Some quick notes:
Hotel
The host hotel (Best Western) is completely booked, and we account for 71 of the 99 rooms. We do have one room that has become available. If you are interested please contact me ASAP so that I can put you in touch with the person holding the reservation. Also please note that the hotel has rolled the room price back to the $115 of last year (rather than the quoted $118 this year) for Cirque attendees. It's not much, but it's still a nice gesture on the part of the hotel, since June hotel rooms are at a premium in Leesburg. I've been assured that all Cirque reservations have been noted for the price adjustment, but check with them just to be sure, and let me know if there is a problem.
Fairgrounds
After some difficulties, much negotiation and several delays, we have finally made some progress with implementing improvements at the Fairgrounds. Unfortunately, we won't really realize much of that for the Cirque this year. In fact, we came close to not having the Fairgrounds at all, and there are very few alternatives, all of which cost substantially more money. The good news is that NEXT YEAR, contracts will be in place to significantly improve the entire grounds, and the large building we use will have a paved floor! Of course, we have to get through this year before we even consider what might happen next year.
Auction
We have not had time to post much about the Auction, but much is happening nevertheless. We will have some really nice things available this year, but we can still use more. We are trying to promote quality over quantity, and hope to have a lot of top quality items. Please consider donating something to our effort.
Show
We are almost finished drafting new show categories, as well as basic criteria for judging and presentation of awards in all categories. Not all categories will have the exact same criteria, rather some will hopefully be more specific to the age group and category type. Much more detail about all this will be posted in a specific update in a couple days. In addition to the call for volunteers below, we need people willing to step-up and consider being a judge for the show. If you are willing to at least consider the possibility, please contact me (off list, of course).
Call for Volunteers
We need volunteers in a number of critical areas:
Fairgrounds - We need a set-up crew for the Fairgrounds Saturday early evening. This job consists primarily of marking vendor spaces and setting tables and chairs. Last year, Harvey Sachs headed up this effort, but sadly, Harvey has out-of-town obligations this year and will not be able to attend the Cirque. This is not a terribly hard job, and goes fairly quickly, but is very important.
We also need a few people to assist with some set-up on Sunday morning. This is primarily for setting signage, putting bags in and placing trash cans and other last-minute tasks.
We will also need help at the end of the show on Sunday to fold and stack table and chairs, remove and stack fencing sections, collect trash and move it to the on-site dumpster, and put trash cans back in their designated spot.
Hotel - We could really use someone with just a little audio video expertise to help with the sound system, mics, projector & computer interface, and screen. These items will also need to be moved to the Fairgrounds and set up on Sunday morning.
Ride leaders - Please think about leading, or at least co-leading one of the rides (especially all you locals). Tom Roberson is fine tuning the same routes we used last year, and we will have comprehensive cue sheets available. I can lead the fixed gear ride, but I can't do all of them.
I'm sure there are other things that I can't think of at the moment, or that will come up at the last minute that could certainly use some helping hands. If you can help in any of the areas indicated, or maybe some others, please contact me (again, of list). All volunteers will get some schwag of some sort. Hopefully, it will be at least a Cirque T-Shirt. In another unfortunate twist, the company that did our shirts last year, and was slated to do them again this year, just went belly-up with no notice. I thought it was unusual when I was calling them last week to confirm delivery dates and kept getting an answering machine. Today I only got a cannot-connect message, and the web site was blank. Just another Cirque challenge, I guess.
Please volunteer! Looking forward to seeing you all soon!!
Wayne Bingham
Lovettsville VA USA