Rough week for me...exhausted after all that effort in the Jell-O Art Show; I worked too hard on props, which looked fantastic, and should have memorized my cues harder. I also had a costume malfunction, which seems the norm for me. I guess doing these things once a year leaves me rusty. It showed. I was slow, needed help, and although people did help me, (packing the car for me afterwards was a completely stellar effort by several people who were really good at it!) I did not meet my own approval, performance-wise. Next year, a less pivotal role perhaps.
But that is over. It took all day Sunday to put it all away, and there are still a few things to wrap up. Today I am expecting a huge shirt delivery. It's rainy, and I was planning to sort things on the sidewalk to fit them into my small space with a minimum of lifting, but it's too wet. I thought about putting up the popup, for some protected space, but it's gusty winds too and we all know how that can go. Plus, then I have wet weights, sides, and the popup to somehow fit into the space so it can all dry. Just have to wait and see how it plays out.
The Board is meeting tonight. There are still topics I should weigh in on, but giving my opinion seems to make things worse, so I'll just stick with this little tiny soapbox. They selected, out of all the possible food booths that might have applied (no one mentioned how many applicants there were) a second Thai food booth and sited it right next to Bangkok Grill. There is a serious duplication policy still on the books, and their menu of "grilled proteins" seems in violation, as we already can purchase grilled chicken, tofu, pork, and beef (at the Afghani booth.) So...guess we'll see how that plays out. It seems in bad faith toward two booths with over-40 year family investments who will have to absorb direct competition. Not how anything was ever done before.
The other booth, deep-fried wontons, might compete with the other deep-fried foods, but maybe not so much. Anyway, I guess these members are on their own to make it work. Publicity featured the new booths, as it has for the last several years. Today I even read that staff said "We're not going to run out of artists!" which I think is core to what some of the current policies are based on. Raising prices beyond the means of new people or older people is okay, because someone will come along to replace them. Kicking out members the staff or Board can't control or dominate is okay, because there will be new members who can be sucked in until they too become inconvenient. Sigh.
For those of us who have our lives wrapped up in this increasingly unprofitable enterprise, it looks daunting. Another fee increase in June, and HM up another 10%? That's what is being discussed or is already voted in. Everyone I talk to has seen a decline in sales. Without great promotions we don't even look fun and interesting...promotions are supposed to bring us new customers and entice people who might have lost interest. So far I have seen one blurry FB post of a poster that just looks the same as the last few. We need professionals!
The reality is that we are in a decline and those are tough to reverse, without some substantial, visible improvement that draws participants. More of the same is not what will help us right now. Hopefully we will get lucky with weather, won't have to cancel for fires and smoke intrusions, and the mere fact that we are at the center of town will work for us. We'll get some help from farmers, after helping them draw for so long, as they take over our longstanding role of the community gathering place. Let's hope it's real help that doesn't end at 2:00 pm, their new closing time. We will stay open until 4:00 so if people stay with us, maybe it won't be a big change for us.
It's discouraging to feel like there aren't discussions going on about how to mitigate our challenges, but I'm just hoping they are and not making it into the minutes. I have to pass on commenting on the lack of a Secretary and proposal to strip the responsibilities and duties out of the position. Obviously there is a lot that particular officer does for the membership organization that cannot be done by staff and will not be done. There's an oversight role that keeps the org legal and functional with the bylaws and laws of the state and federal government, that brings forward lessons learned from the past, that keeps the org consistent with its values, but it seems that responsibility ended with me and it doesn't look like it will come back any time soon. I was thwarted by a staff that wouldn't support or respect those roles, and that staff is still in place, so the next person would have a slog to even get back to half of what I did.
The organization, the membership, suffers this loss. It's similar to the macrocosm: what will be lost for the short term, and what will not be recoverable? What will take decades to restore? It's a tragedy I will have to just live with as I doubt I will be around to see any restoration. Then again, I am not one to stop hoping. I've seen a lot of phases in the fifty years I've been there at the tables. It's living and breathing.
Meanwhile, I'm listening for the big truck and the wind and rain and trying to be ready for it. This is likely my last year for this level of work. I've thought that before, and kept going, so I wouldn't want to carve that in stone, but at some point I generally go from still trying to accepting reality. I don't know...reality is so harsh. Where did I put those rose-colored glasses?
