A Reunion by any other name . . .

REPORT of MARCH 10-11, 2001 PLANNERS’ MEET

-- Mark, Friday 3/16/01

BETHLEHEM — Hear ye! Hear ye! Be it hereby known by all citizens of the Franconia College Community that, in consideration of its nature, relative magnitude and vibe, the forthcoming event heretofore known as “this year’s Reunion” shall hereafter be referred to and known by all as “The Gathering”.
i.e.
this year’s shindig is a get-together, folks. It won't be as long as last year’s - which really was a re-union. It won't be jam-packed with programmed events like last year; no new book or video, no diplomas, no flags, no cake. It will cost a lot less.

What this year IS, is Semi-Do-It-Yourself.
The Planners are organizing a few programmed events, and anyone can put together whatever else they'd like to have happen. Just let us know what you'll need for space and time (note: some planners have serious doubts about this wording) and we'll reserve it for the event and make its existence known to all.

BUT THE ORGANIZING/COORDINATING IS UP TO YOU.
Volleyball, music, poetry, soccer, whatever.
Those of you who were here last year might want to keep various local venues in mind for events; like, say, the college soccer field for some Australian rules levitation air polo.

Events will be scheduled in the order that they are received, so the sooner you get your space/time requests in, the better chance you have of getting what you want.
If you want us to publicize it, get a short description of the event to us . . . also the sooner the better. 
Stay tuned for whom to contact!

Anyway . . .
As the hour drew near for the Bethlehem Selectboard candidates to run the public gauntlet Saturday evening at the local elementary school, your diligent and dedicated Planners, bearing wine, chips, dips and words of support for our own nervous hostess-with-the-mostest, gathered once again on Meadow St. to further consider the looming phenomen(ologic)al possibilities, psycho-social ramifications, and political-economic subtleties of whatever the hell it is we’re doing again.

Attending were: Judy Wallace, Nancy (Wallace) van Houten, Holly Finlay,
Melanie Hamilton, Natalie Woodroofe, Howie Lyhte and Mark Chain.
 

THE BIG NEWS

THE GATHERING DATE & PLACE - now written in stone:
JULY 20-22 at PEABODY LODGE, CANNON MOUNTAIN
 

REGISTRATION & MEALS:
First off: it looks like the only direct cost to attendees this year will be the cost of the meals you pre-order. As details are worked out, we'll be posting Registration information on the Forum with a link to a printable Registration Form on a separate “The Gathering” web site that Howie will create. 
Looks like we'll have a Saturday night meal and a Sunday brunch.

Registration will probably only be a matter of:
Print out the Form, fill it out, and send it in with check or money order viasnail mail.

>>>>>>>>>PLEASE NOTE:<<<<<<<<<<<

NO NADA ZERO KEINE ZILCH CREDIT CARDS THIS YEAR
They turned out to be too cumbersome, costly and time-consuming last year.

We’re working on menus and prices already and will post the info as soon as they’re set. 

Be that as it may, 
PRE-REGISTRATION will need to be in our hands by JUNE 15 
(there will be some sort of enticement)
FINAL REGISTRATION will need to be in our hands by JULY 1

so we can give Bill Walsh the meal count for which we will be financially and he culinarily responsible.
 

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS is looking like this at the moment:         [ top of page ]

Friday, July 20th at the Lodge:
3 PM: Welcome/Registration Table opens.
Cash bar open with hors d’oeuvres/bar food.
Arrive, hang out, play music, take excursions
Lodge (probably) open for individually organized activities

Saturday, July 21:
Opening Lodge open for individually organized activities
4 - 6 PM Welcome/Registration Table
6:00 PM “Dress” Banquet (whatever “Dress” means to you)
9:00 PM 3rd Annual Anarchists Ball

Sunday, July 22:
10:30 AM Focused Group Conversation 
(probably) with coffee and danish
12 Noon Brunch
Closing Take-Your-Own-Photo Ops on the hill;
Fare Thee Wells, 
maybe a formal "closing ceremony"
 

T-SHIRTS / STUFF / MAIN BUILDING CHIA PETS / etc
Anyone wanting to do something, can - as a purely private and independent enterprise. 
We'd like to see some contribution from any sales go to Grants & Scholarships, or Archives.
 

OTHER BUSINESS:
 

GRANTS & SCHOLARSHIPS:
Steven K sent in a proxy suggestion to add Banks St. School (Dick Ruopp’s school) to the list of schools eligible for grants from us; the group supports this. Melanie presents draft of Grant Application. Discussion follows on criteria for application, possibilities for application questions. Unanimous decision to adopt Howie’s suggestion to use the following single question, to be answered in 250 words or less: “Imagine the museum of your life. Describe your favorite exhibit.” 
Natalie volunteers to do a press release re Grants & Scholarships when the time comes. 
Someone from the G&S group will give a short update at the end of the meal at The Gathering on Saturday.
Local grant recipients will be present to receive their scholarships at this time.

ARCHIVES:
Mark reports that he and Veronica have been in recent frequent conversations with Jewell Friedman (curator of the Franconia Heritage Museum) and that the Archives Committee and Jewell are in the process of honing what we hope is the last draft of the Agreement. One or two points still need to be clarified/resolved. More on this from the Archives people as things progress.

Re creation of a FRANCONIA COLLEGE LEGACY ASSOCIATION:
The 5 of us attending on Sunday decide to pursue the possibility of creating an ongoing umbrella organization to serve as a first contact/clearing house/coordinating entity for whatever projects the FC Community wants to see continue (e.g. Grants & Scholarships, Archives, Land, Retirement Community, etc). . . something like having a repository and central starting point for anything FC-related. Discussion re vision, parameters, structure, etc of an Association will be continuing per email. Howie will see about setting up an Association mailbox, and we'll be investigating whether registering as a Volunteer Organization can also serve for purposes of creating the Association. 
If you want to be involved in creating the Association, let Mark know - he'll be glad to put you on the email list.
 

Next Planners Meet is Sat - Sun, April 21-22.
 

Happy Wearin' o' the Green, all
 

Till next time . . .

Mark and Howie
for the Planners