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Minutes 09-25-02MINUTES OF THE HeritageFest 2002 COMMII'FEE MEET]:NG EZELL HESTER CENTERv 1901 N. SEACREST BOULEVARD, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA~ SEPTEMBER 25, 2002 AT 7:00 P.M. Members Angela Girtman, Chairperson Patricia Lamothe Marsha Norfus Diane Pereira Sandra Watson (signed in but left) Staff .loe Evans, Recreation Specialist Mary DeGraffenreidt, Recreation Manager 1. Meeting Call to Order Chairperson Girtman called the meeting to order at 7:15 p.m. 2. Attendance A sign-up sheet was circulated to record the attendance and so that minutes could be sent to the attendees. 3. Welcome New Members Chair Girtman welcomed Patricia Lamothe, a new member to the committee. 4. Minutes Chair Girtman noted that the date for the Youth Basketball Tournament would be on February 15-16 instead of February 8 as shown in the minutes of September 11. Chair Girtman noted that on page 4 of the September 11, 2002 minutes, second paragraph, it should read, "Chair Girtman suggested holding a teen dance." Also, in the second paragraph from the bottom, same page, Ms. Watson's name should be replaced with Ms. Girtman's name. Ms. Girtman asked that the minutes show that the free book distribution would take place on February 15, 2003 and would take place at the Hester Center. The Recording Secretary indicated that the minutes would reflect these changes. Meeting Minutes HeritageFest Committee Meeting Boynton Beach, FL September 25, 2002 Motion Ms. Girtman moved to accept the minutes as amended. the motion that carried unanimously. Ms. Norfus seconded 5. Old Business A. Committees and Chairs 1) Parade Chair: Terry Pereira 2) Coronation Chairs: Rita Simmons Sandra Watson 3) Luncheon Chairs: Diane Pereira Veronica Mackey (possibly) 4) Youth Basketball Chair: 3oe Evans Fontaine Watkins 5) Adult Basketball Chair: Joe Evans 6) Vendor Chair: Diane Pereira 7) Education Committee: Angela Girtman Eddie Mitchell Stephen Waldman Discussion of Events Ms. DeGraffenreidt stated that she had a list of last year's vendors. Chair Girtman stated that a letter should go out by next month at the latest to the vendors from last year. Ms. Pereira will bring a vendor application to the next meeting. Ms. DeGraffenreidt pointed out that the Committee had to decide about the dates and times that vendors would be on site. A letter will be sent to the vendors that were here the previous year thanking them for their participation, and offering them first preference on the vending opportunities. The letter will include the dates and the cost to participate. Chair Girtman suggested giving the vendors a $25.00 price break for registering early and the Committee decided that the deadline would be .lanuary 10, 2003. The letter will indicate that those who register prior to that date will be guaranteed a tent. The vendor fee for the people registering after the deadline will go up $25.00 and they might or might not have a tent. Ms. DeGraffenreidt stated that the tents were borrowed from the Civic Center. 2 Meeting Minutes HeritageFest Committee Meeting Boynton Beach, FL September 25, 2002 Ms. DeGraffenreidt stated that once the Committee determined the events, they could submit a schedule of events to the Marketing Department who could get the flyers and posters out to the various locations. Ms. Pereira asked if they were going to have the Carnival this year. Chair Girtman stated that it would be up to the Committee but she and Terry Pereira were going to meet on Monday with a representative from the Carnival to discuss it. The Committee discussed whether they wished to continue the celebration through Sunday, February 23. Chair Girtman stated that the Carnival would be there and the Basketball Tournament would still be going on. Ms. Pereira stated that if they only offered the vendors the 21st and 22nd to make money, they might have to reduce their vendor fees. Ms. Pereira also suggested having a Talent Contest offering Ist, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes. She thought it would not require a lot of manpower. She suggested having an early registration for this also. Ms. Norfus thought that a Talent Contest would have a bigger turnout on a Friday night and the Committee agreed. Ms. Pereira suggested the idea of having several church choirs come in on Sunday to sing. Ms. Norfus thought it was a good idea and suggested that it be held in the afternoon. Chair Girtman suggested a church choir competition. There would be a trophy and money to entice participation. It could also become an annual event. She also suggested focusing on youth choirs in order to bring in the parents. :If the Committee decides to go forward with the Beer Garden, it would not operate on Sunday. Ms. Pereira stated that there would be a Basketball Tournament, a Talent Show and the Carnival, all going on at the same time. Mr. Evans liked the idea. Ms. Pereira stated that it came down to a commitment on the part of volunteers. Last year, many of the people who had signed up as volunteers did not show up on the day/night of the event. Chair Girtman suggested getting other groups involved in addition to the Committee. Ms. Norfus thought they should follow Delray Beach's procedure of soliciting help from the fraternities and sororities. Ms. Lamothe said that the fraternities and sororities would assist organizations that were trying to help people raise money for different causes. Chair Girtman said it would work because this is what they did for the Roots and MLK Festivals. For example, one organization always does the oratorical contest; another organization does the Spelling Bee; another organization does the Math Contest and someone else does Geography. Tt was stressed that any assistance be on a volunteer only 3 Meeting Minutes HeritageFest Committee Meeting Boynton Beach, FL September 25, 2002 basis. Chair Girtman expressed her belief that if everyone signed up for a particular task, their name would be shown on the flyers and publicity documents as being in charge of it. She felt that this would help assure their participation and take the pressure off the Committee. Chair Girtman stated that she had talked to the Delta sorority and that they were interested in doing the Spelling Bee. Ms. Pereira noted that Delta had not shown up for the Spelling Bee the previous year. She was concerned that this might happen again. She felt that the organizations should demonstrate their willingness to take on the various tasks by attending the Committee meetings and making the actual commitment. Chair Girtman still felt that if an organization's name were on the publicity flyers, they would take responsibility for the task. Chair Girtman offered to be the Spelling Bee representative if Delta did not show up. Chair Girtman did not see why it would not work here when it works elsewhere. Ms. Pereira still believed that the organizations that were committing to do certain things should come to the Committee meeting to say so. Chair Girtman thought a letter should go out to the various organizations listing the activities that were planned and asking for interest in being chairs and co-chairs of the different activities. They discussed the Book Fair and the Oratorical Contest. Chair Girtman stated that Sigma Gamma Rho was doing the Oratorical Contest. Ms. Pereira suggested that a person be designated to coordinate the manning of the booths, something that had been a big problem last year. Ms. DeGraffenreidt suggested that the agenda for the next meeting include the matter of layout because a finalized plan had to be given to the Public Works and Parks Departments. She stated that they could not put the stage on the baseball field this year since Palm Beach Atlantic Baseball would be using it as their home field and it could not take the extra wear and tear. The location of the stage has to be discussed and someone will have to be at the Committee meeting from the different departments who could give ideas about location. Ms. DeGraffenreidt asked if anyone had contacted Steve Waldman about the Committee meetings. Ms. Pereira offered to tell him. Ms. DeGraffenreidt stated that he needed a calendar of meetings. The Committee asked that Steve Waldman be put on the distribution list for the minutes. Chair Girtman asked the Recording Secretary to see that the minutes went to the attendees, including the people who had gone to the first meeting, if those people were no longer interested, they could so indicate and be removed from the distribution list. Ms. DeGraffenreidt stated that she had some entertainment information about Big Beat who had performed at the Family Day picnic. She also offered to share the file she had on last year's event with anyone that was interested. 4 Meeting Minutes HeritageFest Committee Meeting Boynton Beach, FL September 25, 2002 The Committee decided that an Entertainment Committee needed to be set up. Ms. DeGraffenreidt suggested getting in touch with Ginny Shea with information to be included in a media release about the event. The media release could say that event planning was underway and give a contact person for anyone that wished to serve on a committee. People that had participated in the past, like Lena Rahming and Sara Williams, were involved in another project but would be free soon. B. Budget I ol ~ ~'~ Last year, the beginning balance was about $~j~T. The total amount of revenue generated was $25,450 and the amount spent was $75K. The beginning balance this year is $15,588. Chair Girtman stated that Ms. Debbie Majors called her about spending some money and she ordered more trophies. Ms. DeGraffenreidt stated that if Debbie had received the receipt, then that amount could be deducted from the total balance. The Committee read through the budget for the previous year to get a better idea of what each event actually cost - to help in establishing the events for this year. The $14,835 spent last year on entertainment included all entertainment for outdoor activities, including stage entertainment for Saturday and Sunday and promotions. The FAMU band cost $45,603. Ms. DeGraffenreidt stressed the importance of getting the information to Ms. Shea as soon as possible for the flyers and publicity information. She thought there would be some expense but that it would not be as much as it was the previous year. Last year's Committee had wanted special colors and things that the City was not able to provide with its in-house services. Ms. DeGraffenreidt stated that banners and street signs were still available but that they needed to be updated with the current information. Ms. DeGraffenreidt will check to see if the banner from the Science Fair is still available. Radio slots were discussed and Ms. Pereira stated that this had been the biggest problem with the entertainment. They went with 99-.1AMS but there were too many conditions with it. She thought that Station 102.3 was getting popular and would be a good choice. The Committee agreed. Meeting Minutes HeritageFest Committee Meeting Boynton Beach, FL September 25, 2002 Ms. Pereira stated that the Concession for the Youth Basketball Tournament from last year had made a lot of money. She had solicited the supplies for the concession from B.l's. She stated that manpower had been a problem also. Ms. Pereira worked nine hours on each of two days last year. This was too much. Ms. DeGraffenreidt commented on how many hours of manpower were required for this event -- for the Committee and for City staff. Ms. Pereira stated that someone had to be committed to doing this concession this year. Chair Girtman asked each person to begin working up a preliminary budget for their event and bring it with them to the next meeting. She offered to call the people who were not there so they could bring their budget estimates also. A place has to be found to hold the Oratorical Contest. A chair and co-chair are needed also. Ms. Sara Williams did it the year before last. City Hall in the Mall was one suggestion. Chair Girtman stated that there was usually a large crowd for the awards presentations so even if there were not too many people at the Spelling Bee, for example, the kids would still feel special at Awards Ceremony. Chair Girtman suggested having the Spelling Bee at City Hall in the Mall in the conference room in the back. Ms. Lamothe suggested a high school band competition for Friday night. Chair Girtman thought Mr. Pereira was checking on this. The Committee discussed having a big-name entertainer for a paid concert on Friday night. Ms. Pereira thought this would probably cost about $20K to $25K. Chair Girtman asked people to look into it and bring their ideas to the meetings. She thought there was a possibility of having a comic show. They also discussed the possibility of getting the Bethune Cookman band. Chair Girtman asked that a copy of the solicitation details from the previous year's contributors be brought to the next Committee meeting. She stated that anyone could begin soliciting funds right now and that they needed to do so to help support the event. Ms. Degraffenreidt stated that before she submitted 121 forms, she had to make sure that the monies were in the account. She thought the Committee should concentrate on finding out whom they could get and for what amount of money, and then worry about the revenues to offset the cost. She would continue to log and monitor the monies that come in and go out of the HeritageFest account and will keep the members informed about the balance. Once the Committee decides how to spend the money, they should let her know and she will get an account number. She stated that all checks should be made out to the City of Boynton Beach. 6 Meeting Minutes HeritageFest Committee Meeting Boynton Beach, FL September 25, 2002 Next Scheduled HeritageFest Meetings: October 9 and 23, 2002 November 6 and 20, 2002 December 4 and 11, 2002 3anuary 8, 15, 22 and 29, 2003 VI. Adjournment Since there was no further business adjourned at 8:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Collins Recording Secretary (one tape) (100102) CC: Veronica Mackey Stephanie Mingo McKoy Eddie Mitchell Steve Waldman Rita Simmons Fontaine Watkins Sandra Watson before the Board, the meeting duly 7