Winterfest @ the Badlands

[seanR]

I fixed it. Usually I catch these before they get too far Sorry Sean!
,Ron

Just bustin' your balls. :laugh3:

 

[Rev Den]

But when everybody gets together please tell me thet they dont argue like they do here , I can get that at home . LOL

The MWC argues?? Not amoungst ourselves. :laugh3:

Rev

 

[BOB]

I agree with Les (again! WTF?)
Les, John, Ramsey and I went to Hot Springs last April. only four of us.
I think WF at Attica is a good breeding groung for noob's.

Last March, Winterfest, it was fawking cold.
As I recall, we still had almost 40 XJ's from nine states. Why would we want to fawk that up? Doh!

my two pesos.

...BOB

 

[xjjeepthing]

I'm glad to hear your willing to help out a NOOB wheeler if i can get my Skid and Rock Rails on before then im going to try to make at least one day.Alot depends on how bad NIPSCO bends me over this year for heating my house.

 

[Fore Wheeler]

I'm glad this all came back up to show that Bloose and I aren't the only traditionalist pansys.

Les, you certainly have a way with words.

that's all, see ya in Attica.

Fore "Bloose for MWC pres" Wheeler

 

[Roxtar]

Something to consider:
As I see it we have somewhat of a dillema. On one side it would be nice for the MWC to have a "marque naxja event", something similar to the national events other chapters have where the wheeling (location/terrain) take center stage. On the other hand WF, in it's current state, is a midwest tradition that many don't want to lose.
There may be a way to do both.
I propose that we:
1) "Unofficialize" WF, leave it in it's traditional form, an unofficial yearly midwest gathering where others are welcome to come.
Let's face it, WF is more a midwest thing than a naxja thing; centered more on the commeradery than the quality of wheeling.
2)Come up with a new yearly "national naxja event".
I like the idea of a "Best of the Midwest" where every year we do it somewhere new, running up and down the MWC states.
We have a lot of promising venues that few have been to; places like Natural Bridge, Hot Springs, Clayton, etc.
This would be a way to capitalize on the problem of the MWC including such a large area. I believe it would help us to meet more people in our chapter and also lessen the burden on those farther away from Attica who now have to make the long drive every year to do our event.
The yearly date would depend on the location, sort of like BOTW. For instance, one year it could be Oklahoma in November, the next Wisconsin in August.

 

[Ramsey]

sounds like a great idea.

 

[Gil BullyKatz]

Something to consider:
As I see it we have somewhat of a dillema. On one side it would be nice for the MWC to have a "marque naxja event", something similar to the national events other chapters have where the wheeling (location/terrain) take center stage. On the other hand WF, in it's current state, is a midwest tradition that many don't want to lose.
There may be a way to do both.
I propose that we:
1) "Unofficialize" WF, leave it in it's traditional form, an unofficial yearly midwest gathering where others are welcome to come.
Let's face it, WF is more a midwest thing than a naxja thing; centered more on the commeradery than the quality of wheeling.
2)Come up with a new yearly "national naxja event".
I like the idea of a "Best of the Midwest" where every year we do it somewhere new, running up and down the MWC states.
We have a lot of promising venues that few have been to; places like Natural Bridge, Hot Springs, Clayton, etc.
This would be a way to capitalize on the problem of the MWC including such a large area. I believe it would help us to meet more people in our chapter and also lessen the burden on those farther away from Attica who now have to make the long drive every year to do our event.
The yearly date would depend on the location, sort of like BOTW. For instance, one year it could be Oklahoma in November, the next Wisconsin in August.

Wow...

Drugs DO clarify the mind...

Best suggestion yet.

Having an "unsanctioned" event does have it's bonuses.

Great Idea Mr Kid

 

[HaleYes]

Why unofficalize WF? How would this be a benifit?

Can there be no more than one offical event per year?

Not stiring the pot here, I just don't understand I guess......must be a jeep thing.:laugh3:

 

[WB9YZU]

Good questions. Why are we still thinking inside the box?

If you're going to do mind expanding drugs, let it off the leash to roam around a bit

,Ron

 

[ILLXJ]

The same reason Carnage Fest is unofficial. Think about it. JIM.

 

[WB9YZU]

...and that reason would be?

 

[PhunkXJ]

...and that reason would be?

the only reason I can come up with is so that members who have been kicked out of naxja can attend.

Brad, anyone is allowed to attend WF. There was an open invite last year, folks just have to play by the simple rules and meet the trail safety requirements. The only person who is not allowed this year is bgcntry, to make an event unofficial for him (AGAIN) is fawking lame.

 

[BOB]

the only reason I can come up with is so that members who have been kicked out of naxja can attend.

Brad, anyone is allowed to attend WF. There was an open invite last year, folks just have to play by the simple rules and meet the trail safety requirements. The only person who is not allowed this year is bgcntry, to make an event unofficial for him (AGAIN) is fawking lame.

if this is true, I agree.

...BOB

 

[Roxtar]

the only reason I can come up with is so that members who have been kicked out of naxja can attend.

Brad, anyone is allowed to attend WF. There was an open invite last year, folks just have to play by the simple rules and meet the trail safety requirements. The only person who is not allowed this year is bgcntry, to make an event unofficial for him (AGAIN) is fawking lame.

That didn't even cross my mind when typing my post.
My reason for making WF unofficial was the amount of work that goes into a "sanctioned event".
Getting people for registration, payments, tech inspections, trail leaders, everything that goes into the dinner, raffle, lodging, etc.
There's a hell of a difference between what went into this past WF and just posting a date, ala Carnagefest.
There's a reason no chapters do more than one a year.
In the true spirit of WF, I see no need for all that stuff and so, would see it scaled back to an unofficial annual event.

 

[Bloose]

Brad,

I like what your suggesting up to a point. I think what you are getting at is pretty much what most people are saying here, more than one event for the midwest. I also like your idea of roving events. Maybe with time and interest we could make some of them more perminent events.

The only thing I disagree on is making WF unofficial. I know where your coming from on it, keep it more like it was in the past, an unofficial event. I think we could keep it official without making as official as last year. We all need to just remember what WF is and what it's about. Attica is great for noob's and experienced wheelers alike but you are not going to spend 4-5 days wheeling there. WF is a 1-1.5 day wheeling event and therefore can be much more low keyed than many other events. Some years we had raffles at WF some years we didn't. If we can come up with vendor support great, if not, I don't think anyone shows up for the raffle, though they are nice and it helps raise money.

The dinner could be more of a cook out at the CG, which I can supply burgers and brats for. I also don't think we have any shortage of people willing to volunteer but last year it seemed there was very little reaching out for volunteers. Maybe this caused undue burden on a select few people. I think the biggest logistics problem is accomadations. Without an open CG it makes things a bit difficult to have an official event and therefore we are hostage to the dates the CG is willing to be open. If no CG is willing to be open we could find out if people would rather wait for the CG to be open in say March or so, or have WF in Jan or Feb and stay in local hotels.

I guess what I'm saying is lets keep WF an official event, but not get so caught up making it the OFFICIAL MW event. I'm pretty sure there are no rules saying we have to have an official awards dinner, raffle, etc. So lets just keep WF officially about getting your butt out in Winter to wheel.

BTW, I think this is not just a bunch of e-drama, this is great dialog with some very good suggestions.

B-loose

 

[PhunkXJ]

That didn't even cross my mind when typing my post.

It seems like it did, because you didn't mention the amount of work that went into WF as a "sanctioned event."

your reasons for unofficializing WF was this, which lead me to my conclusion.

1) "Unofficialize" WF, leave it in it's traditional form, an unofficial yearly midwest gathering where others are welcome to come.
Let's face it, WF is more a midwest thing than a naxja thing; centered more on the commeradery than the quality of wheeling.

anyways, I agree with you as far as the amount of effort that went into WF last year. It was great and turned out really well, but I think we should do it on a less grander scale this year. That was tons of work for an event lasting 1.5 days and cost a bit much. Like Bloose said, raffles are great, but it's just a bonus and the dinner should definately be an informal cook out.

 

[HaleYes]

Glad to see that the reason for the suggestion of unofficial-ness wasn't to accomidate certain individuals.


I have said before, as well as others, I'm willing to do what I can to help with WF. The earlier planning is started, the better off we'll be IMHO, more time to work out all the little glitches. The sooner we can give people a heads up on the date the better. MWC BOD, don't be against asking for help,(don't think you are, just feel better saying it:laugh3: ) I think there are good people here willing to do what they can.
Post up if your willing to help out with WF.:wave:

As far as location and Official/Unofficial-ness, is it going to have to come to a vote? Does a motion need to be made?

 

[PhunkXJ]

As far as location and Official/Unofficial-ness, is it going to have to come to a vote? Does a motion need to be made?

I think that's completely unnecessary, we can tone the event down and still keep it sanctioned.

 

[seanR]

Well before we 'unofficialize' WinterFest, we need to make sure that we have a source of income.
WF, right now is this Chapters ONLY source of income.
We need to pay for that website.
It would be nice to be able to pay for misc. items out of the Chapter funds instead of waiting to be paid back, if the money comes in.

I agree about making Winterfest a more scaled back event this year, it was alot of work and money to put out last year.
But I think we should still have Winterfest an 'official' event with Tech inspections, organized trail runs, ect.
And if we start NOW on getting raffle items and campground spots it won't be such a rush to do everything in Jan and Feb.
If you guys don't want a raffle or shirts or a dinner, that is fine, although, we made quite a bit of money on that stuff.

Lets leave Winterfest alone, and work at creating a new event.
One that will appeal to other out side of the tri-state area(Wis, Ill, Ind.)

I don't think just because we want to create another event means we need to scrap the old one!

Our Chapter is just over a year old now, give things time to grow at a good pace.