Interest for skmb convention? (2013)

[~Ally~]

Um, yeah, so apparantly I need to respond to my own post. T19, your daughter is getting married August 11th of THIS year.

Damn you crack me up! Had you been knocking back the Mad Housewife vino when you posted?

Show Spoiler

I can hear you saying; "This mad housewife don't need no vino!"

Anyhoo, the end of August would be absolutely perfect timing for me. I already have holidays in place there for when I finish my nursing management so wouldn't have to use extra holidays like I will if we meet earlier. Either way, I will definitely be there if it's July/August time.

[blunthead]

I just took a quick look at the location & month poll, and it's looking like Bangor in July or August is going to win outas our locale for the Great SKMB Hobnob.

I also slipped over to weather.com and learned that August in Bangor tends to be a tad cooler than July....and about an inch less wet than either July or August, which bodes well for a gathering in a town park or state campground.

Sooooooooo.....based upon those facts and figures, I'll make a suggestion with some qualifying arguments:
Labor Day weekend is August 31 and September 1, with Labor Day itself on September 2. This is a) a long holiday weekend in the U.S. that is typically a family's last hurrah to go somewhere (and could be a reason why some folks here willl be unable to attend an SKMB bash), and b) a weekend when I'm guessing none of us want to vie with more folks for access to campground showers and fire pits, or tables in restaurants. Camping and beach time over Labor Day weekend are extremely popular, so I suggest we avoid meeting up then, as motels, places of interest, and parking lots are going to be overrun with the masses. (Mr. King has written plenty of references to Maine being a popular destination for summertime and holiday vactioners, most notably in Thinner and The Stand.)

That leaves us with the weekends of August 3-4, 10-11, 17-18, and 24-25.

I say we meet closer to the end of August, and choose between the 17-18 and 24-25.

(Was all of that clear as mud? I hope so. I'm just trying to get a weekend established so that people can have the option of making reservations for anything well in advance.)

Good word, Lily, and everyone else for that matter.

[Lily Sawyer]

August is the busiest tourist time of year everywhere in the northern hemisphere ... is that really the leading choice right now? It's honestly about the worst time there is; no matter what the destination, we're going to be elbowing our way through armies of other tourists who are trying to squeeze in an outing before school starts. And everything is going to be at its most expensive to take advantage of that. I'd rather do Bangor in late January. Seriously, any other other time of year is going to be better than August.

I agree with you. August is not my first choice of months to meet up. However, there are some things we have to keep in mind while planning this....

If we want to include Ms. Mod in our Great Hobnob, we have to remember that her work volume dramatically increases after Labor Day. She's not just a moderator on the website; she's Mr. King's personal assistant. As such, she's responsible for all arrangements related to book releases, book signing tours, interview scheduling, hotel accommodations, event security, etc. Things speed up for her if he has a book that's due to be released in the fall. And as far as I know, Dr. Sleep will be no exception to that general rule. Because of fall book releases and the holidays, she thus tends to take vacation in the spring. And then we go straight into Easter/graduation/wedding season. So late summer really is one of the very few times when we can get together and include the Modster. I think there will be a number of people who won't want to risk being delayed by weather if we have the shindig in February or March.

When kids are in school, parents are less likely to be able to attend.

There's no law that says you must camp if you attend. I'm not a camper and have every intention of booking a room somewhere. Everyone's on their own regarding accommodations. However, it's likely that a gathering will occur in a state park, a town park, or at a campground, so weather then becomes a deciding factor. A month where rain is less likely then makes more sense.

I don't think I'm false in assuming that there's a tacit agreement between those who attend and those who can't make it: those in Bangor will make an effort with computers to include long-distance SKMBers via Skype. We won't be able to control a time differential, but at least the effort will be made to say howdy to folks like Flake or Johanna, even if it's at 3:00 AM their time.

- I hope all that makes sense. I'm not dissing your protest of the event being in August, but there are seasonal restrictions we're having to work around.

[Lily Sawyer]

Folks have made some good points about the timing of this bash:

Non-peak campground and motel rates happen during the week. And Ms. Mod has mentioned both Nicky's and the Bangor State Fair.

1. The dates for the 2012 State Fair are July 27 - August 5, so I'm guessing the dates for 2013 will be similar. It's an argument for meeting earlier, as it's an event that people might want to attend. Should we reconsider meeting earlier in August? The nay argument is that there will be more people hanging around Bangor during that time.

2. Nicky's vintage car bash is on a Wednesday. Are we married to the idea of meeting up only over a weekend (saves people vacation days from work if that's the case), or shall we make the event during the week to save on accommodation rates?

- Just thought I'd throw that out there.

[randallFlaggfan1]

Well, come on over; we'll have our own little SKMB pod. We have Wi-Fi all set up, too.

Sounds great, cupcake!

[tower-obsession]

Sounds great, cupcake!

Awesome! You and your lovely wife are most welcome.

[dsurrett]

Folks have made some good points about the timing of this bash:
Non-peak campground and motel rates happen during the week. And Ms. Mod has mentioned both Nicky's and the Bangor State Fair.
1. The dates for the 2012 State Fair are July 27 - August 5, so I'm guessing the dates for 2013 will be similar. It's an argument for meeting earlier, as it's an event that people might want to attend. Should we reconsider meeting earlier in August? The nay argument is that there will be more people hanging around Bangor during that time.
2. Nicky's vintage car bash is on a Wednesday. Are we married to the idea of meeting up only over a weekend (saves people vacation days from work if that's the case), or shall we make the event during the week to save on accommodation rates?
- Just thought I'd throw that out there.

If I can throw out a suggestion, maybe have an "if you can get there early" event at Nicky's on Wednesday night then have official festivities Thursday and Friday, spilling over to Saturday for those who can stay over an extra day or two. The class reunions I've been to have setup similarly, with people coming and going as their schedules dictate.

[Moderator]

I was speaking with the director at the Bangor Convention and Visitors Bureau about something else a few days ago and mentioned in passing that there had been discussions about a SKMB convention in Bangor in 2013. They are the ones who do the Tommyknockers tours (it's a bus tour of various Stephen King-related sites) so I asked if they would be willing to add on extras if there was enough interest since they only do them a few times a year currently. She told me there would be no problem whatsoever and if we needed any assistance at all in planning the convention, she'd be more than happy to help.

[randallFlaggfan1]

Awesome! You and your lovely wife are most welcome.

Awww.... you're a sweetheart!
If you and your husband are ever in the area, you're likewise welcome.

I was speaking with the director at the Bangor Convention and Visitors Bureau about something else a few days ago and mentioned in passing that there had been discussions about a SKMB convention in Bangor in 2013. They are the ones who do the Tommyknockers tours (it's a bus tour of various Stephen King-related sites) so I asked if they would be willing to add on extras if there was enough interest since they only do them a few times a year currently. She told me there would be no problem whatsoever and if we needed any assistance at all in planning the convention, she'd be more than happy to help.

Hi, Ms. Mod-

Great idea, IMO, that's very cool!

Thank you for asking.

[Damaris]

I agree with you. August is not my first choice of months to meet up. However, there are some things we have to keep in mind while planning this....

If we want to include Ms. Mod in our Great Hobnob, we have to remember that her work volume dramatically increases after Labor Day. ... So late summer really is one of the very few times when we can get together and include the Modster.
When kids are in school, parents are less likely to be able to attend.
There's no law that says you must camp if you attend. I'm not a camper and have every intention of booking a room somewhere.
I'm not dissing your protest of the event being in August, but there are seasonal restrictions we're having to work around.

I understand, Lily, and I know summer is all-around the best option for the Great Shindig. But August... Aside from the normal overwhelming run of tourists, the state fair brings in 60-70,000 people the first weekend or so and the folk festival brings in around 150,000 the third week or so. Bangor's population is only about 35,000 to begin with, so these are big influxes of people. Flights are higher, rooms are higher, traffic is worse, blah blah blah, I'm a real Negative Nelly. Just ... is July completely out of the question?