11 December 2019, 7:30pm

Notes submitted by Lady Raven Helmsplitter, South Downs Chronicler.

THL Lucien d’Artois called the meeting to order. “Welcome! If you did not sign in, please sign in!”

Tonight’s meeting includes a review and consideration of a bid for Spring Coronation, submitted by THL Piers Simmons. Usually, the local group where the new heirs reside hosts Coronation, but in this case, Tir Briste is already hosting Fools’ War the week following Coronation, so they have requested that other groups who might be interested in hosting should submit a bid (by 15 December).

Piers could not make the meeting tonight and therefore was unable to present his bid himself, so our illustrious Seneschal, THL Mark de Wytteney, presented it to the populace on his behalf.

Spring Coronation 2020 Bid (9-12 April, 2020)

• Co-Autocrats: THL Piers Simmons and Lord Jürgen der Vielfrass; Piers noted that he had not yet found a co-autocrat, and Jürgen volunteered
• Site: Al Sihah Shrine Temple, Macon GA
• Cost to attend: $40 weekend, with a $5 discount for members ($35 members, $40 non-members)
• There were many questions from the populace, which mostly fell into three categories:
  • The site itself is no longer usable
    • THL Juliane considered the site a hard no. In explanation, she reminded everyone that, as we discovered at Castle Wars last year (2018), there are now outside people permanently RV camping within our usual camping area. The location of their encampment is impossible to keep separate from our event
    • Some tents were broken into last year
    • We had problems with the RV residents following around young women who *were* attending Castle Wars, especially those who had been drinking
    • THL Lucien noticed that $300 was budgeted for ant killer treatment. He and others pointed out that based on past events there, this will not be sufficient to get rid of the fire ants before the event
    • We really don’t need to run into liability issues
  • THL Mark mentioned that we have had serious problems with the site staff
    • There have been problems with the site staff not fulfilling contract requirements
    • The site becomes a swamp when it rains
    • If it does rain, would we be able to fit everyone in the hall?
    • His Excellency pointed out that there have been problems with the site staff not mowing the campsite as we needed it to be mowed
  • The attendance fee is very expensive, especially for newcomers ($40 for the weekend for non-members)
    • Juliane pointed out that Coronation does not usually have much structured to do, especially for newcomers; mostly ceremonies, meetings, and a couple of tournaments
    • Ximon considered that price point to be unacceptable – there was discussion about how this compared to pricing of other events.
      • Castle Wars this year was $25/$30 for the weekend
      • Magna Faire is $15/$20 for the weekend (plus cabin or lodge space)
      • Red Tower was $20/$25 for the weekend (including cabin space)
• Other questions that were raised in the discussion included:
  • Ximon pointed out that hosting Coronation is a lot to do so soon after Midwinter (beginning of February) and Gulf Wars (mid-March). Everyone will be volunteered-out
  • Sir Iastreb (Iazzie) mentioned that as a Barony, we do need to submit a bid for a KLE (Kingdom Level Event)
    • Lady Raven acknowledged that that is true, but what if we *get* the event?
    • Lucien said that he had heard there were two other groups who were also working on bids – Shire of Phoenix Glade and Barony of The Osprey
• The discussion ended, and a motion to vote was made and seconded. The bid was rejected unanimously (an official count was not made, but the estimate was approximately 20 people voted)

With the vote completed, the business meeting time was closed and we returned to the night’s regularly-scheduled monthly dance practice.

The next business meeting will be held Wednesday, 8 January 2020, at the Doraville Civic Center REMINDER – There will be no meeting on 1 January 2020, in observance of the New Year’s Day holiday.

Thanks!

–Raven