2014 Luminaria Party Summary
by Annie Ambrose, Event Organizer
What follows are two outlines of event details. The first is the final plan and status of
tasks the morning of the event. The second is the same plan with Annie’s notes in
brackets about what worked and what didn’t, what really happened, and suggestions for
next year.
Luminaria Night Task List – 2014 [Final
version, day of event]
Schedule, Dec. 14, 2014 (rain date Dec 21)
3-4 Setup
4:00 Event starts
4:45 Santa arrives on fire truck (per request to do this when not so dark/scary)
6:00 Event ends
6-6:30 Cleanup
LUMINARIA SUPPLIES/SALES
• LINDA: order supplies and sell ahead of time at Linda’s house (for sale now)
• MARC and JARROD: transport supplies from Linda's porch to park at 3:00pm,
replace sign with one directing people to buy supplies at park. leave some on
porch for sales there. ANNIE to make sign (done)
2-3
volunteers
to handle sales/answer questions MEGHAN/GREG, HOLLY
•
• money aprons for salespeople - borrow from GW PTA (ANNIE has)
GLOW NECKLACES - We will give these out free to kids (ANNIE has)
DRINKS
JANICE: purchase, make and bring cocoa and hot cider. (need 10-14 gallons
•
total?)
need drink dispensers (ANNIE will bring one 5 gallon)
•
• paper cups and napkins (JODY and JANICE), hand sanitzer (ANNIE)
• bring crock pot (JENA) and extension cords for cider (ANNIE)
• need 1 table, 1 chair (ANNIE - GW PTA)
• need 2 volunteers to man the drink table at the park and handle sales (ELIZABETH,
JANICE)
money aprons for salespeople - (ANNIE)
•
• DEB will donate Monuts doughnuts. These will be sold along with drinks. ANNIE will
coordinate delivery (3:30).
• all items $1 each
FOOD TRUCKS
• EMILY will coordinate. Mama Duke’s and Bang Bang Banh Mi are committed
• For public event permit, food trucks need to be insured. (ANNIE-done)
• Parking plan - no parking signs and cones early on Sunday (ANNIE), pre-park cars
(JENA, EMILY, JODY)
MUSIC
•
need sound system (JEFF), iPod with Pandora or other Christmas music
streaming, hot spot for wi-fi connection (ANNIE)
MEMBERSHIP TABLE
• JODY: work the table (this will be for 2015 memberships), also sell TP
gear. LINDA will get gear and prices to Jody
• need 1 table, 1 chair (ANNIE - GW PTA)
• need 1 money apron (ANNIE)
• PayPal swiper for credit card sales (JODY)
SANTA VISIT/FIRE TRUCK
•
JEFF: coordinate DFD and Santa and candy cane purchase.
CHARITY COORDINATION
• PORCH-Durham approved as charity recipient
• KATY: coordinate with charity, provide handouts and boxes for food donations,
coordinate food pick-up
PUBLICITY AND PERMITS
• LINDA: newsletter article (done)
• ANNIE: listserv and Facebook posts (ongoing)
• MARC: website (done), tweets (ongoing)
• sign for park bulletin board (ANNIE will put up tomorrow)
• ANNIE: permit for public event (done)
TRASH
ANNIE: call city 1 week before event to make sure trash cans are emptied before
•
event (done)
• bring extra trash bags (ANNIE)
RAIN DATE: Dec. 21
•
verify all area coordinators available on this date
•
items affected: fire truck/Santa, food trucks, permit, trash can clean out, all
supplies
SET-UP
• need 4-5 volunteers to help with setup: COURTNEY, RUDY, JES, ANNE PIZER,
JARROD
• decorate gazebo (JES will procure decorations)
• hang Christmas lights (ANNIE has some, getting more) - need 4 long ones to
encircle the gazebo and one more to hang across gazebo for
extra light.
• JODY to bring electrical power box key
• sponsor banner—deliver and hang - JODY
• distribute and light luminarias around park LINDA WILL PREP 40 BAGS
• music
• set up membership table area
• set up drink table area
• set up luminaria sales area
supplies needed (ANNIE will get):
•
• extension cords (for music, lights, crock pot)
• hanging supplies for lights, sponsor banner
• long lighters for park luminarias
• trash bags
• scoops for sand
• broom for sand clean up
• mats to cover power cords on ground so people don’t trip. or hang overhead?
• step ladder
• paper towels
• flash lights
• JANENE: petty cash - get $100 to Annie at or before 3:30 on 12/14 for drinks,
luminaria and membership salespeople
CLEANUP
• need 3-5 volunteers JENA, JARROD, EMILY
(JODY/JANICE/HOLLY/MEGHAN/GREG) to:
• Take down lights and decoration
• Take down and return sound system, music
• Return tables/chairs
• Drinks - clean up and return supplies
• Membership - unsold merchandise goes back to Linda?
• Luminaria supplies - return extras, sweep sand
• All trash picked up
• Money: ANNIE and (need a partner) will count, document and then bring to
JANENE’s house
JEFF
to
clean up park luminarias in morning
•
********************
Luminaria Night Task List – 2014 [Post-event
with Annie’s notes in
brackets]
Schedule, Dec. 14, 2014 (rain date Dec 21)
3-4 Setup [an hour was the right amount of time.]
4:00 Event starts
4:45 Santa arrives on fire truck (per request to do this when not so dark/scary) [this time
worked really well. There wasn’t huge attendance at first but as we approached
4:30/4:45 things picked up and there was a nice crowd for Santa. I’d keep this time the
same next year. Any later and people will just show up later, plus I agree about keeping
his arrival before too dark.]
6:00 Event ends
6-6:30 Cleanup [this took until about 7:00, mostly because we took a while to decide
whether or not to leave lights up overnight.]
LUMINARIA SUPPLIES/SALES
• LINDA: order supplies and sell ahead of time at Linda’s house [sand delivery took
longer than Linda expected; supplies were supposed to be for sale starting Dec
6 but didn’t really happen until 10th or 11th.]
• MARC and JARROD: transport supplies from Linda's porch to park at 3:00pm,
replace sign with one directing people to buy supplies at park. leave some on
porch for sales there. ANNIE to make sign. [this worked well, at 2:30 they left
half a bag of sand and many bags and candles at Linda’s and brought the rest
to the park. At the park we sold all of the sand (4 bags) plus another half bag
someone donated. Lots and lots of candles and bags leftover.]
2-3
volunteers
to handle sales/answer questions MEGHAN with help from Jody,
•
Annie, Marc. [it was good to prep as many bags with sand as possible before
sales started at 3. One salesperson at a time was enough. ]
• money aprons for salespeople - borrow from GW PTA [these worked really well
because salesperson was walking/standing and not stationed at a table.
Feedback from salespeople was that aprons were appreciated.]
GLOW NECKLACES - We will give these out free to kids (ANNIE has) [These were
leftover from the TPNA Halloween party. Kids loved them and it was a really nice touch.
We gave out about 50-75. definitely recommend doing again. I returned the leftovers to
Jennifer Valentyn who had them after Halloween.]
DRINKS
JANICE: purchase, make and bring cocoa and hot cider. [from Janice: I made 5
•
gallons of cocoa and had probably less than 1/2 a gallon left over. There were
2 gallons of cider, and also a bit less than 1/2 gallon left. We used 2 /12 cans
of whipped cream, and 1 1/2 bags of mini- marshmallows. Heating the cider in
the crock pot worked, but we should really have a second one, so that we can
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
add cider as it is used without cooling off the whole supply. Again, the donuts
were a huge hit!]
need drink dispensers (ANNIE will bring one 5 gallon)
paper cups and napkins (JODY and JANICE), hand sanitzer (ANNIE)
bring crock pot (JENA) and extension cords for cider (ANNIE) [it worked well to have
the drinks table set up next to the grills, which served two purposes: blocked
off the grill area, which goes unused anyway and is a bit of a safety hazard
when dark; and crock pot was set up on table right next to gazebo post so we
could run power cords up the post and prevent tripping.]
need 1 table, 1 chair (ANNIE - GW PTA) [with hot chocolate and all the fixings plus
hot crock pot, big thermos and large box of doughnuts, one table wasn’t
enough. we put doughnuts on the grill which worked well. next year plan on 2
tables. also had a tablecloth which not only looked good and was a clean
surface to serve on, it also collected the many spills and protected the table
and made clean up easier]
need 2 volunteers to man the drink table at the park and handle sales (ELIZABETH,
JANICE) [Janice’s son also helped out. I think two at a time is a good number
for this station.]
money aprons for salespeople - (ANNIE) [again, these worked really well.
Janice said she preferred aprons to cashbox. cashbox takes up room on table.
aprons allow more than one person to easily handle sales and can walk around
without leaving cash unattended.]
DEB will donate Monuts doughnuts. These will be sold along with drinks. ANNIE will
coordinate delivery (3:30). [This was something Deb Dobbins volunteered to
do. It turned out she got them from Rise instead of Monuts. Huge hit, would
love to do again. No cost to TPNA, sold for $1 each. She bought 6 dozen, we
sold 4 dozen, then some of the volunteers bought another 18 or so at the end,
and the rest Annie brought to teachers at GW on Monday morning. She also
brought wax paper sheets to serve them with; there are tons of those leftover
for next TP event.]
all items $1 each
FOOD TRUCKS
• EMILY will coordinate. Mama Duke’s and Bang Bang Banh Mi are committed [both
turned out great, showed up on time and I heard only good things about them]
• For public event permit, food trucks need to be insured. (ANNIE-done) [try to get this
done early in the planning process next time. One truck turned out to have
expired insurance documents which delayed the permit until almost the very
last minute.]
• Parking plan - no parking signs and cones early on Sunday (ANNIE), pre-park cars
(JENA, EMILY, JODY) [this is what we ended up doing: Jena, Emily and Jody
parked their cars spaced out along on Watts right in front of park around 10:30
or 11 to block off the spaces. Then when food trucks arrived around 3:15/3:30
they were on hand to move their cars and let trucks take the spots. Jarrod also
parked his truck there at 3. This all worked well and I recommend doing it
again. 4 vehicles better than 3 for ~80’ total truck length.]
MUSIC
•
need sound system (JEFF), iPod with Pandora or other Christmas music
streaming, hot spot for wi-fi connection (ANNIE) [Jeff got sound system from
Bob Appleby. Worked well to plug in iPhone with iTunes Radio using wi-fi
hotspot. Sound system was set up in a shallow crate on top of one grill. This
was a good spot, out of the way, close to gazebo for power cord, and high
enough to project sound well.]
MEMBERSHIP TABLE
• JODY: work the table (this will be for 2015 memberships), also sell TP
gear. LINDA will get gear and prices to Jody [We sold 0 memberships and
1 $5 cookbook. Maybe not worth the effort, but nice to have a “welcome
table” set up. I thought the placement of this table just to left of main
gazebo entrance worked well.]
need
1
table, 1 chair (ANNIE - GW PTA) [also had a tablecloth, looked nice,
•
recommend doing again.]
need
1
money apron (ANNIE)
•
• PayPal swiper for credit card sales (JODY) [total credit/debit sales less PayPal
fee: 1 Cookbook $4.86, 2 cups of cider $1.95, 10 luminaria bags $4.86,
Total: $11.67. It was nice to offer credit/debit sales but Jody spent a fair
amount of time setting it all up and maybe in the end not worth the effort?]
SANTA VISIT/FIRE TRUCK
•
JEFF: coordinate DFD and Santa and candy cane purchase. [Aaron Lubeck did a
great job as Santa. Fire truck came on time. We didn’t block off any parking for
them and that worked out fine. There’s enough room along Trinity where there’s
no parking at the park corner; they planned to park there but ended up coming on
Watts and parking along Watts in front of food trucks. It all worked out with no
issues. Santa handed out small peppermints - one problem was lots of
celophane wrapper trash the next morning - and then came towards gazebo and
sang some songs sitting in a chair with guitar. The kids loved it. He’d planned to
plug in to sound system but that didn’t work out. When songs started, Jarrod
used megaphone to get kids to come listen.]
CHARITY COORDINATION
• PORCH-Durham approved as charity recipient [next year aim to have this approved
as early as possible so can include in newsletter article and early messaging]
• KATY: coordinate with charity, provide handouts and boxes for food donations,
coordinate food pick-up [this all worked great. not a lot of food donations, but
some.]
PUBLICITY AND PERMITS
• LINDA: newsletter article (done) [great to have this delivered before event. This
means getting event details worked out AT LEAST 3 weeks before event, but
4-5 would be a lot better]
• ANNIE: listserv and Facebook posts (ongoing) [see below]
• MARC: website (done), tweets (ongoing) [good to have tweets right at start time
getting people to come to park]
• sign for park bulletin board (ANNIE will put up tomorrow) [ideally I would’ve done this
earlier, like 1-2 weeks before event. Decided against posters due to cost]
• ANNIE: permit for public event (done) [Permit application needs to be submitted 15
working days before event. Evidently this used to be handled by the Police
Department and now is being switched over to Parks and Rec. There was
some confusion between the two departments, but in the end it all worked
out. The two big issues are food trucks and street closure. I decided not to
request street closure because 1) it seemed unnecessary and 2) it requires
notifying affected houses and I just didn’t have time to do that. In my opinion
it worked fine to keep street open, and whoever was in charge deemed it safe
enough to issue the permit. Regarding food trucks, the only issue is they are
required to be insured. We knew this going in, so when we lined up food
trucks we asked about insurance. It turned out one of them had an expired
certificate, so we had to wait on that to get cleared up before they issued the
permit. Here are the contact people with each department:
Police: Rosemary M. Kearney (Administrative Assistant) (919)560-4935 ext. 29405,
rosemary.kearney@durhamnc.gov Parks and Rec: reservations@durhamnc.gov]
TRASH
ANNIE: call city 1 week before event to make sure trash cans are emptied before
•
event (done) [I did an online request via Durham One Call]
bring
extra
trash bags (ANNIE) [didn’t need them; park cans were enough, but good
•
to have just in case.]
RAIN DATE: Dec. 21 [yay, we didn’t need this! perfect weather on Dec. 14!]
•
verify all area coordinators available on this date
•
items affected: fire truck/Santa, food trucks, permit, trash can clean out, all
supplies
SET-UP
• need 4-5 volunteers to help with setup: COURTNEY, RUDY, JES, ANNE PIZER,
JARROD [Marc, Annie, Jody, Joe also helped. We got everything ready on
time. Aim for at least 6 people for this job]
decorate
gazebo (JES will procure decorations)
•
• hang Christmas lights (ANNIE has some, getting more) - need 4 long ones to
encircle the gazebo and one more to hang across gazebo for
extra light. [These came from Heather Wilson, who donated to
TPNA. Annie has at her home now for next event. Not sure
how many we ended up using but think more than 4. We strung
between gazebo posts and up one post]
• JODY to bring electrical power box key [A note on power: we strung the
extension cords from the power box overhead to the gazebo –
•
this was great to avoid tripping and worked well – and then
connected to Christmas lights in a circle around gazebo and
then to more extension cords running down a gazebo post in
order to connect to music and crock pot. This was a good set
up; Jarrod Ambrose knows the details.]
• sponsor banner—deliver and hang - JODY
• distribute and light luminarias around park LINDA WILL PREP 40 BAGS [We
could have easily used double this amount, but was great
(critical) to have them prepped before set up time. We set them
out on the steps (by food trucks) and paths leading to gazebo.
Someone (a Trinity Ave resident?) also set up a ton along
Trinity Ave sidewalk which was really nice. I think we started
lighting the candles around 4:30, before Santa came and before
it really started getting dark. They burned long enough to last
the rest of the event. It took a long time to light the 40, so plan
on starting earlier next year if do more than 40. Get maybe 3-5
volunteers each with a long lighter.]
music
•
• set up membership table area
• set up drink table area
• set up luminaria sales area
supplies needed (ANNIE will get): [next year, add to list: megaphone (Jody),
wipes to clean tables at end, more paper towels for spills. flashlights]
• extension cords (for music, lights, crock pot)
• hanging supplies for lights, sponsor banner (tape, zip ties, twine, scissors for
removing stuff at end)
long
lighters
for
park luminarias [need at least 3; 5 even better]
•
• trash bags
• scoops for sand
• broom for sand clean up
• mats to cover power cords on ground so people don’t trip. Or hang overhead?
[we hung overhead – see notes above]
• step ladder
• paper towels
• flash lights
• JANENE: petty cash - get $100 to Annie at or before 3:30 on 12/14 for drinks,
luminaria and membership salespeople [$100 was enough. We did $30 for
membership and drinks tables and $40 for luminaria; I believe in a mix of 1’s,
5’s, 10’s and one or two rolls of quarters.]
CLEANUP
• need 3-5 volunteers JENA, JARROD, EMILY
(JODY/JANICE/HOLLY/MEGHAN/GREG) to:
• Take down lights and decoration
• Take down and return sound system, music
• Return tables/chairs
• Drinks - clean up and return supplies
• Membership - unsold merchandise goes back to Linda?
• Luminaria supplies - return extras, sweep sand
• All trash picked up
• Money: ANNIE and (need a partner) will count, document and then bring to
JANENE’s house [Annie, Jody and Joe counted at the picnic tables under
the
REVENUE
Drink Revenue
200.95
Collected at the party at the Park
307.86
Collected by Linda Wilson
582.00
TOTAL REVENUE
1,090.81
gazebo during clean up. We counted the three tables (drinks, luminaria,
membership) separately. Two people counted each table to ensure accuracy.
Then I sent the totals to Janene by email and delivered the cash to her the
next day.]
JEFF
to
clean up park luminarias in morning [and leftover bits of trash]
•
Summary financial report:
EXPENSE
Reimbursed to Linda Wilson for candles
and bags
Sand donated by Linda Wilson
Drinks donated by Janice McCarthy
TOTAL EXPENSE
NET PROCEEDS
Check payable to:
PORCH-Durham
c/o Katy Barron
126.01
0.00
0.00
126.01
$964.80