Pre-Dig Gig, Rehash Bash and other Cooler events

I have a few Livestrong style wristbands

for door prizes.

Does this mean you are coming? :sheepish:

Newell park pavillion is the place.

Yes people have brought prizes in the past to hand out. Red Bear usually does that now. Im bringing the golden pick award for the finders. Pot luck food items to match clues etc. We usually figure things out as they happen there.

Weve been indoors since 2006. Exept last year.

should say 2007. 2006 was outside at BC and we all froze....nobody wanted to come and very few peeps did.

We did get smart a few years ago. Being out digging is one thing, being out standing around is another.

Last year we were out again at TS because the City of St. Paul wouldn't open that building with less than 7 days notice. That was cold too.

And now when folks know each other, it's not like the first rehash bash when we met face-to-face the first time - and I thought green was a guy until we got there.

:pbpt:

Plus, Newell has functioning indoor bathrooms. It was good last year, but it is really hard to serve hot food in the cold.

by the way, I call "Jumble-aya"

will there be lots of yellow mashed rice in it?

Redbear asked so nicely about Hedda Gabler Goulash, I'm honored to bring it. (I *was* going to bring a ridiculously decadent chocolate concoction)

I've got some great doorprize gifts, bear said he'd share the podium if I wanted to do it. Let's see how it goes. You guys are so incredible welcoming me back, it's good for my heart. I used the face book forum to unleash all my inane ramblings, and had a great time doing it. I hope I made many laugh. (I still like to do that)

Katie - welcoming you is our pleasure. It's great having you around here again.

well kt, you know what we say. you can log off anytime you like, but you can never leave.

we knew you never really left KT.

With all the recent snow and colder than originally expected temperaturoes, I think we'll have to forget about having a bonfire tomorrow.

I'm bringing borracho beans, hot dogs/buns, some plastic plates,

plastic silverware,and assorted condom mints.

I think I'm bringing some "Wind" Chili, with beans of course.

My borracho beans are for all those hot dogs that insisted Crosby

was THE ONE AND ONLY.

The food was awesome. The prizes were fitting. The cake was unbelievable.

But the best part of today's Rehash Bash were the people. Those that have been there for years, those that joined us for the first time today and those that were there in spirit.

Thanks to everyone who brought food to share, prizes, cake, plates, silverware, napkins and the camaraderie.

It was a super way to put this red herring, generally east, Joel Barker, Archimedes, lever hunt to rest.

wind chili - great name! I didn't get to try it though :frown:

Perfectly written Terry - THANK YOU.

Thank you everyone for being there in general - and thanks for your contributions -

HEY THANK YOU KT for working at getting those prizes... I know many people contributed - but I also know what you did to get a couple of those gifts in time for the event. I told you recently that you are a gem... a brilliant cut!

Just checked with Joseph's and it looks like we are already set to go for next year, Saturday, January 18th.

Just to be perfectly clear this year, there is a $500 minimum on the room. Barring a widespread wave of sobriety and dieting amongst the Cooler Crew, the chances of us not meeting that minimum are basically 0%, so there's no need to worry about that. However, they do want to limit the menu in the dining room to a banquet menu. I thought the pasta bar worked well last year, especially since it's not as important to have an exact number, it offered some variety, and it was really good. I think we had about 40 people go for that option. Otherwise you can order food in the dining room or bar, pay for it at your table, and then take it to the banquet room. After the dinner rush, by 8 or 9pm, we'll probably be taking over the dining room as well anyway.

Thanks Allison! That pasta bar was perfectly scrumptious. Reminds me we need to do that again some Wednesday evening soon.

I'm all in for the pasta bar at Joseph's on the 18th.

Looks like Y'all are getting ready to dig in spite of the weather.... :grin: Go for it!! I'll watch right here from the sidelines in NW WI and cheer you on!!

donna i can't believe you weren't in the cc group on facebook. you've been added.

Is Neck allowed at the PDG?

I didn't even know it was on FB...Thanks, I'll check it out tomorrow....it's pain to do it on this tablet. :smile:

Has anyone thought about what they're bringing to the Rehash Bash this year?

I have a couple thoughts. Not sure yet.

Maybe some Way Too Chili.

I'll bring all beef hot dogs + buns + various condiments.

we're bringing "froze 'em right off shrunken weiners" in a "delightful" barbecue sauce, and "i found a yellow frisbee in the snow but i thought it might be a frozen dog pee" lemon bars.

* LIKE **

Called the Parks Dept. today and they said they wanted 7 BUSINESS days, so definitely too late on that. Sent an email to the building manager about the Mason Lodge asking how much it would be and more importantly, how early we could get in there since there's a church that rents it in the morning. Otherwise I will find a place by the end of the day.

thanks, aw!

It looks like my Mason Lodge is a go if we want it. Cluemaster talked to the parks department since he is better at sweet talking people and they were supposed to call him back to see if they would do it. Not sure what the result of that is at the moment. But it will be one of those two places. More details to come.

I just talked to the Parks Dept and they went ahead and gave us approval to use Newell this Sunday from 12-3. I decided to go ahead and stick with the known quantity in this case.

can a mod update the header?

done

you know it starts at 10am right?

heh

So just for the record, the building at Newell cost #150 to rent. This year when I got home I counted it up and I had $233. That's been somewhat typical to collect something in the $200 range.

Last year, just to clarify, for the Pre-Dig I wanted to make sure it worked at Joseph's because I believed it would be a good venue for us. So I told people the pasta bar was $15 (which it was) so that we'd get enough interest in it and they would want us there as well. That all seemed to work. But in truth it was $15 plus tax and tip. I collected a bit in tips but still made up the difference myself (which I had decided to do ahead of time). But when we had extra money from the Rehash, I just kept it to help pay for the difference from the Pre-Dig which no one I've told has had an issue with yet. But that's where the money went last year.

but now the question is what to do with the money going forward? One thought I had is if we usually collect something closer to $200, maybe we should just rent the place for 4 hours instead of 3 so that people can linger longer at the end? Another suggestion was to save it up so that once every 3 years or so we can skip the collection process. Another idea is to put it toward a mock hunt prize. In the past, I think it ended up getting donated towards some cause we were raising money for. Other years I believe the extra went back to people who had supplied prizes.

Anyone have any feelings on this?

In other news, I gave out 80 tickets today at the Rehash and everyone, including kids, got one except for Downtown Dave (he got there towards the end of the door prize phase and didn't want to bother). So we actually have an official tally of 81 people at the Rehash Bash. I thought the crowd was comparable to past years so I guess that means 80 or so is our typical crowd, while I'm pretty sure the PreDig was closer to 100.

A couple of thoughts for excess $:

Snowflake fund

Donation to the parks department? Maybe we can buy a brick at Como or a bench plaque for the Cooler Crew! :smile:

Bench Plaques run appx $2000 for the rehab of the bench + the cost of

the plaque ($350+).

http://www.stpaul.gov/index.aspx?NID=975&ART=2023&ADMIN=1



The Como Zoo and Conservatory brick program has been discontinued due

to lack of space.

http://www.comozooconservatory.org/support/annualfund/bricks/#/bricks

Now that I think about it, who did donate the golden (whatever that was) to the finder? They could certainly be reimbursed. With the exception of $20 that was expressly meant to go towards the Mock Hunt if not needed for the rental, the money that was donated was done so with the intention of supporting a Cooler Crew event. So maybe it's best to just use it to maybe pay for the DJ at the Pre-Dig next year or get some specific prizes for the Rehash.

david, i'm completely fine with what you did last year too for the overage. had i known i'd have chipped in more that night for us. worked well this year too.

as for the overage, i don't think going 4 hours is a great idea, just because come 4 you're starting to come close to super bowl time (if we could get the nfl to reschedule the game around us .......). 3 hours was just about perfect for the length. i know i said if you collect enough to dump my excess into the mock hunt fund, but if the consensus is that we want to build up a reserve and go for free every few years, i'm fine with that as well. honestly, that actually gets my first vote.

becks, the snowflake fund is sitting at 65 bucks and change right now for this year. hopefully we won't have to dip into it. we had a great showing this year, and i've actually told a couple of people who wanted to get in late to hang on to it for next year (not that j and i wouldn't take it at any time if someone really insisted).

personally i'd rather just keep the funds separate for their separate purposes.