Family Farm Day 2013 Planning Meeting Notes July 8, 2013
Family Farm Day 2013 – Planning Meeting Notes– July 8, 2013
In Attendance: Gene Swackhamer, Dick Watson, Valerie Brennan, Roger Williams, Jill Drees, Krisztian Varsa, Kelly Dudeck, Bronwyn Mitchell
Event Date: September 22, 2013 (10am-4pm)
Sub Committees:
- Publicity: Katie Dott, Kriztian Varsa and Mike Harrison along with input from MARC’s MARCOM Committee
- Food – Mike Harrison and Kelly Dudeck
- Music – Kelly Dudeck
- Volunteers – Dick Watson and Bronwyn Mitchell
- Children’s Programs – Jill Drees
- Unique Components – Bronwyn Mitchell
- Vendors – Bronwyn Mitchell
- Farm Equipment – Dan Colhoun
To streamline discussions, a chart of all activities was created and used as a guide. Updates have been included. Please note that those activiites that do not have a lead listed, need a lead. If you are interested in helping organize an activity that either is leadless or has a lead, or you have an idea for an activity/demonstration and would like it added to the program of events, please contact Bronwyn Mitchell at 410-229-0530.
Activity / Lead / Status / Volunteer Needs / Location / Material Needs/NotesFarmer relay races / Jill / Confirmed / YES / Extended area behind kids / Need to decide on race format and times
Pumpkin Painting / Jill / Confirmed / YES / Kids Area / Pumpkins/Paint
Scarecrow Making / Jill / Cancelled / NA / Kids Area / How can we keep but make easier?
Straw Pile / Bronwyn / Confirmed / NO / Kids Area / Straw
Straw Bales for Climbing / Bronwyn / Confirmed / NO / Straw
Climb on a tractor / Dan / Tractor – Do we need someone supervising or is that the responsibility of parents
Corn Husking Race / Bronwyn / Seeking sponsor / YES / Stage / Corn
Stick Pony Races / Jill / Sponsor? / Arena / Stick Ponies
Sheep herding with balls and brooms / Bronwyn / Sponsor? / YES / Arena / Would be a nice prelude to the actual demonstration of sheep dogs herding sheep. Need balls and brooms.
Milking a Cow (real) / Kelly / Barn / Cow. Can we also get the Dairy Princess to be present?
Pony Rides / Mike / Wendy Kraus contacted MARC via Mike – however her prices ($225) per hour seem prohibitively expensive. We need to secure a vendor for this activity. Kelly is going to follow up with Paige Reynolds.
Face Painting / Jill / Confirmed / YES / Kids Area / Bronwyn will check with ex-intern Emily to see if she would like to lead. Need paints.
Apiary / Roger / Confirmed / NO / Apiary / Roger will speak to the Central Maryland BeeKeepers Association to see if they are interested in setting up an informational booth within the alee and run trips to the apiary for educational purposes.
Beer Making / Kelly
Mead Making / Roger / Roger is going to check with Lloyd Snyder who is part of a mead making association to see if he would be interested in setting up an informational booth.
Butter Making / Keith / Confirmed / No / Near Barn / Plastic bottles have been secured and stored in barn
Horse Grooming / Sierra / Model after milk a cow – this would be an opportunity for people to touch/brush a horse. Kelly will follow-up with Sierra.
Demo Gardens / Katie / Confirmed / MG’s / Demo Garden Area / All Good.
Wool Spinning / Gene mentioned the name of a person (Hue) who may be interested.
Corn Sheller / Kids Area or Farm Equipment Area / Used for dry corn – will need to be supervised throughout day.
Alpaca / Gene / Arena / Gene to follow-up
Fox Hounds / Gene / Arena / Gene to follow-up
Sheep Herding / Gene / Arena / Gene to follow-up
Farmer Stan Tours / Stan / Confirmed / NO / Throughout / People movers from State Fair
Live Animals
Hereford Jr. Farm Fair / Dick / Near barn
Rabbit Club / Wendy / Near Barn
Frederick Sheep Association / Bronwyn / Near Barn
Farmer Stan / Stan / Near Barn
Drive a tractor (tractor rides) / Cancelled
Scarecrow Art Competition/Auction / Cancelled
Corn Cannon / Dick / Sponsor? / YES / Main field where ponies/stage was / Dick is trying to borrow a cannon which costs ~$500 from Carroll County who uses one as part of their fall fest each year. Roger suggested instead of shooting them straight ahead to shoot as mortars and have a grid on the ground where prizes could be awarded for hitting certain targets.
Farm Animal Bingo / Dick / YES / Need a large field space – perhaps between alee and arena / Electric fencing, a platform for viewing, animals, spray painted squares, tickets
Silent Auction / Dick/Joann Hayden / Confirmed / YES / Top of alee / Secure the wagons used in 2012 from Mike Harrison. Vendors will again be given the opportunity to donate an item to the auction rather than paying fee. Still have leftovers from the online auction. Will need to solicit other items as well.
Music / Kelly / Confirmed / NO / Two bands have been confirmed, Arty Hill and the Long Gone Daddies and Cris Jacobs and the Union Men. Kelly will also be asking Mayo Family Band. The mobile stage used in 2012 has been reserved.
Vendors / Bronwyn / Confirmed / NO / Down alee / Bronwyn has created a vendor information packet and registration form. It has been uploaded to the website. Waiting for final FFD logo to include in materials. Need to get Locapour Vendor solicitation list from Kellie Johnson (MWA)
MARC Produce Tent / YES / Is the juice worth the squeeze? Only made $500 in 2013. It is very labor intensive – and with the FFD scheduled earlier in the year and on a Sunday we may be able to recruit more produce vendors. Keeping this on the wait and see list as vendors solidify.
Celebrity Cow Milking Competition / YES / Great way to publicize the event. Can we have two newscasters or other celebrities squeeze it out to see who can get the most milk in the same amount of time? Need celebrities and cows.
Wooden Animals with Face Cut Outs for phot-ops / Dick/Valerie / NO / Dick is trying to borrow a few used at Spring Meadow Farm in the past. Valerie will see if a school with a carpentry program could make some for us.
Food / Mike/Kelly / Consensus of the group is that we need to make money this year.
Publicity / Kate/ Kriztian / Confirmed / YES / NA /
- Trish Moore is working on the logo for the event which will be used on flyers etc. Kelly and Bronwyn narrowed the selections down to three. The committee was asked to vote for their favorites. Trish will tweak as per suggestions
- Postcard mailing to MARC supporters.
- Flyers will be mailed to libraries, schools (daycare and preschools) to post. – Valerie said get the flyer to her and she will distribute to the schools.
- Flyers/post cards will be distributed to area businesses. (volunteers needed for this.)
- We will try to place stories with photos in local papers.
- Event announcement will be submitted to social media and local media (daily weekly and monthly papers).
- Kate tried to contact Alice Chalmers about the radio ads that were done the first year. They were quite successful. She did not respond.
- If there is a budget for radio, MARC should contact the radio salesperson for records/script/times. I think it might have been 88.1 WYPR.
- Can we get a banner hung by BGE across the road?
- Can we get a printer to donate services.
Volunteers / Dick / Bronwyn and Kelly learned of an online service to help track and organize volunteers for events such as FFD – Volunteer Spot. It was used for the Locapour.
Presale Tickets / Bronwyn / Confirmed / NO / Online / Bronwyn will set up Eventbrite website to sell tickets for the event prior to the event. Tickets sold upfront to this rain or shine event will be recognized revenue come rain or come shine.
Rain or Shine / NA / Confirmed / NA / NA / Decided that because of the multi-faceted nature of this event. It must be held and advertised as rain or shine. As such, we need to have a parking back-up should the field be too muddy to be used for parking.
Lightrail Shuttle / For Locapour, a shuttle is bsing hired to take people to and from the Lightrail station which is an incentive to come to the event for city people, and those who either do not have a car or no longer drive. This needs to be discussed and priced out before a decision is made.
Waste Disposal
Beverages
Parking
Raven’s Game / We cannot show the game due to NFL infringement.
Tents
Sponsors / All / NA / NA / Bronwyn and Mary created a comprehensive sponsorship package. That information has been added to the website. Once the logo has been finalized, the packets will be distributed to the MARC Board and committee members to help find event sponsors.