Reminder For June Faire XXXI.

.....Only three more 'get ups' until the weekend. It is that reward for having survived the past six or so weeks of the SCA Speedway. :-)

.....I was talking to someone last night about the policy of closely regulating the number of people who stayed overnight on Thursday before June Faire. I have to admire the Board's certitude on implementing the policy this year, and certainly understand why they did it. Last year was kind of chaotic. We had hordes of volunteers who were eager to help, but we only had so much for them to do at any one time. Most of the infrastructure was set up by late in the afternoon, but by then most of the volunteers were setting up their own encampments and paying attention to their own preparations for the weekend. I can't blame them either. It was their understanding that if they lent a hand they would be allowed to set up. The details were just that, details.

.....Even that was relatively organized compared to the first year at Port Gamble where the call was put out to people to spend the night on Thursday if they helped set up infrastructure. The response was HUGE. I remember looking over at Cedric out the back end of the U-Haul and wondering how in the world we were going to get all these people organized. I think it was the year he was the June Faire Chairman. None of us expected that kind of response. Thankfully, most of the infrastructure of site was still set up before all these people melted away. Although it still seemed like the usual people at the end, loading stuff into the U-Haul and putting it all back into the Storage Unit.

.....We know that OPG, and the residents of Port Gamble, are sometimes uncomfortable with the number of people who end up staying on site overnight Thursday. We need to find out what that threshold is to make sure we don't cross it. We also need to continue the drumbeat of insurance. Either our named insurance has to cover the site starting on Thursday, and we need to ensure those volunteering on Thursday realize and understand that the insurance will not cover them in case something stupid happens.

.....We were brainstorming ideas back-and-forth last night and I wanted to put them on my June Faire tag as a reminder for next year. I'll pull it up as a 'lesson learned' and see if the Board for next year would be receptive to doing any of this. Most of this is pretty obvious actually, and doesn't take a genius to see. But, you know, when you are in the middle of the June Faire chaos you sometimes forget the most simple things. If it is written down, it is easier to catch and utilize.

.....1.) Have someone dedicated to putting together a plan for the Thursday set-up. This person would work with the SCA Coordinator on what needs to be set up on Thursday. Make sure that equipment is coming in and when and then organize the volunteers to systematically work that plan through to completion.

.....2.) When people volunteer to help with Thursday set-up prior to the June Faire weekend, immediately put them on a Team. Team A would be in charge of putting up Pavilion A, Pavilion B, etc. Team B would support decorating the site. Team c would help with marking out painted lines for camping or the Marketplace. Team D would put out all the road signs. Whatever needed to be done on Thursday. They would be required to be on site together as a Team at a certain time on Thursday to start the process. When they had completed their tasking, they would then be free to set up their personal encampments.

.....3.) I don't know if this is an equitable trade or not, but certainly worth a conversation. If a handful of people with strong backs would volunteer to dedicate time on Sunday to break down and unload the U-Haul at the Storage Unit, they could then be allowed to set up their own personal encampments on Thursday and / or stay over on Thursday night as their 'payment' for dedicating that Sunday time.

.....4.) Everyone wanting to set up personal encampments on Thursday would be required to put in a certain number of hours of service before they started on their personal encampments. They would 'clock in' with a coordinator, put in their hours, and then report back to the coordinator at the end of their 'shift' and tell the coordinator what actions they did. This way we wouldn't have to be as organized as to Teams and be a little more free form.

.....5.) This is kind of a wild idea, but it was an interesting thought. We hire a group to come in and set up our infrastructure for us. I can see this idea as being unpopular, but I'm intrigued about giving a neighboring barony, shire or local civic group in need something like $500 to set up 'X' number of pavilions on Thursday. This way we eliminate the camping and personal set-up issue all together. But it does require the outlay of funds.

.....Any plans that are made are only good if someone is available to police them. Just thinking back to May of this year, we had May Crown two weeks prior to June Faire. We had a host of other summer activities that needed attention. June Faire itself has hundreds of details that need attention. Not to mention the coordination of dozens and dozens of volunteers. Volunteers being the operative word. None of these people are being paid to provide these many hours of service and have to juggle it all with the immediate concerns of holding down modern jobs and maintaining households.

.....June Faire XXXI is only eleven and a half months away. :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.