Karval Community Alliance, Inc. Karval, Colorado

Karval Community Alliance
April 29, 2009

Attendees: Dan Merewether, Sheri Logan, Winifred Pepper, Frances Maskus, Cherry and Carl Stogsdill, Betty Bailey, Aloha and Melvin Wolf, Jeff Thornton,  Ron and Letha Clark, Steve Bailey, Russell Davis, Mark and Mags Carling

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. The minutes were accepted as presented.

Treasurer’s Report
Sheri Logan and Frances Maskus reported on the money made from the Plover Festival.
Vendor Booths    $70.00

Meals were given to Seth Gallagher (Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory), Katie Fitzgerald (US Fish and Wildlife), Ken Morgan (Colo. Division of Wildlife), John Koshak (Colorado Division of Wildlife/Birding Trail), Vicky Dreitz (plover researcher). Chip Claus (American Birding Association Outreach Coordinator) should be invited as a presenter next year.

FESTIVAL REVIEW

Food
The bracelets for food worked fairly well. The system of giving out plates as customers paid seemed to work well. If clubs serving the meal brought their own plates, then they ate for free, but did not get any money for those servings. This sounds like a good system for next year.

The Chuckwagon dinner went well. Many thanks to those who worked for that.
It was very difficult for the Alliance to serve breakfast, because the members were so busy running other events. However, that breakfast was very good. All the meals were excellent. We need to write thank you notes to all those who served, donated, and presented.

Shirts and Hats
We needed more child size shirts. All of the XX shirts were gone. The colors were good. Caps didn’t go as well as shirts. Polo shirts were suggested instead of t-shirts.

Survey Results
Everyone said that the meals were very good. Two said that the fees were too high and three said that they were alright. Most said that the booths were interesting and one said that they found an item. There were mixed reviews on the stuttering joke. One person enjoyed the presentations by experts and the rancher. Two attendees found us through the AARP magazine – 2. Others found us on the website. There was better entertainment this year. A couple of in-between acts might be good. Liked the shorter program with just the high school kids. The tours were rated as OK, just right, and about right.

Two bunches intentionally came late in order to save money.

People seemed to like learning about the old homesteads and hearing stories about the area.

Bus Tours
It was suggested that we always have coffee and hot chocolate on the bus if it’s cold. We need more chocolate bars on the bus. There were no comments about the length of the tours. Maybe we should schedule a break during the morning tour.

Sunday morning had good interaction on the bus with locals and the wildlife folks – history, weather, wildlife, etc. The interaction on the bus is critical. 20 miles might take 2 hours. Leave time to get to various places.

Bus tours in the morning might need to be moved later – to 7 a.m. instead of 6 a.m. We might need to be flexible according to the weather, but we need to stick with our advertising. We also need to let participants know what’s going on with tour times.

Vendors
Most of the birders don’t seem to be interested in the vending, but locals do. We need to promote the vendors more. That would draw in more locals, which would possibly sell more meals. A tent could be set up to provide extra space.

Venue
We might need to shorten Saturday so we get home at a reasonable time. We could move the social event on Saturday up to 5 or 6. We could eat early and then tear down before the entertainment.

We could get a walled tent to expand our space. The one at the fairgrounds (either 40’x60’ or 50’x50’) costs $120 per day + $200 to set up. A couple of propane heaters heats them up well. Steve Bailey knows a lot of rental people and can hook us up.

Entertainment
The music practice was annoying to those present before the performance. Perhaps they can set up in a different place than the meal and vendors. It was good that the window to the kitchen was closed during the entertainment.

Timing
It was suggested that we shove the festival one week later.
Pros – More birds are likely due to migration and possibly better weather
Cons – going into May creates more conflicts with school activities, more difficult to obtain rental equipment

Photo Contest
It was a good start. We used $523 for the contest and the grant was for $500.
The pictures need to be at least 5’x7’, according to one judge. Smaller pictures would be good for space considerations. A new category for Karval Events was suggested. We need to be more aggressive with the kids. We have 8 more cameras, which we could give to interested students right now. We need to advertise better next year. We could use the pictures throughout the year to advertise. We should enlist some people who are not regular Alliance participants to help with the photo contest. Steve Bailey will store the boards on which the photos were posted.

We would like to enter a picture into the MVCEA photo contest, but we don’t have an account. The best of show will be submitted to the contest under the name of the entrant.

Lists
We need to keep lists in order to make administration go more smoothly
•    E-mail addresses of attendees and members
•    People who attended the festival
•    All birds seen – should be sent to paper with article about the festival
•    long-eared owl, pair of eagles, summer tanager, yellow-rumped warblers
•    Contacts for advertising – Don Stone brochures at Greeley, Independent newspaper,
•    Think of relatives who live in the city and can post brochures.
•    Jeff volunteered to go to the ABA convention in South Dakota to advertise.
•    Wild Bird Centers – need an efficient way to advertise at all of them

Advertising and Registration
Brochures need to be revised. Prices and details were lacking. More information about cost would have been good. How much does it cost to attend only one day or one tour? More details could be posted on the website. A registration form needs to be posted online in a timely manner – January. Most people went to the website for information. A small form on the brochure (or insert) would make it easier for people. A credit card option might make it easier for people to attend.

Blog
Thanks to Mark for putting that together.

Clubs
Please let us know if any clubs have feedback about the food arrangements.

Entertainment
Sounded like people liked the music better. It was just under an hour. Starting earlier would have been better. A little shorter (about 52 min. including door prizes and photo contest winners) might be better. Carl moved that we pay the music department $200. Jeff seconded the motion. The motion passed.

Lodging
There was confusion about whether or not lodging was free. There was debate over whether or not the registration should include lodging. It seems to be inconsistent, because not everyone stays with locals. Some pitch tents. No resolution was made.

NEW BUSINESS

Partners for Wildlife Meeting
The October 14 date may be changed. We would like to keep the event on a Wednesday night so school kids can participate. The week before is pronghorn season, which is not a good time to have extra visitors. Russell would like the RAW tours group to present and the students to perform. We need to be prepared to pull this event off with little notice. This is a great opportunity to show off our community.

The grant to host this event is being raised to $12,000. Carl is signing these forms since he was the previous president and has already signed paperwork.

Astronomy
We didn’t find out until the Saturday before the festival that Mr. Wentworth wasn’t coming. He is still interested in coming out in the summer with a group from Colorado Springs. Serving supper might be a good fundraising opportunity. Carl Stogsdill will work with that group to determine their preferred dates, needs, and interests.

Colorado Council for the Arts
Grant use form (for the photo contest) needs to be filled out and submitted. Carl is managing this.

RAW Tours
May 12 will be the day for the Colorado Springs school to come out.

Next Meeting – Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at 7:00 pm.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 pm.