June Faire - Wednesday/Thursday Thoughts.

[arontius]

.....Greetings All,

.....I'm getting my thoughts recorded on what worked and what didn't for June Faire XXV. Those who were a witness to the event, please feel free to comment and add to my rambling start.

.....Even if you weren't present, I'd still like your thoughts and ideas. I'm planning on using this information at our June Faire de-briefings this month as well as putting together something comprehensive for the Continuity Book which can be utilized by future June Faire Boards.

.....I'll be continuing to add and modify as I think of additional items as well. My thoughts on Friday set-up and gate / site opening will be posted sometime over the weekend.

.....Warning: This is rather rambling. My apologies. Let me know if you have any questions. I have spared many by placing this behind an LJ Cut. :-)

..... …..Wednesday Load-Up and Thursday Set-Up.

…..On Wednesday before June Faire I picked up the rental truck. It was the largest that Budget Truck Rental carries. I could not get anything smaller as they were all rented out for the weekend (being the first weekend of the month with many moves happening). If I had had the rental set up in January, as I usually do, I would probably have obtained a smaller unit. With the Barony working at streamlining our store of pavilions, we will need less space to get everything transported to site.

…..There are not many truck rental outfits that will allow a truck to be rented out for an entire weekend. Most have discovered that they can make more money by renting to many individuals over the weekend rather then having one person have it for a lower standard rate. This limits the number of places one can go.

…..There was some talk of utilizing individually owned trucks and drivers to get equipment to site. I do not encourage this. It will require more organization and committed volunteers. Plus more of a headache to ensure that you have enough to get everything to and from site. The truck makes a good storage unit for the weekend as well and can be utilized around site for transportation duties on Thursday.

…..I should have made arrangements up front for additional drivers to be on the rental agreement. That way I’m not tied down to the truck for the weekend and can share the wealth.

…..I had everyone show up at the storage unit at 6PM to 6:30PM. We had plenty of volunteers to load up the rental; maybe too many. Future load-ups should have approximately eight to ten people (to make a loading chain) and they should be people who can actually load the truck (have mobility) and not slow the process down by getting in the way of loading. But even with the obstacles involved the truck was loaded within an hour.

…..Future load-up coordinators should consider having a couple of people head out to the heated storage unit while the unheated is being pulled. Only a handful of items are required from the heated and the rental truck has a difficult time negotiating the lay-out of the heated storage unit. If someone could throw that material in their pickup and bring it to the truck, it would save some time.

…..We asked Port Gamble if we could be on site on Wednesday to lay-out paint lines (to save time on Thursday and allow for quicker set-up). Port Gamble did not want us to do that, but they were waivering. If we had asked earlier and given a better defense on why this was needed, I’m convinced that they would have allowed it. Their concern was disruption of the residents.

…..We had approximately 25 people on site on Thursday for set-up. It worked out pretty good. It is important that the Board regulate closely how many people are on site Thursday and that they are all actively engaged in infrastructure set-up. Having too many people involved leads to chaos as we’ve discovered in past years.

…..Need to also be careful to ensure that those setting up personal encampments have assisted with infrastructure set up and that they asked BEFORE Thursday to be on site. Some people did try to get around the system and start setting up early.

…..We had about a quarter of the scheduled merchants show up for set up on Thursday. I strongly believe that this helps traffic control on Friday by allowing merchants to get their vehicles removed and gives some structure to the Marketplace lay-out to use as guidance.

…..The Marketplace Coordinator will have more to say on the Marketplace. But I believe in the jurying process even more now then I did before June Faire. I saw the beginnings of a completely period village being set up around the erics. A few more years of jurying and I think that the hilltop will look outstanding.

…..We need to make the roads wider in the Marketplace. We also need to be careful to not create dead-ends.

…..Anne Brynley took pictures of the merchants and will be using them in the jurying process in 2008. Some merchants promised a ‘period’ pavilion look and feel, but what they set up was less than adequate for the ambiance we seek. But like I said, after a few years of the jurying process, I think that this will resolve itself.

…..Some merchants ‘boycotted’ June Faire because they did not like the three tier system of payment. Anne will probably make some changes to that for next year (maybe reduce to two tiers) and might adjust prices a little. I did notice that the Marketplace was filled with ‘general’ merchants. Some of the higher end and long time merchants were noticeably absent (e.g. Baron Michael and Lynn the Weaver). There were some minor grumblings. Future Marketplace Coordinators should really make some effort to take the pulse of the merchant community well in advance and try to reconcile at least a little the needs of the Marketplace with the needs of June Faire itself. June Faire of course takes precedence, but the Modern Public loves the Marketplace and it would not do well for us to drive the good merchants away, especially if they have an outfit and sell wares that really fit our demonstration needs.

…..The Arts and Sciences area had an extra pavilion set up by the town that was not in our plans. Thankfully it worked out all the better for us. But future planning teams should make an effort to show our intended lay-out plans to Port Gamble and ensure that we are both on the same page and reconcile any irregularities found.

…..Communications with Port Gamble are VERY important. It was generally agreed before June Faire that Port Gamble would deal with Waste Management to have the dumpsters placed. This did not happen according to plan. It is important that a lay-out map be advertised to as many as possible BEFORE the weekend. That Waste Management is contacted frequently. That there is a clear chain of leadership of WHO is going to talk to Waste Management on dumpster lay-out. Waste Management showed up on site very early in the morning and started placing dumpsters in the wrong locations. Port Gamble did not stop them and we had to do some phone calling and scrambling later in the day to have the dumpsters located correctly. In the future we need to have someone on site very first thing in the morning (by 7AM) to ensure that Waste Management is directed to the correct locations.

…..Some lay-out people wanted to start laying out lines at 8AM. I said that I would show up with spray paint and wands. The lay-out people did not start arriving until after 9AM. But is was still a good thing that I was on site early as the Biffy people showed up a little after 8AM. I was able to direct them to the appropriate drop off locations.

…..Table, chair and cone rental people showed up at about 9AM. In the future I don’t think that we need additional cones. Port Gamble had extra when all was said and done. We managed to lose four cones and will have to pay for them. Although they did come in handy for blocking off places where we did not want people to park (and other items).

…..Thursday set-up was done for the day at around 7PM. This still allowed for people to set up personal encampments. The day was relatively stress free. The plan for Thursday worked out relatively well.

.....Hope that your Friday and Weekend are Excellent!!! :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.