– REGIONAL EVENTS DISCUSSION –

[Drake M.]

– HELLO EVERYONE –

 

Many of you have brought up ideas for events outside the metro (494/694 loop)…Some of you have even just shouted on wanting things to happen outside in the southern/northern/eastern/western areas.  I remember seeing a lot of these posts and then they get lost due to it being in an unrelated thread or for other reasons.

Are you from Owatanna and have an idea for an event?  Are you from Eau Claire and have an idea?  Are you from Hutchinson or Willmar and have an idea?  Are you from Duluth and have an idea?  Whatever region outside the metro, have an idea?  =)

Also, maybe an idea is brought up and you want to take lead on it.  This is a great way to gain experience on event running from the idea to planning to launching to post-mortem.

This thread has been created to bring up those ideas again.  This will also have these ideas more ‘centralized’ if you will…Then anyone can come back to this thread and review something brought up.

Please feel free to post your ideas here.

PS:  The Events Dept staff are always available if any inquiries arise

For central metro events discussions, please click here –> https://www.mnfurs.org/forums/topic/events-and-people-who-like-them/

~ Drake M.

T H €  B | Z   F [] X

RETIRING JUNE 2024

MNFurs Events Department Co-Head - Events are the main driving factors of the organization.  Have an event you want brought to life?  Let us know!

MNFurs Photography Department Staff - Photography and capturing moments is what we do at our events for our community.  Let's chat about your photography needs!

Midwinter Frolic Staff ~ Photography - Midwinter Frolic is a fun winter camping event down at Whitewater State Park.  Attending and have some photography ideas?  Let's chat sometime!

Furry Migration Staff ~ Photography - A will be a wandering staff photographer at FM this year.  Want a photo or two or more?  I'll be around!

MNFurs ~ 501(c3) Non-Profit Organization

[TygerDarkstorm]

Per Drake’s request:

I wouldn’t mind seeing stuff happen in the southern region as sometimes it can be really hard to get up north.  It’s not really suiting friendly, but Welch has inner tubing down the Cannon River with ice cream next door at Trout Scream. If you call ahead, King’s in Miesville could be a good place to do an alternate meet as they have a back room that occasionally gets utilized for meetings (that’s where I work so I’m a little biased of course :P). There’s a nice little park in Downtown Red Wing right along the Mississippi that might be a good spot for a suiting outing (I’m not sure what their rules for suiting are there since I don’t have a suit and am still kinda new to the fandom).

That’s about all I can think of right now as I’m still familiarizing myself with Minnesota and furry stuff. xD

[Kai]

I talked about open curling here in Willmar a little while ago. Really, there is nothing extravagant to do here other than that. We have Sibley State Park where we could have some picnic. Just throwing it out there.  I had a forum somewhere about the curling event…Let me see… -rustles around, brushes off some dust- Ah, here it is~ https://www.mnfurs.org/forums/topic/event-idea-fursuit-curling/
I am friends with the presidents of the curling club so it is fairly easy for me to host a event there. The downfall is that it isn’t a year-round curling arena, so that means for some of you, you’d have to drive a pretty long time in crappy weather to get to to an event that the seemingly only fur here in Willmar created. I don’t really think that is fair. :/
But, it does open up options for those of you who have nothing to do from November-March. Unlike my forum post, where I was planning waaay too far ahead, I talked to the club presidents and they said they can get us in early/late November when curling season starts.
It doesn’t have to be a fursuit only thing. Everyone is willing to come out and have fun. ;D The presidents said it’d be fun to see costumers. (I haven’t explained what KIND of costumers yet…hehehe They’ll be okay with it anyway)

But I’m getting ahead of myself. This is, for now, just an idea.
Aside from that, I would love to see a St. Cloud meet :>

[Rina Nightshade]

Honestly I would love to have some sort of hang out for ALL MEMEMBERS of mnfurs to come up and enjoy the beautiful area where i live!

[Vanbael]

I’m going to say this: The person in the region needs to make the first step to wanting an Event. There’s no way we can thoroughly organize an 3+ hours away from the Twin Cities.  However, any suggestion that comes up from those far away furs should NEVER, I repeat, NEVER get shot down because its too far away for a good turnout.  There exists furs in said region that don’t speak on this site.  However, those same quiet timid furs will get a boost of confidence when someone local to them is hosting an event of some sort.

Now should we share these events being organized? Yes.

Should we make an effort to promote these events on all fronts (here, facebook, twitter, FA)?  Yes.  Again, those same quiet furs will notice it as a sign to attend and as an opportunity to meet other furs for the first time.

Should the board help? Yes, they should be able to assist with the organizing.  But this is where things get tricky.  Is it really mandatory for a board representative to be present?  I say an effort should be made, even if the location is at Grand Portage.  But if we find the options not viable, we still shouldn’t shoot down this event and not promote it for the entire state to see.  Remember, MNFurs started small as well.

[Drake M.]

I like a lot of what has been said in Van’s post *nods*…

 

The first step in wanting to do an event, whether in the metro or outside, is starting/planting the idea.  Once the idea is out there, it can become a reality very easily if ‘X’ person wants to take the initiative and run with it…Many times I see/hear people bring up an idea, but the idea just is there and idle.  Sure there are the active community members that do events, but it does not have to be those people that do these events.  We always encourage others to step up to the plate.

Van mentioned how it may be tough to plan event that is a distance away…Yes, distance in planning an event can be tough.  Let’s say, for example, someone is planning an event in Owatanna and management at a venue needs to speak to you, a trip needs to be made…This will involve a bit more work in planning and you may have to take a drive or two, but this does not mean that it cannot be done…It’s just more of a challenge or more extra steps.  As another example, community member Cyrus did this with his Mankato meet and it turned out to be successful.  If I remember correctly, he was in communication with some Mankato furs.

To go more into this, if you are planning something outside the metro, see if you have someone at ‘X’ location who can assist.  What do I mean by this?  Let’s use the Owatanna event planning as an example again…You have a friend who lives in Owatanna and he/she wants to help (ex. co-head).  See if this person can work with you to help get some questions answered or something looked at it if a physical presence is needed.  This is another way to help lighten your load since you are doing remote logistics.

Ideas should never get shot down as mentioned above…This goes back to the subject of ideas being brought up, but they do not go anywhere.  I still think some of this is because of initiative not being taken.  An idea is just an idea until someone runs with it…Not to be black and white with it, but that’s how it is.

Efforts should be made to promote ‘X’ events yes.  Let’s say one or two people want to launch an event and they have everything planned…These people can then do their own advertisement on FA, FB, Twitter, Events sub-forum, etc.

Lastly, with the board stepping in to assist, this is where it goes under different rules/procedures…If a board member wants to comment on this, then please do as I am not going to comment on this part.

* * * * * * * * * *

Again, for anyone who has a regional event idea or two or three, please post them here.  =)

~ Drake M.

T H €  B | Z   F [] X

RETIRING JUNE 2024

MNFurs Events Department Co-Head - Events are the main driving factors of the organization.  Have an event you want brought to life?  Let us know!

MNFurs Photography Department Staff - Photography and capturing moments is what we do at our events for our community.  Let's chat about your photography needs!

Midwinter Frolic Staff ~ Photography - Midwinter Frolic is a fun winter camping event down at Whitewater State Park.  Attending and have some photography ideas?  Let's chat sometime!

Furry Migration Staff ~ Photography - A will be a wandering staff photographer at FM this year.  Want a photo or two or more?  I'll be around!

MNFurs ~ 501(c3) Non-Profit Organization

[Author]

Posts