Participation Committee Meeting - Minutes

Dec. 17^th, 2007

Attending: Susanne, Vicky, Claudia, Sara, Pam, Hector, Meike

Juried were the following:

1.      Zac Hay – ink drawings (prints and originals) – approved

2.      Rob Goldwitz – photography – after home jury approved

3.      Meike Godoy – add a product: precious metal clay jewelry – approved

4.      Henrietta and Don McIntosh – add a product: home-made ice cream – approved

This was the first meeting of the 2008 Participation Committee. All members were present. We have two who have never served before and two who have not served for several years. So we spent some time discussing procedures.

We discussed the rumor mill and determined that we were most comfortable dealing with issues that come to us written – i.e. complaint forms.

Case in point – the new nacho food vendors. No complaints were formally presented to us and the committee felt that this was a Board issue. This discussion did lead us to asking for the following: at his convenience, meeting with O.J. Dave so that we can be better in formed as to exactly what paperwork, certification, etc. is required.

Related to this issue we discussed the lengthy process that food vendors endure to get the necessary certification. We were able to jury Don and Henrietta in for ice cream, only because the person who was trying to come out with ice cream did not comply with the deadline of Dec. 10^th for informing the Committee of her progress. Prospective food vendors have to check in with the Committee chair monthly.

The chairman is Hector. We agreed that we will rotate the task of delivering the P.C. report to the Board among the five members with previous committee experience: Susanne, Hector, Meike, Vicky and Claudia.

The biggest issue discussed was the lifting of the seasonal jewelry cap. We agreed that we are going to approach this with caution and sensitivity. Susanne is going to call a meeting of all jewelers to get feedback and perhaps allay some rumors.

We are faced with moving the venue for the meeting. The City – in their efforts to deal with the homeless – have removed the benches and tables. That in itself makes jurying extremely difficult, plus the fact that any gathering in the park is viewed with suspicion by the police. We agreed we wanted to move to Astro City at the very rear of the playground where there are several tiki huts complete with shade and tables. We are asking the Board’s and Dave’s help as to exactly how we can best get out this information before the next scheduled meeting.