From the Harrowgate Heath Meeting: more about scheduling events

This weekend Harrowgate Heath hosted its all Candidates meeting on Sunday afternoon. Gina did a terrific job chairing it. After the round of questions we had an opportunity to mingle with a number of friends we had not seen in a while. While we chatted, the topic of event scheduling came up again. Many members expressed support for moving towards a more co-operative event scheduling process of some kind. However, not everyone is willing to acknowledge the conflicts we have had and the potential for future ones. Unfortunately even some of those who see the problem feel like the solution is out of reach because the issue has been raised occasionally for many years with no progress being made.

Not everyone understood the importance of the latest proposal; to put at least a two week buffer between events in the Barony. It was proposed so that fewer people have to make the choice to attend one Skrael event over another. Over the years we have observed that even members of the Barony will choose between which Event to attend if two of them are scheduled close to each other. Obviously people outside the Barony who have to travel further are more likely to choose only one of two Events in the Barony if they are scheduled too close to each other.

As an example, this problem was last encountered when Hare and Hallowmas were only one week apart; many people felt they had to choose between the two. It could be a problem again in the future when our Barony has the opportunity to host Kingdom level events, such as a Spring Coronation or Crown Tournament. Poor scheduling could seriously impact traditional spring events such as Dandelion Festival or other spring events a Canton may wish to introduce. It would be better to work together to have our events spread out so that people can enjoy as many of the events offered in Skrael as possible.

We do see this as a real problem, but we also have faith that a solution can be found. It will require perseverance, understanding and compromise. A little effort now could lead to years of lower stress, more enjoyable event planning in the future. You can count on us to consider how our actions now could impact our Barony and it's residents in the future.