Dave's Garden Party

Lou, you have sold me on Florida. I was all hyped for Texas until I read your post. My husband of fifteen years has always said that he had no desire to visit Florida, so that has cut back on my being able to travel there. If the party were to be there, I will be there also, with or without hubby. ha-ha

Whatever, I am reading this thread with much interest.

Ruby

The destination is still way out there. Our first priority is a vote for how many are truly interested. Would spend their money and commit to coming. How many determines everything. We are not able to even discuss anything with hotels, gardens..anything until we have a firm count. That will be coming up very soon. The more attendees, the less cost for each one. Without a significant number, it can't happen at all. This is much larger than an RU...but just as much fun. I can't wait. I KNOW IT IS GONNA HAPPEN.

LouC

LouC, I'll say my response then is a hearty "will try to attend". The financial end and distance will make a difference.

Thank you, Cathy. I believe that is the answer for most of us. We are retired and the others on the committee are not flush with cash either. Cost is first and foremost as soon as we can see how many are seriously interested. Watch the voting booth next week.

LouC

LouC, you have dmail ...

Cathy4, I think you have summed it up for all of us... IMHO, we need to know where first so that we can ideas of our costs to get there and stay there....

I want to come, but need to know where before I can promise to attend...

Ok guys and dolls, We have already been contacting convention bureaus, hotels, gardens, lots of things. They don't even want to discuss it with us without an estimate of attendance. Since this is the first time, we have no history to fall back on. The more that attend, the lower the price. Don't expect the "gate" price to be much of anything. Will be drawing from our membership for forums, etc. Full service hotels provide breakfast with the room rate. They also provide free shuttles from airports. The larger number of rooms that are blocked for us, the cheaper the bed rate. Would possibly have pre-fix dinners on Friday and Saturday to lock in the cost. Some garden tours accomodate large numbers, some don't. You can see the delima. We have not been sitting still waiting for magic to put this together. Vendors will not participate if the numbers are small. You can understand it is expensive for them and they use their monies judiciously. This is a lot more complicated than an RU. Hopefully it will be equally laid back and fun. The vote starts Monday, Jan. 7th. Remember, no matter what a vote is for, your one vote can make the difference.

Happy New Year! See you in 2009. (that is face to face)

Christi

I must say from having worked many years with auditors that Sylvain's on to something - I like the idea of seeing where the votes come from as a way to help determine a likely location.

fsrstarr... I had suggested St. Louis in an earlier post, but someone found that the crime rate there is a bit high and they were afraid that might deter people from attending (although I still like the idea of St. Louis). Springfield is another great location - as is Branson, MO. Plus, Branson is further south, so it's closer to TX, and the weather is likely to be a bit more agreeable for longer in the year.

Robin

Hi Robin, I suggested Springfield, MO, not St Louis! LOL... easy mistake... anyway, Branson is not a real good choice as it is expensive there and the traffic is likely to be congested.

Just an FYI, not an argument: The reported crime rate of St. Louis is not a realistic number as St. Louis City is not reported with St. Louis County as is the case in nearly every other major city in the US. The why's go back many years to political number juggling before the counties were populated. It is perfectly safe to visit here. I suggested St Louis because there are many hotels, convention centers and loads of free or very cheap tourism choices. It makes no difference to me since I live here and have seen them, lol.

Springfield, MO is also a lovely place, as are cities all over the midwest.

Oh, you're right fsrstarr - I hadn't thought about Branson being a "big draw" kind of place, with the corresponding prices!

An idea on how to guage attendance once you've tallyed the vote attendance, is to analyze the Texas/OK round-up figures by comparing the voted list to the actual attendance at the round up..it may provide a good statistcal guage for the convention attendance.

Just a little side note for us to keep in mind. Dave has done a wonderful wonderful thing for all of us by starting Daves Garden. The original idea was to honor Dave and Trish and thank them for all of their hard work involved in keeping this fantastic website running efficiently. And to assemble in a state that will allow Dave time to join with us, as well as keep up his tremendous job of running Daves Garden website at the same time. I for one wanted this to happen in 2008. Put more prudent minds thought it better for the membership to have a longer period in which to plan and save for this awesome tribute planned for Dave. We are going to have an awesome time. Speakers, workshops, tours to gardens and on and on. I for one am ready to go now, but with the prep time it takes to get something like this together, as well as time for us to save up for the trip, it looks like I'll have to wait til 2009 to meet all of you wonderful folks. We are so looking forward to the vote on January the 7th. Look for you there.

Debbie

kansas city is nice!!!!!
sorry but it is just too hard for us to not talk location i guess!! every entry i read i think "that sounds good!"---------guess i just want to go!

Me too plano. I am so ready. :)

Speaking of locating the Dave's Garden Party within 500 miles of Dave...
* Part of the "gate" could pay for Dave's and Trish's airfare if we're doing this (in part, not in the main?) to honor him
* Or, perhaps a better idea..some people could donate funds to pay for their airfare. I know I could afford to donate
$10. - $20. toward it, and others who could would do so also. In the long run, the convention should be held in
the best all-around place for the majority of people, yes?

I don't think airfare is a major factor here... there are many factors that would play a role in the decision to keep it within 500 miles. (Time being one of those and a major one at that)

Most of us have loyalty to Dave and are grateful to have this garden spot on the web. Dave made one request that would enable him to attend this event....keep it to 500 miles from him... this request should not be debated ... we can find a nice place within that proximity. IMHO....

I guess--being that my DH flies all over the US every week and I often join him on weekends even though I'm a teacher--I don't see that 500 miles or 1000 makes much of a difference. I was remembering Southwest Airlines' cheap fares in Texas and that Dave wouldn't want to fly all the way to Boston, etc.....guess I was thinking along the wrong line?

Linda described my sentiments exactly....I want to be there, where ever it is.

Ruby

While reading through the comments of yesterday, I notice that some are worried about what time of year and leaving their garden. This would be for Friday and Saturday, some might want to come early on Thursday, others may want to stay longer. This small period of time would not likely impact the duties to our plants. Just a thought.

Christi

Just a note - the 500 miles of Dave is one of the few if only thing Dave really wanted so he could come. We will look at place you can shake a stick at but really we want Dave to be there so I really believe that we are going to pick somewhere close to Dave and with a good airport with many connecting flights.

I agree, this is the first one, and Dave has to be there, we just couldn't have it without him.
Josephine.

Right - what good would the party be without the big guy?

my sentiments exactly... how you can have a Daves Garden Party without Dave?

I just love DGer's. Same love runs thru each post. The Lord smiled on us when He gave us Dave. I can't wait to meet him in person. When I watch his videos, he reminds me so much of my son in a garden. With that little smile in his eyes. And a love for what he is growing.

i liked the idea of being able to have it anywhere-------but at least narrowing it down to 500 miles radius will make it easier to choose --less choices--and then when you throw in the major hub it cuts down the choices more----that should help the planning committee

So it sounds like the "Committee" has already chosen Texas for the venue - that's a start and with general location chosen should help many toward a decision.

Now if you can just decide a date it will help a few more people decide.
ie. 1 week before or 1 week after the Iowa Round-Up there is too much to be done that would keep me from going anywhere. I could have a better chance of going if I knew it was not set for near that time.

Same goes for the CA Round-up, which I fly to and stay there for about a week; I wouldn't be interested in flying home from that and turning around just to get on another airplane.
So you can try to get a response with no hard data to share with us but some of us cannot commit until there is at least a date and state.

So . . . think DATE & STATE

This message was edited Jan 3, 2008 12:33 PM

I'm pretty sure the Dallas area is where we will be heading, but nothing is in stone yet. Twin, do you have those dates for the Iowa and Ca RU's for 2009 yet?

Debbie

I've never been to Dallas, which is not really surprising because no cruise ship stops there. I hear it's something about Dallas not really being a riparian or littoral place. Just point me in that direction and I'll be there. I can't wait. Let's have a rehearsal party there in 2008 so we get it right in 2009.

Sylvain.

I'd love to visit Dallas, I hope to attend.

drapelady,
Our's is the first week-end in May of every year; this is our 6th. I usually leave early Fri morning and don't get back until Sunday night.

But our round-up is not the only one to consider; I think Jo posts them all in one spot so you may want to go find that list

Thanks Twin. We are indeed checking everything out.

Sylvain, I am in agreement with you. A rehearsal would be great LOL:)

Yes Cathy Dallas is a great place. I sure hope to you are there. In fact, I hope to see you all there. I am so excited.

Thankyou all for all of the input. Please continue, because we are looking at all the suggestions seriously.

Have you thought of Hot Springs, AR? It is within 500 miles of Dave and there is a lot of stuff to do there. There is also Garvan Woodland Gardens to tour in addition to all the water-related activities plus many different types of restaurants, and there are motels/hotels galore to fit every budget. They definitely cater to the tourist trade. Racing season ends in April so after that would be best. There is a small airport at Hot Springs but Little Rock Regional Airport is only about 60 miles from Hot Springs.

That sounds like a fun place; have never been to Arkansas

Arkansas is hot, humid and they have skeeters the size of hawks! My dad lived in Mt. Home and I was there in 1980. It is a pretty state.

Well, it is only really hot and humid the last half of July and most of August. the rest of the time it is bearable and there is always air conditioning. Mosquitoes, yes, but not everywhere, all the time, and they aren't quite that big! LOL It is a very pretty state for the most part.

RJuddharrison,

Spokane big? lol! And now you live in Houston. Anways, nice to meet you.

Yes it is and I didn't mean to offend you. Yes I was there in August and yes it was hot and humid and you're right, I exaggerated at the size of the skeeters. You should have seen the hummingbirds that were at my dad's feeder one day. There must have been about 50 at one time. We had a really good time and I will someday return. Yes it is beautiful.

LOL..right? That emphasizes the size of Spangle where the academy is..a trip to Spokane was all the excitement..anything to get out of Spangle. I'm sure I'd think Spangle was a slice of heaven now...funny how views change over the years.
Rj

arkansas is great!! hot springs is a lot of fun--went there last summer and it has really grown!! and it is less expensive than a lot of places--

Who all is on this committee?? Jo