Well, you know…Dale’s post about gatherings got me thinking (I’m trying not to pull a muscle).
I’m thinking about thinking about (that’s not a typo) possibly trying to organize a south/southeast Chiffers gathering. This is a very, very preliminary request, or feasibility study, if you will; due to circumstances beyond my control–as well as the fact that we’re getting near the end of the summer already–I’d be looking at dates for summer, or maybe even fall, of next year.
But it occurs to me that the Asheville area, which can be reached fairly easily via I-40 and I-26, might not be so badly situated for folks to travel to from the southern states, (GA, AL, SC, TN, WV, VA, KY), the rest of NC of course, the mid-Atlantic…(attn. Emm)…and heck! Even Florida. There are a number of very charming spots that could be possible sites…park settings, in particular, though I’ll not do any more active brain work on that, or on accomodations, until I get a sense of the level of interest.
Edited to add: If you are interested, kindly also mention if there is any particular month – let’s say, from July through October–that you would prefer. That way we can get a sense of the best timing for this thing.
Psst…August is already here, so I don’t think it’ll be in July.
I can’t ride in a car for very long distances anymore without a lot of pain due to my disease, but if the gathering were to be held in Kentucky or Tennessee the best month for me would be August. August is after summer semester ends and before fall semester begins for me.
However, from a more strategically reasonable (instead of personal) standpoint, I really don’t think either Kentucky or Tennessee would be good locations because they’re out of the way for most people in our region. I think the best place to have the gathering would be Dale’s house, in the room(s) where he stores his whistles.
That doesn’t happen for a couple weeks…remind me not to let you manage my day planner
It’ll be the first gathering like that I’ve been to, and a few people have expressed doubt as to whether or not they’d make it. I was talking more about the yearly-type gatherings I see posted here a lot. I’ve been on Chiff for probably 7 or 8 years now and I’ve only met like 3 or 4 chiffers. I just think it’d be nice to meet more
Well, Asheville’s a 14 hour drive, whereas Mississipi’s only a 6 hour drive. If I were to make Asheville, it’d be a plane flight, for sure. That makes it dependent on if I’m in my feast or famine cycle of econimics at the time
But if that doesn’t work out and it goes to Asheville, I’m pretty sure the Biltmore Estate would be willing to work with us. I’ll have tea on the porch please.
I was hoping someone besides me would have this idea. I’ve been
thinking about a southeast gathering for awhile, but I’m such a bad
planner that I know I’d never be able to get one off the ground.
I would try my darndest to attend such an event. If it ends up being in
the fall, I could stay with my parents in Charlotte, and hit the Carolina
Renn Faire on the way back to Raleigh.
If you need to push it further south, you could have it in Murphy, and
we could decend on the Susato factory for a group tour…
Jeezus – They are proud of that place. Tickets are in the 40 dollar range, unless you want to go in the dead of winter. And all it gives you is access to shopes and restaurants.
What they are is broke. The family’s been making less and less money
on that place for years. They keep opening up new sections to try to
lure people back.
What that ticket gets you is access to the tours of the house (like
you’d get in Williamsburg). There actually aren’t that many shops and
resteraunts, though at least they’re not the usual museum gift shop…
Haha…note taken. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’ve been away for a couple weeks, so my sense of time is a bit warped still. I thought the Oklahoma gathering had already happened. Sorry.
