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A GENERAL(s)
Guide
to
Throwing a
DecemberFest!
WELCOME!!
Read on Festers!!
And By The
Way.............General Drink!!!!!
Table of Contents
Fest Funds
Communications and Email
Site Search
Invitations
Meals
Entertainment
Security
Gate-Keeping & Collecting
Camping Fees
T-Shirts
Website
Once We Are There
***Site Cleanup
Emails sent to the group
generally consist of the following things:
This is THE single most important job each year. It’s also one of the HARDEST and definitely the least volunteered-for job. Typically it is one or two of the SAME people who go out each year and put a LOT of miles on their vehicle, spend a LOT of $$ for gas, and spend a LOT of their own time to travel to all possible sites. This all consists of researching for possible campsites within 2-3 hours of Tallahassee (usually.......), then making road trips to visit these possibilities. There are a large number of criteria which must be met by the site to make a site acceptable to use for DecemberFest and part of why this is such a hard job is that MOST of sites visited during a site search don’t even come close to meeting our needs and wants.
Once several sites are flagged as
possible, a synopsis is put together by the site-searcher spelling out all the positives and negatives of each
of the possible locations. Eventually one of these possibilities
(if there is even more than one!) is chosen as our site for
the year.
SOME CRITERIA WE DEEM
NECESSARY OR DESIRABLE FOR A SITE TO MEET:
Location - typically no more than 2-3 hours from Tallahassee/Big Bend area, which is where the majority of festers reside. These 2-3 hours represents an approximate 200 mile radius in all directions from Tallahassee.
In years past, staying in Florida has been our goal, however we may not be able to continue doing that as site choices are dwindling yearly as more and more “snowbirds” seem to be taking over potential sites as permanent residence! Keeping that in mind, sites in South Georgia or Alabama should also be considered as possible options (but only as a last resort).
Occasionally, depending on which site is chosen and
who owns it, having a “site proposal” is prudent. This resembles a contract or agreement document (we have
a template in our files of recent proposals; all that needs doing is name changing and date adjustments). This
will be read and signed by the site owner. This document lets us know what the site owner’s rules are and
what they expect from US as a group, and also what they can expect from US and what we expect from THEM to
make the party a success for all involved.
Pets are permitted only if the site-owner allows them. Please honor this rule, however it goes. Please stress that others do too, along with whatever rules are placed (such as leash laws etc) by the site owner.
Please stress that those who DO bring pets that they supervise them at ALL TIMES (just as you would your children; after all they ARE our children too!) to avoid accidents and other pet disasters.
If there are fireworks planned, then have a plan for your pets!! Dogs who normally wouldn’t THINK to run sometimes are so scared by the fireworks that they have bolted, and several dogs have not ever been recovered.
If you are NOT willing to treat
your animal with respect and love by keeping them supervised, then we recommend that you leave them at home
with a capable pet sitter.
Depending on how many bathrooms/toilets are available at a given fest site, renting porta-potties has been a very important part of making the fest a comfortable one for all involved. Whoever volunteers for this duty is considered the “Gotta-Go-God or Goddess” and must do the following:
DecemberFest ALWAYS needs a source of firewood. We need it for the kitchen, for smoking the meats, for our central bonfire if one is to be burned, and we ALL need it for our individual campfires.
It is a great idea to bring your own for your campfire, or to find a local source from which to purchase firewood. We try hard to find these sources and let you know about them
We are ALWAYS hoping someone can bring a load of wood for the smoking and bonfire burning, so if you have a way of doing so, THAT would be an incredible donation and would help out a lot.
We also attempt to get permission from the site owners to cut wood on the property, if any, using our capable chainsaw volunteers. We recommend utilizing the talents of someone who KNOWS how to use a chainsaw instead of doing it yourself unless you are capable yourself. In that case, we can use your talents.
Do not EVER cut wood on a
DecemberFest site without permission. If the owner says no chainsaws, then we must honor that rule.
Everyone who comes to DecemberFest
MUST have either received and invitation in the mail, or been invited to the party by someone who HAS. This is
NOT an “open” party, and we would like to keep it that way. Elisa Curtis has come through year after year
with an original, artistic, and descriptive invitation for our gathering, and has not stopped yet!
What is needed for Invitations is:
What goes into/onto An Invitation:
How We Get The Invitations Done:
A gathering pre-fest is a great idea (and another reason for a party!) to make signs that will be posted at the fest-site. Some concern the fest itself (site rules, information etc.), some are concerning legal drinking age and responsibilities going along with that, and some are for other reasons, such as speed limits, dress codes and other various, silly, important etc things!
DecemberFest has a supply of markers, poster board, laminate sheets, etc. If you are involved with sign-making (we ALWAYS need volunteers for this fun job) please make sure you check in the G.O.D. box before purchasing more sign-making supplies, as more may or may NOT be needed each year.
Donations of sign-making supplies are always welcomed!
We also need someone to help in posting signs at the site each year. There usually are tape-guns and/or staplers available for this purpose.
Meals
Leads are needed for the following meals:
Meal Crews-
The Volunteers
who are leading the meal preparation choose their own “crews” and those who volunteer AT the fest are
welcomed heartily for prep, clean-up, serving and general helping. It’s an incredibly social and fun
atmosphere, and should be encouraged! All Leads of meals should definitely have their backbone crews chosen
before getting to the fest so that pre-planning of meals can be done those key crew members.
Cost of DecemberFest Meals-
Fest Funds cover the cost of all
foods, cooking equipment, fuels and incidental items crucial to the preparation of Fest meals. The AVERAGE
cost of meals in the recent past has been anywhere between $2000.00 and $3000.00 for all 3 Fest meals.
General Important Meal Stuff-
Each meal crew is responsible for
not only the preparation and serving of said meal, but is ALSO responsible for the cleanup of that meal. All
leftovers must be put away and lead of meal should notify the lead of the NEXT meal as to where the leftovers
are and possibly how they should be presented or heated up. All leftovers should be offered at the following
meal so as to not waste any food. All pots, pans, prep and serving utensils, as well as all surfaces MUST be
washed and left CLEAN and sanitized for the next meal crew. Leave it as you would want it left for you!! Which
means CLEAN!
Food and Needed Equipment Procurement Before the Fest-
After the meal menus have been decided on (several weeks pre-fest) and numbers are estimated, then food must then be ordered. There are several different places at which this can be done.
Sysco Food Service Provider- Bobby Staerker at Cabo’s Tacos has been very generous in the past about allowing DecemberFest to use his contact at Sysco Food Service to order some food and kitchen items. This order is normally placed the Monday of the week of fest, for delivery to Cabos on Wednesday. There is very little storage in either fridge or freezer at Cabos, so a pickup MUST be scheduled for that day, and storage of those food items found immediately. A fest check can be used for this purpose.
Sams Club- has some food items we can use some years, oils & spices in bulk, paper goods and eating utensils, some small kitchen equipment, mostly serving and prep items.
Albertsons/Publix/Winn Dixie- small items and if bread is needed, a local grocery near the fest is the best place to get it. PRE ORDER is encouraged!
Tomatoland- Butch is a fabulous DecemberFest provider each year. He normally gives us great deals, and can get almost anything fruit and vegetable-related that we ask for, and if not, will suggest alternatives to what he cannot get, or if he thinks we should go with something else. Order late the week before fest or early week of fest for pickup mid-week, in time to be taken by the big ass truck or someone with some room! 222-0813
Restaurant Equippers- offers pretty much ANY equipment we might find a need for. GREAT service and very fast delivery. Probably won’t need it often, but a nice place to have on the list. A catalog is available at Nancy’s. She receives one quarterly.
Food Organizing and Ordering -
One (1) person to do the food ordering/organizing/menu consolidating is prudent. More than one person doing the final “list” makes it confusing and sometimes can lead to double ordering or forgetting an order. This does NOT mean more than one person cannot be a part of this!! Whomever is the “expediter” of food procurement should rely heavily on volunteers (and should make requests for help often!) to do pickups, help in loading, transporting, double-checking of lists etc.
Starting weeks in advance this “expediter”
should find out who the meal leads are (make it happen!) and get menus set for each meal. Then find out what
each meal will consist of, including all spices, charcoal, lighter helpers, wood, FOOD, paper goods etc, etc,
etc.
Suggested Lists for Food Procurement:
Under each list, include food
needed for each meal, including amounts per serving and for entire meal. Once these lists are done, you can
then make a separate list that includes all shared items from all lists, such as spices, oils, charcoal,
sterno, paper goods, and other miscellaneous items that may be shared by more than one meal.
Things Meal & Food Expediter Must Have on To-Do List -
The fest need
block ice each year to place in the reach-in “ice box” and fridge boxes to keep foods cold for at least 4
days. The amount purchased is dependent on the weather forecast. Last year (2005) we purchased four 300 lb
blocks, each cut into 3 pieces and they lasted the entire weekend and still did not melt completely.
SOURCES:
Fest spends anywhere from $1000-$1500 per year for beer. This may vary a lot, especially if a refrigerated truck is needed.
Jeff Harvey and Andy Kotcher have been recent and fabulous beer czars. The Fest needs an average of 13-15 kegs of beer for the weekend. We normally tap the kegs late Thursday or early Friday. There are normally 1-2 kegs of a special brew celebrating the fest, (to be tapped first), and split the rest of the kegs between less expensive but popular beers.
A refrigerated truck with taps is a PLUS since it means we can totally avoid having to craft a structure that will not only store the beer and keep it cold, but will also serve the beer that is tapped. Most distributors can provide a refrigerated truck with taps, but it is dependent on your location and whether they can even sell us the beer.
Nancy has a horse trailer that can be used for this purpose, but does not want it altered in any way that would make it unusable as a horse trailer! It can be insulated with enough Styrofoam etc to be usable as a beer trailer, but a constant source of ice must then be available at the fest. We would also then need a capable volunteer to haul the trailer to and from the fest, and to pick up the beer and return the kegs as well.
A local distributor, close to the fest site that year, must be used, otherwise it may not be legal to transport or even BUY the beer from another county. Make sure these laws are followed.
The beer czar and all cohorts of
said czar MUST be available at all hours for keg changes, and any other problems etc related to the beer!
Locking up the beer (and having a SPARE key) is a GREAT idea!
Larry Miller and/or Steve Wilson, fellow festers, have donated the filling of all our propane tanks each year, and also check and retrofits all connections as well. This is a huge donation each year, and is incredibly generous and needed.
Calling Larry
or Steve early, such as early
November, to set a date for filling and checking is a good idea. This works best
if someone is able to take the tanks to them.
DecemberFest has inventory
consisting of a full portable kitchen. Some things need updating and/or filling each year, such as propane so
those are things that need doing each year several weeks in advance. The sink setup uses propane water
heaters, so a pre-check of those, along with all propane connections and hoses is prudent.
This is a relatively new addition to our expenses each year, but has proved incredibly helpful. The fest spends approximately $1000 (varies with gas prices and distance to fest) each year for rental and fuel. A driver is needed for pickup, driving to AND from the fest, and returning of the truck to the rental provider.
We have found that renting the truck for a full week makes it easier and less stressful and allows time to load and unload, ass well a return truck on the final day. Generally rental runs Tuesday-Monday. (preferably Monday return to avoid paying an extra day).
This is heavy work!! Ideally having 3-4 or more people for both ends of this process is helpful to have. The main loading for the fest happens preferably the day BEFORE leaving for the fest, usually Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on when the driver can leave for the fest.
The more volunteers found for this duty the better. On Sunday AT the fest, it’s important to have SERIOUS volunteers lined up; too often people magically disappear before loading happens, and often there are only a few people actually available for a very hard job. (Remember, we all JUST spent 3 wonderful and exhausting days Festing, and Sunday is the day everyone just wants to pack up and leave.
Also, get some SERIOUS volunteers to help UNLOAD the truck at the storage location. This generally takes place on Monday so it’s important to really get people who will show up. The truck also needs to be returned that day if possible to avoid paying an extra day.
When loading the
truck before the fest, PLEASE make sure the main “Ice Box” is loaded near the BACK of the truck (where the
door is) so access to the box is easy once at the fest, and food loading the day before or day of leaving for
the fest is easy once all other equipment is loaded onto the truck.
DecemberFest has several incredible forms of entertainment each year, and it’s always a treat! Our own Larry McCraw has been our stage manager for a LOT of years, and manages to pull amazing things together each year.
We have had bands, both Friday and
Saturday nights. We have also has plays, skits, joke contests, and many other forms of silliness up there on
the stage!
What is needed for this part of DecemberFest is:
We mention this because our main
need for security involves keeping non-DecemberFesters from crashing our party. It does not mean having the
use of, or the hiring of, security guards. It means that talks with site owners concerning how this may be
accomplished is VERY important and should be discussed completely, and followed through with should any
uninvited people try to attend our gathering.
It is highly preferable for the owners of the site we use to be responsible for these duties. It saves us from having to find people to man the gates, however fun that may be! That would mean finding people for almost all daylight hours of almost all days of the fest, involves having a “bank” and also involves having mailing lists printed and updating that list as people arrive.
The best thing to do is have the site owners be responsible for this, and assure them that we are an honorable group who will pay for our camping fees during the hours they state that they will be open to do this. THEN we must follow through and make sure that everyone does just that! If you arrive after hours at DecemberFest, it is YOUR responsibility to pay for your camping and entry. If you do not, then DecemberFest general fund may have to cover your costs and that is just wrong!
DecemberFest has had t-shirts printed and sold at almost EVERY year since it started. Dave Watson, a fellow and longtime fester, has been in charge of this considerable duty for a LONG time and does a spectacular job of it!
Dave uses whatever theme is thought up that year, sometimes by him, to design the t-shirts. The design is set sometime in early November, with printing soon to follow.
There are usually several different designs/colors/logos/pocket placements, etc., which are decided by Dave, who uses opinions shared by fellow festers.
We have found that the most effective way to have the t-shirts produced is to leave all/most decisions up to Dave; this includes how many shirts are printed each year. Suggestions are, of course, welcomed, but please know that he knows what he is doing!!
Dave will also decide on the deadline for when orders must reach him. THIS deadline will determine the deadline for the invitation printing and mailing as well, since the t-shirt order form is included in the invitation.
Fest funds may be used for initial
payment for shirt design and printing if Dave requests it. Any $$ received from sales of shirts over and above
what Dave deems necessary for the printing are returned to the general fund for the following year
(hopefully!).
DecemberFest has hosted a website for a number of years, the address paid for by a very generous fellow fester! It is managed MOST capably by our lovely webmistress who does regular updates, and keeps us all notified of the latest happenings fest-related. It’s a LOT of work and we encourage everyone to check in regularly and to contact the webmistress with errors, updates, and information you feel should be mentioned.
There is a chat page where you can post information, comments (keep it nice, people!), and questions.
You can use the page for information only, or you can become more involved by signing up as a volunteer for the MANY and varied jobs that need doing each year. Please do so; it won’t happen without the help of everyone! There are always places to fill and if you are interested, all you need to do is ask!
You can also contact the email mistress/master with any changes in address etc. as well as asking questions. Your questions will be answered! Either by the email person directly, or you will be directed to someone who can answer your questions the best. Links to contacts are on the web page. So please make use of our web site. It’s there for all to see, and use.
Once we all arrive at DecemberFest, get our tents/campers etc set up and homey, then we can start what need doing there! The planning and execution doesn’t stop once we all get there, there are many things that need doing, and you can help!! Sign up, drop by, do SOMETHING! It’s all happening because of people like you who do step up and volunteer.
Here are a few things that need doing once we are all there:
Unloading the “big ass” truck
Raising the tarps over the kitchen area
Hooking up water heaters in kitchen area to the sinks and propane tanks.
Sharpen all fest knives
Setting up the stage
Setting up the lighting for the stage
Setting up the lighting in the kitchen area
Constant trash removal
Watching out for one another
Having fun
Being grownups
Volunteering for all sorts of things!
Helping one another
Asking for help!
Meeting the owners of the site
Making sure you know who to go to with questions
Cutting firewood, if you are capable and can help the chainsaw master
ETC.............................................
One very important motto of DecemberFest is “Leave it cleaner than you found it” and we try very hard to follow that motto. It is not just the right thing to do, but is also an indication of what kid of people we are. Every year, our wonderful clean up crew, who always end up doing WAY more than they should, are amazed at what people (YOU) leave behind at your respective sites.
Most sites we use have a central trash area and most times just ask that we bag and dump all our trash there, whether it be a dumpster, trailer or whatever. This is made clear to all who attend and yet we still find piles and bags of trash left behind instead of having that trash put in the trash area. NOT FAIR!
Please...clean up after yourselves! It’s not only nice, but saves our already exhausted cleanup crew a lot of work. AND, volunteering for cleanup is also a great way to help out and do your part.
How we leave a site also can make
or break a future good reference BY the site owners. We like to offer owners of possible future fest sites
references by past site owners, and it’s a safe bet that if we leave a site less than clean, then the site
owner will state that in our reference, or may not give us one.