fegan.
Others present: Billie Stedman, Donna Fegan, Colin Bertram, Maggie Morgan (staff)
Maggie's absence: Maggie will be out of the office starting March 30, for an undetermined amount of time, due to her surgery. We all wish Maggie well! Board members will divvy up office duties amongst themselves, and have received updated keys for the front door to The Commons.
New Tourist Park Contact: Maggie informed the attendees that, although Hugh Leslie’s position at Parks and Recreation has been divided between two people, Doug Smith will be our primary contact for Hiawatha matters.
Credit Card Readers: Maggie inquired about this possibility for the tokens and t-shirt booths at the festival. Our credit card company will loan us some for festival use.
Festival Police Presence/Sunday Night Security: The attendees had a lengthy discussion about ways to make sure the police presence stayed within reasonable bounds, and did not unnecessarily threaten any festival goers. The negative feedback we've received from several long-time (and possibly former) festival goers was reviewed. The decision to hire additional city police as Sunday night security last year was questioned, and other options are being considered.
Coordinator Lists: Maggie looked into uploading these to a file sharing site like Google Docs, but after trying it, sending the URL to several monitors, and only hearing back from three, she decided it would not be reliable enough for this year, so the lists will be handled the same way as usual. She encourages coordinators to update their monitor lists.
New Coordinator/Monitor Guest Pass System: The new system for administering passes, decided at the last board/festival meeting, was reviewed. Each monitor/coordinator can have up to four guest passes in addition to their own. We encourage people to only take as many as they need, of course.
Workshop Schedule: Jim Stedman reported that the schedule for the workshop areas is done. Patience McCarthy will handle the dance workshops.
Main Stage MCs: Ideas for new, additional main stage MCs were discussed. Colin Bertram volunteered to be a speaker.
Meeting Adjourned at 8:07 p.m.
Submitted: Heidi Stevenson, secretary
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.
