West Florida Model boat club, Sarasota, FL

[johnf]

Thanks Bill!

[bill34207]

Swap meet?

Before the thought gets forgotten like many of the things we want to do.... Lets talk some more about the swap meet idea.
If we are going to do one we need to decide on a date for it.
Decide if we want to charge a fee for the vendors/sellers (most events like this are aimed at making money for the club and due to location doubt if we could do a concession stand).
Probably lots of other things that need to be considered as well but we need to first take a step toward making it an event instead of a passing thought.

[tiqueman]

Yes, my thoughts were to charge and admission and/ or a fee to run a boat. For example, and IM just throwing out numbers, $5. entry and $5. to run a boat. I was also thinking we could do a little concesion as in hit Sams or something and get soft drinks and waters and a pack of burgers and dogs, then charge X amount for them. even if its enough to break even on food, at least we have it. Also, we will need to look into having a portolet or two dropped off for the weekend.

I think we should get the details and date worked out over the next week or two and post a new thread about it and try and get a head count. Perhaps even a "pre-pay admission" thats a dollar off or something than if you pay at the gate. Trying to get a head count will allow us to have an idea about the amount of food etc we may need.

Id be willing to bring my grill and anything else that will help to do a little concession. think about what was at the NATS, granted they were really set up to do it, but a grill and coolers is all we would need.

[tiqueman]

I just contacted NAMBA regarding contact info changes etc and also noticed they have a page in their Disctrict 3 section w/ a lot of clubs websites. I sent the info to ours and asked if we could be added.

[tiqueman]

Also, I met Jeff on the St Pete side of the skyway last night and got the other trolling motor.

[bill34207]

Having to spring for porta johns could put a damper on things. Not sure of what kind of pricing those are at now days. We'd probably need to check with the county and get permission for them as well.
As far as a grill and some coolers go, that's really all they had at the FE Nats. Before we can really think about doing this we need to get the group to commit to doing it as well. People will be needed at the gate if an admission is going to be charged, and probably at least 2 for concessions.
As for trying to make it as a swap meet and run day that may be a bad idea. It opens a can of worms for following NAMBA safety guidelines. There will be people all over the place looking at stuff for sale (if we fo have a decent turnout) and with boats running at the same time it could create some safety issues. We'd probably need to invest in some of the safety net type fencing to put up along the lake to get around that. Actually if we're ever going to hold any kind of running event we're going to need to come up with the fencing to be within the rules. Just some thoughts on my part.

PS, good deal on getting the other motor and contacting NAMBA.

[RCKong]

I think we need to work on building our club first before we start trying to charge admission, hell we don't want to run people off that stop to check it out. Most people that take the time to stop and check it out have interest in R/C and tell their friends. We have already talked about starting a series or organized racing so lets get it done. We can grow to be one of the biggest organized FE boat clubs in the USA.

[tiqueman]

I think kong needs to read about what's going on

[bill34207]

I think on the charging admission Scott was just talking about the swap meet. I'd really suggest a free admission for buyers and a $5.00 setup fee for sellers/vendors.
Also refer the need for some safety netting for holding a real race event. We need to build the treasury somehow if we are ever going to reach that goal. We may have to give up running some of the classes at the race ourselves to work the event as well. There is a lot of work to putting something like this on. You know it from running your car track, I know it from CD'ing a few fly ins back in the day too. Nothing that needs to get done does unless somebody does it.
As far as fees to run a race, seems like most clubs are getting about $15.00 per driver, per class. $5 to $10 bucks would be a bargain.

[tiqueman]

I agree Bill. we need to figure out how to raise money and start being able to have the necessities to host things in the future. I think even a slightly higher charge for vendors/ sellers, including members of our club. If we as club members want to sell anything, we pay as well. and maybe $2. admission, kids free. Every little bit would help us tremendously. Unfortunately, it costs money to make money. I think realistically we need to have at least one port o let. All it takes is one time someone coming and thinking "oh, they didnt even have a john" and they never come back. we also may need to get permission, Id assume, from the county to have a swap meet at that location? I could be over thinking it, but the county grants us permission to run boats, not run swap meets. Id hate to have a county worker from parks and rec or something come by and give us a hard time. we dont want to overstep our boundries w/ them. It seems to me, the onyl reason they allow us to run there is kinda because they have to. As for running boats at teh swap shop, I wasnt really going for racing events, just if someone wanted to splash something or test out a new purchase. No count down clocks etc, just fun sport running. If we could get fencing, i dont see an issue w/ it. if we have to finance a fence, then we may need to put off inviting others to run for a while longer and just stick w/ a swap meet and try to make some dough.

I know a lot of people in the construction biz. I may be able to score a bunch of that orange net fence for nothing. Ill start making phone calls tomorrow.

[RCKong]

I think we can hunt down some of the the orange roll net for safety. $5.00 a class would work, that is what we could do right away on our race days. a few burgers and dogs always works out well too.

[RCKong]

porta johns are $75 to $100 a month.

[tiqueman]

porta johns are $75 to $100 a month.

I knew that from ordering them for construction sites and making sure they were paid.. but what about for a weekend?

[RCKong]

we'll have to call and compare for the best rate.

[RCKong]

If you bring the grill we could all bring some food.