Hey Minnesota, would you like to run a Hamfest?

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Category: Club Business

Published on Monday, 20 February 2012 11:00

Written by Rusty - KC0VCU

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I'm putting this in Club Business, because it really is the business of the Twin Cities FM club. For years the TCFMC derived most of it's operating funds from the Minnesota Hamfest. I have it on good authority that it's also known as 'The Big One!'

At one of the very first TCMFC meetings I attended, the decision had been made that the club was not going to run the convention that year. I'm not going to go into why, or whether it was a good decision. Neither of those really matter. At the time it was the decision that the board made based on what they saw happening in the Amateur radio community.

The club has been looking for ways to improve our revenue stream. We are after all interested in getting a radio shack going again so that club members in restricted areas can get on the air, and we can provide the community services that our club provides for events such as the Twin Cities Marathon. Along with keeping three repeaters on the air and in good locations, and other activities that we would like to do, we need to do more than club membership provides for at the moment.

The Minnesota Hamfest has also been one of the really great ways we've had to increase membership. People come to the hamfest, say "I want to get involved!" and one of the ways we get them involveed is to get them to join the club.

That said, running a hamfest is a lot of work. And no one on the board is sitting around with nothing to do. We need members to step up and say "I want to do this!" That's where you come in.

I've set up a couple of pages outlining what we are trying to do at this point. Start by going to http://www.hamfestminnesota.org/ If you are telling someone over the air, or on the phone, a shorter link is hfmn.org which takes you to the same place. There you will find a couple of links, one to say "I'm not quite ready to commit, but keep me in the loop." and another where you can say "I'll Help!" and each of them link to pages where you can provide your contact information. 

I'm going to open the invitation up to non-club members, and even non-hams in the next couple of days, but I wanted to get this onto the TCFMC page first. Our club members deserve the opportunity to step up first. You've already put time and money into the club, here's an opportunity to help in a venture that gives far more people the ability to see what the club does, and can do.

Thank you.

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