[Sca-cooks] More Potluck

[Marian]

Hello again,

 (actually finished catching up before responding this time...
so I won't make a fool of myself again.)

  Ignoring my animosity with some of the members of SPCA there
are still a lot of great people there who I enjoy seeing at
Pennsic.  The SPCA site is a gorgeous camp site.  But, it is a
camp site.  In the best of all possible worlds, in the best
condition, it is not a place for a 40 person party.  Without the
willow trees disappearing, there simply isn't the room.  Also,
unlike an A+S tent, chairs and tables don't come automagically.

  SPCA also isn't in a central, easy to find location.  Sure,
"right across the street from Orluk Oasis" sounds simple.  It
should be.  But it hasn't been.  There have been multiple
comments on this list post Pennsic about people being unable to
find SPCA at Pennsic.  I am assuming this is the same phenomenon
wherein people cannot find my camp which is next to the main
bathhouse!

  A+S tents are on maps.  They may be poor maps.  There may be
weird numbering.  But there are maps galore, and signposts, and
if worst comes to worst one can wander aimlessly in the general
vicinity until one hears the noise of a Cooks Potluck enjoying
itself.  I like maps.  Maps are good.

  The A+S tent listings closed May 1st according to one post.  I
know, in the past, it was possible to make last minute additions
in the A+S tents if no one had already scheduled them.  Since
the potluck will already be a last minute addition, is
scheduling at a camp so much different from scheduling at a
tent?

  I just don't feel that their campsite is an adequate place for
an event the size of previous Cooks' Potlucks.  Don't get me
wrong, it is a beautiful site, with a great view of the lake.
The mosquitos weren't too too bad the year I was down there.
And the willow trees are absolutely wonderful.

  But SPCA won't have the electric lighting of the A+S tents
(which means torches, and probably a fire, and they mean smoke
which is a major negative factor for a number of asthmatics).
And it won't have the chairs and tables.  It isn't easy to
find.  It isn't on any published maps of Pennsic Town.  And,
unlike an overcrowded event at an A+S tent, there is no open
land to spill over on to.

  Think about it.

-M