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WF ideas!

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Once again I apologize for not staying and helping sweep up the mess. Someone should have smacked me for that!
 
The hall was a mess, no question there. It did look like a hog lot.
It was dissapointing to see nearly everyone leave and not help out.
You'd think that the "staff" would know that they're expected to lend an hand at the very least.

i had to make a few phone calls and when i got back inside it was well under control...i did mean to help...i asked and was told i could leave :)

mac 'haven't seen that much mud ever at the vfw' gyvr
 
I'm not pointing fingers guys.
Just making observations that could be improved upon.
 
Tighter tech? Guess I don't understand. My rig got looked over real well. Battery tied down correctly, fire extinguisher, 1st aid kit, etc. Then I got the sticker. So... :shrug:

Some were checked more thoroughly than others, not for any particular reason, it just happened. That level of inspection needs to apply to all vehicles.

The VFW is getting a little tight, but there's not really anything else and they have been good to us. We did make a mess of the floor.
 
I'm not pointing fingers guys.
Just making observations that could be improved upon.

I think it's just a bit of guilty soul searching that some of us are going thru. Other then my mess, I didn't think of anything else. 'Course, 3 or 4 Crown Royals w/beer chaser didn't help the thought process any...:wierd:
 
I'm not pointing fingers guys.
Just making observations that could be improved upon.


I know you aren't i feel like a jackass for not helping when it was expected of me. I WON'T leave until its cleaned up next year.
 
As far as cleaning the VFW. Tess and I stayed for a lil bit and pushed in chairs and what not. But there was very lil direction and we had no idea what needed to be done. I actually felt bad leaving it the way it was and wanted to do more.
 
no worries Rob, we got it under control. I even have a picture of Sean running the vacuum! :D There were only so many brooms and mops to go around, and they were all in use. We actually left the place in better shape then when we got there...the bingo crowd left a bit of a mess when we first arrived and Camille, Jeremy and I had to clean up ash trays and wipe the tables down before the event even started.
 
Another one that would be interesting, being that March is usually the membership drive time. Make a small perk for being at Winterfest as a paying member (red name) ie: an extra raffle ticket, small registration discount, something of that sort. Just a small gratitude to thank paying members\encourage being a paying member.
 
I wasn't there this year....

However

After reading a lot of these posts, I agree on a couple things.
First, having WF a two day event would be spectacular. You could stay for both, or just be there for one of the days, trails may be less crowed that way...
Second, a summertime 'training camp' or something of that nature would indeed be a cool thing to do, especially since it would give those who cannot make WF a second chance to meet up will a lot of people.
Third, I would not make CBs mandatory, however, have we looked into th possiblity of running personal two ways?? Most everyone has at least a set around somewhere, and most if not all should be compatible with one another... Just a thought...

FINALLY, the BoD and WF team work their hearts out and deserve congratulations on a job well done, this is the biggest WF to ever go down and they did a spectacular job! I'm enjoying all the pictures and vids that have been posted!

tEx
 
I wasn't there this year....

However

After reading a lot of these posts, I agree on a couple things.
First, having WF a two day event would be spectacular. You could stay for both, or just be there for one of the days, trails may be less crowed that way...
Second, a summertime 'training camp' or something of that nature would indeed be a cool thing to do, especially since it would give those who cannot make WF a second chance to meet up will a lot of people.
Third, I would not make CBs mandatory, however, have we looked into th possiblity of running personal two ways?? Most everyone has at least a set around somewhere, and most if not all should be compatible with one another... Just a thought...

FINALLY, the BoD and WF team work their hearts out and deserve congratulations on a job well done, this is the biggest WF to ever go down and they did a spectacular job! I'm enjoying all the pictures and vids that have been posted!

tEx

Eh for the money, CB is the only way to fly. It's handy any other time you're wheeling and if you're driving your truck there you can flip to channel 19 and try and keep the smokeys off your back.

Agreed that this WF was a great event, the only reason people are filing complaints here is because Rev asked for them! :D
 
Just a thought after reading a few more pages:

Keep in mind that if you're going to negotiate with the park for early arrival times, discounts on camping, etc. (if that's the direction the MWC wants to go) you HAVE to be willing to pull the trigger on another park.

As long as the old guard of the MWC continues to say "this is where winterfest will be held forever," you have nothing that the badlands wants that it won't get by sticking to its guns. I personally think that there should be much more of a partnership than there is, but unless they're concerned about losing the revenue we generate, they're not going to make any concessions to bring in our business.

I think that the tech inspections were conducted according to the requirements that were posted, but I think the focus should be on difficulty levels. I don't think anyone made it out on the trail without meeting the requirements (although not being able to put a strap on dude's front bumper was a little frustrating), we just need to come up with a better process to segregate rigs into the appropriate trail groups.

I know it's not Hale's intention, but the vibe you're putting out tells me you think everyone bailed on cleaning the VFW. If you don't solicit volunteers prior to dinner, then mention it to the 50 or so people left after the raffle, you're probably not going to get much help. We threw our trash away, pushed the chairs in and saw what everyone else did: no one in charge.

Perhaps in the future, you could have dinner at 7. Give everyone a chance to get off the trails, put some cleaner clothes and shoes on and then come to dinner.

But then, I guess if you're really interested in passing liquor around the campfire, you don't want to have dinner later.

I think that the operating hours of the park is probably the biggest restriction to having more fun at WF. I've been night wheeling at a couple places, that's a whole 'nother bunch of fun. You can't do that there. Get people out on the trail all day and people will make the trip for it.

I wish I could do more than make suggestions. You guys just have to wait 6 more years and then you can put me in charge of something like VFW cleanup :D
 
Even if there's no discounted entry to the park, even having the entry fee as part of pre-registration would save a lot of time Saturday morning. I didn't care that much since I got a 3 day pass on Friday, but I know for the people showing up Friday night it'd be nice to have a pass ready. Maybe talk the campground into selling Saturday park passes since the park office closes at 5?

As far as the dinner, I fell short there (as did others it seems) and should have stuck around to sweep and clean things up better. If everyone sticks around though I think it will just complicate things (people running into each other). Maybe next year solicit people in advance, or commit WF staff to do it, or even offer some free swag to people who want to stick around and help. Just seems better to have a small group ready in advance than to have everyone running into each other.

I don't see the Badlands allowing night wheeling anytime soon, though I would love the opportunity to do more night wheeling myself.
 
I wasn't suggesting we night wheel at the badlands, because I know that won't happen. i was simply making an observation that if push came to shove, there are other places to have winterfest and being able to wheel outside banker's hours is a negotiating point.

The MWC is huge. Most folks are centrally located around a place to wheel, hence the reason you get so many folks at winterfest at the badlands. You're probably not going to get someone that lives 12 hours away to show up unless he's a dumb jarhead that doesn't know any better.

If there's another naxja sponsored official event on the calender, considerations should be made for people who aren't located in indiana/illinois/ohio and it should be held at another wheeling venue.
 
I know that the Badlands has allowed night wheeling for Zukimelt. It was an organized run for a limited number of participants but it was allowed. orange trail is a blast at night.

jim
 
You're probably not going to get someone that lives 12 hours away to show up unless he's a dumb jarhead that doesn't know any better.

Careful what you say there, there are a fair share of us that make a commitment to a 8-10+ hr drive one way...

As for other venues, MN/WI doesn't have much, tho there is a place in WI I'm trying to work with for a M&G/Wheeling event....

Most of us go more for the M&G anyways, wheeling is just a perk...

tEx
 
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