Meeting Minutes - July 2007

Present:  Kudrun, Brighid, Brilliana, Bronislava, Busta, Gavin, Vitaliano, Vettoria, Allyssa, Maewyn, Ahlwin, Valgarth, Ariella

The meeting was called to order at Kudrun's house at 3:17 p.m., after making a preliminary walkthrough of the Trempealeau County Fairgrounds while the Fair was in progress, and making preliminary decisions regarding where to locate things.

Officer Reports

Arts and Sciences

• The A & S list was passed around.
• A & S night was last Thursday. Kudrun showed up.
• The next A & S night is the second Thursday in August (the 9th). Making site tokens will be the project.
• Still needs to buy cord for the tokens. Discusson of how long to make cords. Long enough to tie on belt, with some "necklace" ones. (Alternatively, we can leave some cord at Troll to swap in.)

Chiurgeon

• Gavin technically doesn't qualify as a "Chiurgeon" at the moment because his CPR certification expired. He's currently working on that.
• This is being rectified.
• Gavin's currently going through his medical kit in preparation for A.R. Vettoria reminded him that he has $75 to top up the kit if he needs it.
• We need to be more organized on supply runs than we were last year.

Exchequer

• No checks sent out since the last meeting, although several A.R. ones have been cut and are ready to be signed.
• We are also paying for the storage locker rental this month.
• Totals in the various accounts run as follows:

Herald

• Her latest report is in.

Seneschal

• Kudrun's latest report is in, too..
• At the June meeting Kudrun announced her desire to step laterally from the Seneschal's office to that of Chronicler. Maewyn had expressed an interest in taking on the Seneschal's office. As Maewyn was returning from an inspection of the WW site at the time the topic was discussed, those present had duly voted him, in absentia, Deputy Seneschal. Two nays due to lack of agreement on who was the acting official nay-sayer of the meeting, and one abstention for lack of language skills (although not for lack of trying).
• At the June meeting, Kudrun could not be persuaded to cross the street long enough to be voted Deputy Chronicler, so Vitaliano called for her assistance in preparing the shrimp, and she was duly voted in.

Webminister / Chronicler

• We received the balance of a subscription-donation at the start of the meeting. Huzzah for donations! (Especially now that the price of stamps has gone up. Again. Grrrrr.)
• Vitaliano mentioned a number of issues with the A.R. website:
  • Remove mention of Equestrians
  • Vitaliano is listed as Feast Steward as though he's done it before, which is not the case.
  • The construction of Highway 53 requires alternative directions for travelling from Osseo to A.R. Also, we should make a note for folks travelling from other directions the construction starts north of Galesville, just so that they're not confused by the D.O.T.'s signage.
• The Northwatch still has the old URL (from early 2004 and before) listed for Rokeclif. Ariella will contact Osric to fix this.
• Still need info. (how many people when and where, doing what for how long) for all the volunteer pages. Ahlwin will follow up with Ariella.
• No new info. for the Feast page yet.

New Business

Autumn Rose

• What entertainment do we offer the public? Kudrun will contact the Northshield Choir. Individual bards will be asked personally.
• The merchant who typically hires the dancers will not attend, and likely they will not, either. Vettoria and Brilliana will talk to various artisans regarding demo-ing.
• The question of whether or not a fire ban (as has been issued in previous years) will affect demos such as casting, blacksmithing and period cooking. The fairgrounds is not part of the city, and should be exempt from city bans. However, we can certainly soak the ground around the area of any open flame used for demos.
• Originally, Astrid agreed to be "stunt Royalty", but HRM Giulia has announced her intention to attend.
• Brighid offered to loan her family's lawn tractor (including its trailer and the van to haul it) for hauling garbage cans and other heavy things around site. Someone who knows how to drive a stick-shift transmission is needed, however, but we have those folks in plenty.
• Ahlwin arrived from the Cities, and we reviewed the proposed building use (worked out at the fairgrounds) with him.
• Where do we put the two shade flies? The heavy weapons and rapier folks can share one of them.
• Vettoria noted that Maewyn plans to bring his own shade fly for Thrown Weapons.
• Which building to use for Royalty? The one next to the Merchants' building that we were planning to use for an all-purpose shelter.
• al-Fondouk's may not be coming due to high gas prices.
• Valgarth will contact Hilltoppers about dumpsters. Any deposit or or pre-payment checks will be ready at the next meeting.
• The next Shire meeting will be held at the Fairgrounds on August 19th at 2:00 p.m.. We will do our formal walkthrough whenever the gentleman with the key arrives and work the meeting around that..
• No animals were kept in the Feast Hall building during this year's fair, so we shouldn't have the unpleasant surprise of maturing manure to deal with this year.
• We will plan to bring out all available benches this year, because you can never have too many places to sit.
• Brilliana will put a...um...shout-out on the Herald's List for a proxy Herald, as she is practicing to be Autocrat this year.
• The Marshals (heavy and rapier) for the event are still planning to be at A.R.
• This year we will use bungee-cords to hold the trash can liners in place. Discussion of what the critical times to check garbage cans are.
• The idea of moving the Troll location quashed, simply because the amenities are the best in the current spot.
• At this point, we have no youth boffer fighting, as there is no one to Marshal it. We will still keep looking for someone to head that up.
• The minimum of $5 value raffle donation applies to merchants only.
• After some rethinking and discusson of the quiet-vs.-noisy encampments, we decided to keep quiet encampments closer to where the Equestrian area would be, with some consideration given to those who require electrical outlets.
• Some further discussion of sign placement. The more signage, the merrier.
• Brighid volunteered to bring rope in a variety of sizes/lengths.
• The Bard of Rokeclif contest will be held after the second Feast remove, so as not to interfere with the scheduling of the ginger pork.
• Brilliana is still planning to calligraphy and illuminate the invitations to Royalty.
• Long-ish discussion of how we can set up things so that the general public doesn't shy away from al-Fondouk's on the mistaken thought that it's someone's private tent, and not a coffee house.
• We will ask Coille Stoirmeil if we can borrow their sandwich boards for signage. Kudrun will contact them. In the future, we will look to make our own, although not until after A.R.
• Brighid's tractor can also be used to haul the large water coolers to strategic locations (and possibly back and forth for refills).
• Anyone who owns (or has access to) the large roasters is encouraged to loan them for the Feast, as there are no ovens, and grill space will be at a premium.
• Vitaliano has obtained permission from the Lions to use wood in lieu of charcoal in the grill-pit, on the condition that he removes any large pieces after the fire dies.
• There will be two designated runs into town on Saturday:  One at 10:30 a.m. and the other at 1:30 in the afternoon. Ariella will handle that.
• The Pyxis have volunteered to demo period cooking if they can use a campfire.
• If we can get the key from the Fair board on the 19th, we can do more advance cleaning and prep. work.
• Plan for setup Thursday night.
• Busta will bring his power-washer, in case we need it.
• Vitaliano can work with holding Court either before or after Feast, but he must know, one way or another.
• Site tokens recap for Ahlwin's benefit.
• Vitaliano gave a quick update on the Feast menu.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:25 p.m.

Quote of the Meeting:  "I'm too stupid to be scared." - Ahlwin, on being a successful Autocrat

Page last updated:  18 August 2007