Event Cancelled

[pprice]

It is with a great deal of regret that I must inform you that we have been compelled to cancel the upcoming event at Ft. Wayne, Detroit, Michigan. The decision to cancel was a difficult one, but we were compelled to make such a choice based on current circumstances, and make it early enough to give you all timely notice, and save ourselves additional effort. In a nut shell, it appears from the registration list that the interest just is not there this year. On behalf of all the event organizers, I would like to personally thank you all for your commitment to this event.

Now on to the particulars. Whereas the event and the GHTI are completely nonprofit entities, we will be granting full refunds for all those who apply. You may choose form one of the three options below.

1. You may choose to have your registration fee refunded in full. (Unfortunately, we are not able to return Pay-Pal processing fees)

2. You may choose to have a portion of your registration fee donated directly to preservation efforts at Ft. Wayne, the remainder being forwarded on to you.

3. You may choose simply to donate your entire registration fee to preservation efforts at the fort.

Simply e-mail Justin Runyon at j.e.runyon@juno.com with your choice and amount of donation if applicable. All refunds will be sent in the form of a check, likely within the next 14 business days. The GHTI will cover return postage.

Once again gentlemen, on behalf of all the organizers and staff, I thank you for your interest and commitment to the event.

[BrettKIllinois]

Sorry to hear this.

[Charles Heath]

Sad to hear this, too, Pat. Three season 2007 weekends have turned into scheduling train wrecks with a bunch of events hitting at the same time, and this was one of them.

[John Legg]

Pat,

Do you have any idea when the event may come up again?

John

[pprice]

There are no immediate plans to host another event at the fort.
If the issue ever comes up again, I'm pretty sure it will be someone else doing the organizing this time around. :)

[paulcalloway]

I'm not sure people fully understand that procrastinating with their event registrations can actually torpedo events like this - events that are 100% self-funded.

And the last time I looked, I-75 had lanes going both directions.

It's sad to see this event fold.

[Charles Heath]

The parallels between this cancellation, and the Crabill House event effort from a few years back are simply stunning.

[Justin Runyon]

More than stunning, they are identical. Paul brings up an excellant point that all of us who have had a hand in planning events are well aware of, but others may not be. There has to be money on hand during all phases of the event planning process. The closer one comes to the date, the more money must be available. This money comes from registration fees...period. So, you see where I'm going with this, if registrations don't come in, regardless of how many people intend to register, you have to pull the plug on the event based soley on lack of funds to continue the process.

Even still, if we had the capital to risk personally, there is the question "will enough people eventually register to actually impliment the evet?" That is a big unknown in the whole event equation without early registrations. This has probably been the death nail of more than one good event.

[Charles Heath]

Justin,

My name is Charles, and I'm a Baltimore Orioles fan. Wait, wrong hobby forum....

Yep, this is one of those genuine no sh-t moments.

While drafting my mid-month update for July, a number of things relating to events have crossed the electrons of virtual penmanship, not the least of which is the shifting geographic center of the campaigner, progressive, and hardcore market, and what it takes to pull a good number of the 250 people active in this very small market. With 2008 and 2009 event planning ramping up in recent months, this realization has weighed heavily on a number of minds.

As more and more actual battlefield land opens up for reenactments (and living histories), this end of the hobby has seen more and more events on the plate. Some of these are intimate and tightly woven affairs, and others would be better off with more boots on the ground come game day. Now, and I don't need to say this to you, since this is essentially preaching to the choir, a good number of folks have run screaming like little girls back to the mainstream portion of the hobby. Maybe that is good for them in the long run, and maybe it is good for us as well. To paraphrase TJ by way of Stalin, "a purge now and then is a good thing." Getting back to the problem of way too many events and not enough people to attend them, we are still scratching our heads how a few of weekends in 2007 are scheduling train wrecks. This isn't much different than what caused the creation of the EBUFU calendar in the late 1990s, which was essentially a tool to deconflict the handful of high quality events out there. With three of four great events landing on the same weekend, a little spread was thought to be a good idea.

I'm not talking about events where little pods of reprodution clothing collectors who sit around and talk about the latest gear fashions all weekend, but events where folks are expected to actually do something. I've come to believe "actually doing something" scares the living crap out of most of our hobby members.

Some of the great organizers in our end of the hobby have eased on to other things, and more have announced a fixed date as to when they'll "retire" from the hard work of making quality events happen, and yet others are going through the motions for yet one or two more seasons. In fact, I highly suspect a number of the latter would like to simply pull the plug and make it all go away, so they can get back to their families and normal life. I don't think they are so much burned out, as they are disappointed.

This end of the hobby has always been small, and has prided itself in being a well finished diamond rather than a dumptruck load of gravel. Many of the better events in the past ten years had attendence numbering in the dozens rather than the hundreds. What is it the armchair rangers say after reading the AARs from a spectacular event: "Maybe next year!"

Yep, that sounds like baseball, and the Red Sox seem to be doing fairly well at this point in the season.

[Dan Wambaugh]

Chas,

I know for my part I got stuck with about 65 yards of burlap purchased for a special vignette at the event, something that hadn't been tried before on any scale. It's not a huge bummer and it's probably only a portion of what Pat had to lay out for this and that. At the very least I'll have interlinings until I'm probably 60 years old.

But you are correct that a big wall we ran into was can we pay for the necessary items to make the event work. We weren't planning extravagant scenarios or anything of that ilk, but it certainly takes a small amount of money to make things function and get things moving. And the loss isn't limited to just he sponsors, either. I know of one participant planning to come all the way from Kentucky. Got his registration in early, kept in communication, and had made himself a stellar cavalry jacket (perfect for the event impression.) Sure, he gets to keep his jacket but dang that is a lot of work to do only to have the plug pulled on the event.

The funny thing to me was that last time we held an event at the fort the support from the local mainstream community was almost nonexistent, I think something like three or four guys showed up. This time they made up a majority of the registrants and Pat's tireless campaigning amongst them had been very effective. That at least is something.


Best,

[Spinster]

Chas,

But you are correct that a big wall we ran into was can we pay for the necessary items to make the event work. We weren't planning extravagant scenarios or anything of that ilk, but it certainly takes a small amount of money to make things function and get things moving. And the loss isn't limited to just he sponsors, either. I know of one participant planning to come all the way from Kentucky. Got his registration in early, kept in communication, and had made himself a stellar cavalry jacket (perfect for the event impression.) Sure, he gets to keep his jacket but dang that is a lot of work to do only to have the plug pulled on the event.


Best,


Y'all boys need to take up knitting:rolleyes:

Seriously--its how we fund things in our little corner of the world. Make the sleeping hats, sell the sleeping hats, make the socks, sell the socks, get paid--buy a period kettle to cook in, then buy the hawg and hominey to put in it, and plenty of it since its likely soldiers will take off with it. But then, its not the hawg and hominey that gets us---its getting shoes and coats on all these children....:D

Its a challenge--setting an early registration deadline in order to fund the event leaves out the few folks who really do find they can go at the last minute, but the early money simply must be there, or someone has to have deep pockets. I continue to prefer the early registration deadline, as it shakes all the lookie-loos out of the picture and leaves you with semi-committed numbers.

[SGulley]

Mrs. Lawson, if I could knit and sell I surely would! Extra money for an event would be nice.

The sad thing is, a portion of the registration money was slotted for improvements in the barracks that the participants themselves would have had a hand in building for better interpretation and accuracy.

An opportunity missed, among other things.

[Campjacksonboy]

I'm seeing the same thing here. Everyone seems to want an event but when it comes time to buck up the cheerleaders are few. When I sent out a call for help I hear from mainstreamers who would most likely freak if they saw there were guidelines. I'm begining to wonder why I'm catering to people who most likely won't come anyhow.
A lot of you are espousing the same feelings I have right now and at a time I'm burned out with work, and reenacting that canoe in the back yard is looking a lot more inviting.
Fewer events, but then how are we supposed to schedule and deconflict? There is the AC and a few other boards but no apparent orchestration between them. Even when there is it all ends up being regional or "hey drive to my place but I won't go to yours."
Sorry to hear the event has been cancelled.
Frank Aufmuth

[dusty27]

Frank et al,

Same thing here in the Mid Atlantic. We try to "build it", but "they don't come".

Next chance is Fredericksburg folks. Registration is open.

[Spinster]

Okay--now part of this is a 'girl thing'---so I don't know how applicable it is to the larger picture of coordination for soldiers--but some facets do apply.

The bulk of what I do in this time period can best be termed 'civilian adjunct' (my earlier time period involves less military interaction). As a result, we are often moving women, with children, to geographical areas that are unfamilar to them. Its the same 'long travel distance' that the guys face, but more often than not, we've got women driving long distance alone, or with children---and the personal safety issues inherent in that.

Since there are fewer of us, carpools are harder to arrange, and just try to get a group of soldiers to take in a middle aged woman they don't know into their van pool----kills the 'men only' atmosphere right there, and that is certainly problematic for all parties, even if the 'ride share' makes economic sense.

What I've found is that in addition to dealing with the basics of water and food, and scenario, I must also often deal with pre/post-event logistics: coordinate or make available transport to airports or trains, aiding folks in avoiding the extra expense of a rental vehicle, fielding a lot more cell phone calls on site to guide folks in after dark, accepting large shipments pre-event and transporting them to the site for the fly-ins and maintaining home contact information in case an expected woman fails to arrive (yep, a particular 'girl thing'--personal safety).

Then there is the informal system that has sprung up---I fly into your event with what I can bring in a carry-on, you supply all the food and cook gear and bedding. And when you come to my area, I return the favor. And, for certain locations, I've made up a bed roll and basics, and leave it stored there with friends.

So a lot of this has to do with basic hospitality---viewing folks coming to your event as a sort of houseguest, and offering arrangments accordingly.

And sometimes, we've found it so important to have a particular participant on hand that when they plead poverty, we've ponied up for the bus ticket and the registration. Which means its time to knit some more socks...............

[Charles Heath]

Apples and oranges, Terre.

[Thomas Alleman]

Do not give up this event. I know the Fort will rise from ashes like the Detroit's mottos says. Fort Wayne is a real gem of a place. I worked as site manager and did alot of tours of the fort. So many stories from those who served there and many who lived there. I met the wife of the last comadant from 1964. It has one of the best barracks left almost untouched. So do give it another shot, sounded like a great event. For those who could not come, me included, I will be there next time.