McHenry Times

City of Harvard Events Committee met July 20.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

Chairman Laura Evers called the meeting to order at 5:34 pm. Committee members present: Laura Evers, Raul Meza, Scott Logan, Lori Moller, Sonia Hernandez, Derek Malinowski, Francine Sinderson and Katie Sumano. A quorum was present. Mayor Kelly was also in attendance.

PUBLIC COMMENT

None

MINUTES - APPROVED

A motion was made by Francine Sinderson, seconded by Sonia Hernandez to approve the Events Committee Meeting Minutes of June 15 and June 30, 2021, as presented. All ayes. Motion carried.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Treasurer Logan reviewed the Treasurer’s Report and noted several revenue updates. The sponsor check from FNBO in the amount of $500 has been received. There is an open sponsor invoice for Harvard Savings Bank in the amount of $100 and an outstanding payment for electric from one of the vendors. Overall revenue is $2,409.77. A motion was made by Scott Logan, seconded by Lori Moller to accept the Treasurer’s Report as presented. All ayes. Motion carried.

CORRESPONDENCE

A form letter was received from Free Spirit Siberian Rescue with a request to host a live demonstration of their sled dogs in exchange for a generosity donation to their rescue. Scott noted that they are invited to participate in Christmas in Harvard and other events, but they usually decline to participate.

COMMUNITY MOVIE NIGHT

Swank Movie Licensing/Public Performance Site License Renewal - Approved

A motion was made by Scott Logan, seconded by Derek Malinowski to pay the license renewal fee in the amount of $517 to be renewed effective September 1, 2021. Chairman Evers will contact Jay Schulz to see if the radio station would consider helping cover the cost of the renewal in the amount of $175. All ayes. Motion carried.

OUTDOOR MOVIES AT THE LIBRARY

There were 15 people in attendance at the outdoor movie night on July 16th. The Events Comm. has a portable speaker which was purchased a number of years ago which worked fine for the movie night. The final outdoor movie night will be held on August 20, 2021, showing Wonder.

TRUNK OR TREAT

The Committee discussed establishing subcommittees and a budget to host a Trunk or Treat event on Raul’s property on Johnson St. on Saturday, October 30thfrom 2 - 4 pm. For a two hour event, porta-pots shouldn’t be necessary. There was discussion about groups that would participate and whether they would do both our event and Chevy’s which is typically held on the Sunday before Halloween. The Committee would need to seek approval from the City Council to close Johnson St. from the entrance of the bank ATM to Front St. at either the August or September City Council Meeting. The item was tabled until August.

CHRISTMAS IN HARVARD – SATURDAY, DECEMBER 4

Laura recommended that the subcommittees try to find people outside of the Events Committee to help with their respective subcommittes, with no more than two Event Committee members on each subcommittee.

Subcommittees were set up as follows:

a) Advertising & Marketing (Raul/Derek)

b) Breakfast with Mrs. Claus (Laura)

c) Christmas Tree Project (Laura)

d) Coloring Contest (Janet)

e) Craft Show (Francine/Lori)

f) Crafts, Adult & Kids (Katie/Library)

g) Entertainment (Derek)

Laura noted that Tina is storing the lights for the light tunnel. She will contact MCC for the music.

h) Holiday Decorating Contest (Francine/Katie)

i) HFPD (Laura)

j) Parade (Scott)

k) Raffle (Sonia will ask Women for Harvard. If not, maybe either the Chamber or Events Comm. could do the raffle. There was also discussion to just cancel the raffle as not a lot of revenue is generated.)

l) Refreshments (Lori will ask Dawn Bihlmaier/4-H)

m) Sponsorship (Laura)

Laura will contact those businesses that didn’t donate to the Feastival but who have sponsored Christmas in Harvard in the past. The goal moving forward is to seek sponsorship/partners at the beginning of the year for an annual bundled partnership that would generate sufficient revenue for all of our events instead of seeking funds for each event. Levels under consideration are $7,500, $5,000, $2,500, $1,500, $1,000, $500, $250 and $100. There was additional discussion about this model for sponsorship. Payment could be made in installments. In order to proceed, the Committee will need to determine next year’s events and an approximate budget for each.

Laura would also like to do a thank you letter to the Feastival Sponsors before our next meeting that would be individually signed by the Committee members. Raul suggested using the video from Brown Dog Media to promote our events and recruitment for future events.

Mayor Kelly left the meeting at 5:55 pm.

Sub-Committees were directed to get their budget for Christmas in Harvard to Scott before the next meeting.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Ruth and Ryan Ready addressed the Committee with several suggestions for the Feastival and other events. Ruth noted there are other successful trunk or treat events in the community (1st United Methodist/Trinity Lutheran as well as Chevy) and suggested the Committee consider a way to target Jr. High and High School students. After discussion, the Committee decided not to move forward with the Trunk or Treat this year and consider something for next year such as a haunted house to target older students and engage the students to help plan and coordinate the event.

The Committee reviewed Ruth and Ryan’s email. Ruth is a teacher and Ryan has a lot of experience in sound, staging, lighting, etc. They would like to volunteer their help/skills to plan for next year’s Feastival as well as other events.

RED, WHITE & BLUE FEASTIVAL, JULY 3, 2021

Review/Comments

Advertising/Promotion (Derek, Sonia, Katie)

• Consider funded Facebook advertisement

• Larger banner placed on the empty lot at Five-Points. Also need signs at major entrances into town.

Beer Tent (Scott)

• Add more drink choices for women

• More volunteers; try to get local businesses to run the beer tent (2 hour shifts)

• Get couple of feather banners

• Sell drink tickets for $5 each with no discount for the purchase of 5 tickets

Cleanup (Francine)

• Don’t need as many trash barrels, 40-50 should be sufficient.

Dunk Tank (Tami Logan)

The Police Dept. and Fire Dept. were short on manpower this year and were not able to provide volunteers for the dunk tank. The activity was cancelled and All State Insurance requested reimbursement of their sponsorship. The Committee discussed asking other groups/organizations to volunteer for next year.

Entertainment (Derek)

• Derek had good feedback from the bands on our sound guy, but his price was $650 higher than 2 yrs ago. For future reference, Francine said her son Blaine and two of his friends do sound for big venues. • The Mariachi band was great but not loud enough; consider having them perform on stage. • Include language in next year’s contract for the last band to play patriotic music during the fireworks.

Fireworks (Scott)

Once a date is set, Scott will contact Mad Bomber Fireworks to schedule a fireworks show for next year.

Food/Game Vendors (Lori, Laura, Katie)

• Have more Food Trucks. The Subcommittee has discussed having 12 entrée vendors next year, not including dessert type vendors. Laura said one of the food vendors suggested keeping the food vendors lined up together to be fair to all the vendors. Laura suggested having the vendors line up facing each other on the opposite side of the path.

• Have a vendor that includes coffee in their menu.

• Laura is planning on getting her food handlers license for next year.

• Sonia suggested including a way to recycle.

• We may need to invest in more cable ramps

A motion was made by Katie Sumano, seconded by Derek Malinowski to hold next year’s Food Truck Feastival on Saturday, July 2nd, 2022, from 2- dark. All ayes. Motion carried.

Grounds Layout (Derek/Mayor)

• Get a large tent to provide more shaded area for seating.

• Have a better digital map for next year. This year the map was changed mainly due to a lot of last minute changes. Now that we have had the event at the park, it should be easier to lay out next year.

Organization Liaison/Activities (Scott/Laura)

• Need a point person to maintain a volunteer data base

• More kids activities with the following suggestions: water balloons, bounce house, art project, science truck, zip lining, rock climbing, misting station. The Boy Scouts indicated they had a couple activities they might be able to provide next year.

• Flea market and/or craft show

• More local volunteers. Consider joining the Volunteer Center for McHenry County or partner with other communities.

• Ask a group that has a bingo license to participate.

• Derek reported that the Corn Hole Tournament went well with 10 participants. The registration fee was used as a cash payout for the winners who also received trophies that were donated by First Place Promotions.

Porta Pots/Dumpster

There weren’t any issues, but it was suggested that we have two banks of porta pots. It was more cost effective this year to have one bank which reduced the need for wash stations/hand sanitizers.

Sponsorship (Laura/Lori)

No additional report.

Other

Line the drive into Milky Way Park with American flags (30-40)

Derek related that we will need to make a deposit of around $1,200 to reserve the stage for next year which will use about half of our existing budget surplus. It was noted that expenses for Christmas in Harvard are very minimal.

EVENTS COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

Sheila Henson asked the Committee to consider a Farmer’s Market and has offered space at J’s Lanes. Laura will reach out to a couple people to see about moving forward with a market this year.

EVENTS COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

No additional report.

MAYOR’S REPORT

No report.

UPCOMING MEETING DATE

The next meeting is Wednesday, August 17, 2021, at 5:30 pm.

At 7:00 pm, a motion was made by Francine Sinderson, seconded by Sonia Hernandez to adjourn the meeting. All ayes. Motion carried.

https://www.cityofharvard.org/sites/default/files/fileattachments/events_committee/meeting/14217/minutesevents2021-07-20.pdf