Saturday, July 23, 2022

INSIDE with the Festival Nomad (No. 36)

 Over the years I have attended, worked with and organized hundreds of festivals and events. With this new series, "INSIDE with the Festival Nomad", I want to give you an "inside" look at some of the festivals and events that I have been involved with or that I have visited. Along the way, I have had a lot of fun and sometimes frustration, but I have never been bored!

The Biggies and More...

Judi and I have attended and volunteered at a number of fundraising auction dinners. These are a lot of fun and, of course, raise money for worthwhile causes. In the next few articles, I am going to tell you about two of the larger and more interesting fundraising dinners we have visited and about some of the funny things that we have seen at other fundraising auctions we have attended!

The Warren Michigan Banquet (Pre-Banquet) ...

When Judi and I arrived back at the banquet hall, the RGS staff was already there. They were putting the finishing touches on the room! At about 4:00 p.m., a group of beautiful ladies arrived! These were the raffle ticket sellers. All of them were flight attendants from Delta Airlines. Each year these girls volunteered their time to help the RGS at this banquet. I think, although I am not sure, that they were paid a small honorarium. Most of the girls knew what to do (they had been there before) and they started preparing for the evening. Prior to each banquet, all of the staff and volunteers were feed a wonderful meal served in a room off to the side of the main hall. The meal consisted of “Prime Rib” and all the “fixings”! It was quite a feast! Everyone ate quickly and then went back into the banquet hall. We each had been assigned specific stations and tasks, so we all headed to our respective areas. I had been assigned to the “greeting desk" where we welcomed attendees, took their ticket and sold raffle packages. The packages ranged from $50.00 to $250.00 per package. Quite a few people purchased more than one package! Many of the packages were paid in cash! Each person who purchased a raffle package received a gift for each package purchased. They could choose from a variety of knives, compasses and more. The most popular, of course, were the knives! Since participants came in waves, and there were over 1000 of them, the “greeting desk” was hectic for quite some time. Judi had been assigned to the cash table which wasn’t as busy in the beginning, but towards the end of the banquet became just as hectic. I will let Judi, in her own words describe what she experienced a little later in this blog!

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