Springfest / Board Meeting 4/26/06

Meeting began at 5:41 pm

Springfest will be held May 13^th 10am-4pm

Next Springfest meeting to be held after the Card Exchange May 4^th

Urgent: attendance needed for May 4^th Card Exchange!

Present: Holly Hannum, Del Levia, Dan Speakman, Cindy White, Lisa Perkins, Dan Schneckenburger, Hinda Smith, Ilene Milburn

New Business:

• Habitats (Lisa)
• Has not gone out yet (4/26)
• Waiting on article(s)
• Has been so long since one went out that some of the articles and events are outdated.
• We need to send this publication out quarterly. To do so, Board members must submit articles.
• Lisa will finish it and publish it.

• Contacting Karla at the Fair Hill NRMA office: (Dan Speakman)
• Is Ed Walls Center open now that Gore has cancelled?
• Will they donate it?
• When can Dan Speakman hang the banner?
• We will need power that day. Need a contact person for that Saturday (need cell phone number in case of emergency)
• Is there a PA system available in that area. We used to use the band’s PA system.
• We need to book the Ed Walls Center for next year one year to the day that we need it. It books up fast and we don’t want to get backed into the Scottish Games again.

• Silent Auction (Still not chaired)
• Chair urgently needed
• Need minimum of 20 quality items
• Currently have:
• 2 Gore jackets
• $50 Bayard House
• Round of Golf for Foursome at Patriot’s Glen
• Trunk from Ralph
• Eagles Preseason Tickets
• Crafters have donated some items
• Dan Schneckenburger has 3 items, will email me.
• Potential donors:
• Furnace Bay GC
• Chesapeake Bay GC
• Patriot’s Glen GC Mario
• Orioles tickets
• Fair Hill Inn
• Buck’s
• Daddyo’s Mario
• Brother’s pizza Dan Sp
• Prizzio’s
• Ross Barn limited ed. Print Mario
• Elkton Florist (Foxtrot)
• Oxford Diner/PJ’s
• Oxford Pizza Hut
• Season’s Pizza
• Cracker Barrel
• Trail Ride
• Children’s Books
• Café Gelato
• Panera Bread
• Home Depot Ron
• American Home and Hardware Josh Brown
• Lawnmowing service
• TSC Mario
• Atlantic Tractor
• Ag Industrial
• ACME
• Redner’s
• Food Lion
• Blue Iris Spa
• European Wellness
• Bath and Body Works
• Nucar Dealership Del
• Williams Dealership Dan
• Foster’s
• Concord Pets
• Photographer Ulrich Ron and Mario
• Horizon Photography
• Westley’s
• Peppercorn’s
• Tanning Salon
• Hair Salon
• Bing’s Bakery
• Empowered Yoga
• Bike Shops—Bike Line or Wooden Wheels
• Dick’s Sporting Goods

• Food (Cindy White)
• Discussed numbers of attendees in order to gauge food to buy.
• Assume 2,000 attendees
• Sell water
• Cindy handling volunteers, has plenty
• Ilene Milburn will get a one day health department permit
• Kilby’s is doing ice cream
• Need more than one ice cream vendor b/c they always run out
• Ilene knows a ice cream truck
• Buck’s will sell us their crab Bisque for a reduced price.

• Tables (Cindy White)
• Possibly may be borrowed up in Prices Corner. Cindy will know by the weekend.
• Will have to be picked up on Friday and returned
• Need 30 tables.
• Need to act immediately if they are not available from her contact.

• Plant Sale (Mario)
• Lisa is going to Jennersville to check out a floral grower and attempt to solicit a donation.
• Someone asked if Karen Cline was related to someone with a nursery
• Dan Schneckenburger has daisies to donate.
• Dan Schneckenburger will solicit a donation from the School of Technology.
• Our plant supplier has moved to Milford
• We could buy from Walmart, Home Depot if all else fails, but too expensive.
• We can ask for donations from local nurseries
• There is a floral plant grower near Bakers Restaurant {John McKeown?} Ilene will call.
• The plant sale is a long-standing tradition and has been advertised. Cannot be cancelled.

• Publicity (Dan and Tracy will co-chair)
• Budget: $200
• Banners cost $150 for date/time correction. Dan Speakman will hang them this weekend.
• Dan Speakman will redo the poster by Monday and get it to the Nature Center for duplication.
• Need 11 x 17 cardstock for printing posters
• Poster can be duplicated here at the Nature Center
• Need to have poster and sign hanging party weekend of May 6^th
• Holly needs information for events at Springfest for the Whig article.
• Need to get Habitats out ASAP
• Get an email together and attempt to get a membership email list
• Get ad on Armstrong Cable
• Lisa needs to communicate with Janet regarding the newspaper articles
• Not doing postcards

• Entertainment (Tracy)
• Stage is available. Ilene has a contact who will drag it out for us.
• Stage should be placed on the side of the Ed Walls Building where it always goes. This is where power is available. (in between Ed Walls and the corral.
• We assume that Tracy’s husband’s band is playing. Need verification.
• Bobby Jones is out
• There is a string band scheduled.

• Car Show (Ron Perkins)
• has been volunteered to head the Car Show
• We are charging $10 per car
• Lisa will get trophies
• Should park the cars so that they are visible from 273—will attract more attention.
• Potential money maker if attendance is good.
• We will not know until that day if cars will show.

• Games/Children’s Activities
• Holly will chair games, but needs volunteers
• Holly has ordered all of the prizes
• We will keep last year’s ticket prices and cost for games
• Sand art will cost $5, Lisa owns the sand art kit currently.
• Dan Schneckenburger will follow up about the Moon Bounce
• Was talk of purchasing one. Available from some local contact or via ebay.
• Games/Activities will be the same as last year.

• Volunteer Coordinator (Unchaired)
• Need a chair immediately.
• There is a volunteer spreadsheet at the Nature Center (on computer)
• Send emails with volunteers, contact info and time available to the Nature Center.
• Need to assign volunteers.
• Can we find a Sorority to volunteer?

1. Needed for cleanup! Need a fresh wave of volunteers
2. Fraternity from Trail Day
3. Students from Rising Sun High (12-15) mostly all-day volunteers
4. Should hit all the schools—key club

• Key to successful volunteering is to keep them rotating.

• Walk a thon (Lisa)
• Was scheduled and flyers were handed out to Scouts

• Parking:
• Del is the chair
• He will supervise two Scouts that day collecting money
• Must be conscious of safety and also of car backup onto 273. This is not as likely as last year, since no competition with Scottish Games.
• Need to be concerned with attendees using alternate entrances to avoid parking. Need signs and sawhorses.
• Need nail pouches for collecting money the day of the event
• We made approximately $600 last year

• Money Collector:
• Larry Klevans has volunteered to collect and track money from different areas on the day of the event.
• This is very important for planning next year.
• Setup and Cleanup:
• Friday night we should post signs and place trash cans and recycle cans
• Holly’s husband will make recycle lids
• Board members should arrive at 8am at the latest.
• Tables should be set up Saturday morning 8am.
• Volunteers should arrive shortly after 8am.
• Tables will need to be torn down and taken back to donor.
• Trash will need to be collected. Dan Speakman will leave his van (with keys) for trash. Place tied-off bags in van and leave van at the Nature Center. Dan will take trash to the dump on Monday, May 15.
• Dan Schneckenburger will bring trash bags
• Need extension cords.
• Make sure if you bring something that your name is on it.

• Activities to Promote for Springfest:
• Children’s activities including Potting plants for Mothers Day, Facepainting, Moon Bounce, and Sand Art.
• Music including SlingShot and a String Band
• Arts and Crafts vendors
• Pony Rides
• Plant Sale
• Hayride to Nature Center
• Stream Hunt and Field Sweeps at Nature Center
• Silent Auction
• Great Food, featuring Buck’s Crab Bisque
• For the first time: Lawn Mower races
• Karate Demonstration

• Lawnmower racing 1pm
• Doing it for free
• Manny Torrez USLMRA
• Held at the racetrack
• Need to provide trophies and ribbons for kids race
• Have their own insurance {We need an insurance certificate}

• Paramedics: must have them there, Dan Sch. will follow up

• Hayride:

· Hayride tickets will be priced at: $3 or $10/family Need to be clear about the hayride start and end times and have signs. It was decided that cash only would be accepted for the hayride to simplify.

· Signage

· We have a large inventory of signs in the basement. Some will have to be modified using vinyl letters. There is a concern by vendors that without signs, people may not be able to find their stands.

· We have sponsor signs already.

· We will need new signs made. Some sponsors will repeat and we can reuse those signs

· Will have a big board of larger sponsors. It will have to be reconfigured and made.

· Have made up new signs every year in the past for sponsors.

· There was a concern about some signs being too small and other things. Look in Barb’s notebook for lessons learned from past years.

· Sponsorship

o Letters went out

o Money coming in

o Dan Sch. is sending some out.

o Dan Speakman is going to call past sponsors that we have signs for

· Layout

o Premature to talk about it

o Same as last year.

o Dan will provide sheet with last year’s layout

CHAMBER CARD EXCHANGE:

• 5-7 pm Thursday May 4^th
• All Board members urgently needed to attend, be there as close to 3:30 pm as possible to help set up.
• We should expect 50 attendees
• Del will bring several bottles of wine
• Holly has cups and water and several bottles of wine
• Cindy is bringing wine and a vegetable tray
• Ilene will bring a cheese tray and ice
• Dan Speakman will bring a case (24) of beer and ice and a cooler
• Hinda will bring Finger food
• Dan Schneckenburger will bring sodas
• Need a sign for parking up above the Nature Center
• Still need more coolers, ice, Hors d’oeuvres, fruit tray?
• A Springfest meeting will be held after the card exchange during cleanup.

FAIR HILL MINUTES:

• No formal school report this month
• We have 89 campers so far.
• No Habitat has gone out to advertise camps to members. Members should have first shot at camp slots, which sell out every year.
• Need to update training for staff for First Aid and CPR
• Hinda has a contact
• Need training, not certification
• Leadership Institute was at the Nature Center today
• May 10^th Holly is going to speak and promote the Nature Center at Stine-Haskell (DuPont site) on Elkton/Newark road. She will promote Springfest heavily.

Meeting adjourned at 7:30.

Respectfully submitted,

Daniel Speakman