As we all know, the location of the next KR Gathering has traditionally been chosen by those who are attending the current Gathering, as one of the last orders of business at the Banquet. If somebody is planning on volunteering to host the Gathering somewhere next year, please consider the responsibilities that are associated with it before volunteering.
For example, you should be doing a lot of homework regarding local EAA and/or airport support. Larry laid out the many considerations in his recent email (below), so a review of his post would be a smart move. Regardless of the location, whoever makes a pitch should give us a "heads-up" at least a week or two before the Gathering so that attendees will have a chance to "vet" the proposed location ahead of time, rather than having to take the word of the pitch man at the Gathering, and voting on it ten seconds later. We have the Internet now...might as well take advantage of it. I was a big proponent of moving the Gathering around, even as far as Chino, despite Mount Vernon being the perfect place for it. I enjoy flying to different places and seeing different parts of the country, and moving the Gathering around was a great way to do that. Before we "settled down" at MVN, the Gathering was typically held for two years in a row at various places around the country, although admittedly mostly in the central and east, rather than the west. I missed Chino but expect KMMV to be every bit as good, and I'm looking forward to it. Having said that, I'm fine with MVN being the chosen airport every second or third year, and we're coming up on the third year. I was very much looking forward to flying N891JF out to the Gathering, but given that the swallowed valve affair completely killed the engine, several car issues that are consuming all spare time (ever do a valve job on an 5-valve-per-cylinder Audi 1.8 Turbo engine?), and the ever-looming JOB, I haven't touched the KR since returning from OSH. I'll be at KMMV via Delta airlines, however. See reminder from Larry Flesner, below: ---------- Anyone considering hosting a KR Gathering needs to consider the following items. Some are requirements and some just make for a better event. - The desire to act as host for up to 150 people from all points of the country and possible international visitors. - Ability to plan and organize multiple functions for a large group, i.e. housing, meals, meetings, awards, banquet, merchandise sales, etc. - Complete co-operation and support of the local airport and the community. - Facilities: airport with multiple runways would be nice, not required, non towered airport preferred, hangar facilities for KR's a plus, ramp area large enough to handle KR's and visitors, terminal with restrooms and meeting rooms, restaurant on field a big plus, camping on airport a major plus. Not every airport is "ideal" for a Gathering but many airports are adequate. Your desire to host can overcome other facility shortcomings. Finally, I was lucky to have $1800 passed along from Steve and Linda Bennett so I had no out of pocket expenses the first year I hosted. With the support of the KR community we grew the financial account to $5000 over the nine years at Mt.Vernon. $4000 of that was passed to Steve for last years Gathering and the last $1000 went to Dan for this years Gathering. I've not seen a report on last years Gathering and, not knowing how successful this years event will be, there may or may not be up front money to support the event. Consider the possibility of needing up front money for hats / shirts, banquet facilities, and the like. None of this should discourage anyone from wanting to host a Gathering if you have the desire and adequate facilities. The KR crowd can have a good time anywhere as long as their basic needs are met. Questions?????????? Larry Flesner 9 year Mt.Vernon, Illinois Gathering host -- Mark Langford ML at N56ML.com http://www.n56ml.com
