Doc. # 2009-
Community Relations Committee
Cayuga Lake Watershed Network
May 4, 2009 Minutes
King Ferry Hotel, King Ferry NY

Present: Ronda Fessenden, Karen Philip, John Mawdsley, and Carmel Schmidt.

Project: Fund raising event for Cayuga Lake and its creeks.

Event Name: Sunset on Cayuga. The committee brain stormed multiple types of events ranging from a beer/wine festival to a formal black tie event. Decision. Casual event with a dinner and auctioning of vendor sponsored items with a goal of 250 people attending.

Location: Lake Watch Inn on East Shore Drive in Lansing.
Decision: Karen Philip will be the liaison to Lake Watch Inn to finalize the number of guests, dinner arrangements and alcoholic beverage selections.

Date: Saturday, September 26th from 5 pm to 9 pm.

Cost/Person: $45 per person, $80 per couple. Each ticket will provide two drink vouchers for attendees. We offer special table purchases for 8: $500 for Small Mouth Bass and $750 for Large Mouth Bass. There will be special recognition for the tables with wine/champagne, door prizes and center pieces. We will need assistance from the board for table prizes.
Decision: Board members and Committee members to explore
companies/vendors for prize items.

Auction Items: Each committee member will list 50 potential vendors for auction item donations with a goal of obtaining 300 items to auction off at an average bid of $50 to raise $15,000.

Ticket Printing: Karen Philip will explore printing of 275 tickets at no charge. Carmel Schmidt will draft a ticket layout with a jpg sunset on Cayuga Lake. The ticket draft will be sent to Ronda to show the Board. We would like to have the tickets with stubs to use for the alcoholic beverage voucher.
Decision: Each Board member will receive 10 tickets to sell. Tickets can be purchased from the CLWN website.

Advertising: Carmel Schmidt will work with Hilary Lambert to draft a flyer containing information on the silent auction and raffle items. The flyers will be ready for posting, faxing and other distribution by the end of the month. We will start save the date promotional advertising in local newspapers and radio stations to run the beginning of June, July and August. Advertising will be daily starting September 1st.
Decision: The flyers will be created using Publisher through the CLWN office. Information about Sunset on Cayuga should be posted on the CLWN website as soon as possible. We will sell tickets at the Meyers Point Harbor Festival booth.

Silent Auction: Ronda Fessenden will work with Keith Tidball and Ed Harwood to obtain items for the silent auction. The Bass Pro Shop, Boat Yard Grill and Jewel Box have already been contacted for auction items.
Decision: Keith will be the auctioneer. All auction items should be identified and listed with the dollar value by August 1. The committee will create the auction sheets with the starting bid and minimum bid increments. The committee will check with Lake Watch Inn to determine if a gaming permit is required for the silent auction. We will need someone to collect the cash and checks for auction items.

Entertainment: A suggestion was made to have two bands play at the event. The committee has a budget of up to $600 to spend on entertainment. The Bottom Feeders will play for the first two hours during dinner. The Committee would like to have a dance band for the later hours. Through the search for a band it was recommended that we have one band due to the time it takes to set up for the event. It would be difficult to accomplish the transition during a dinner event.
Decision: None at this point. It may be possible to use both bands by using the covered deck overlooking the lake as a second entertainment area.
Decorations: The initial idea was to obtain flower arrangements as donations from local florists. Times are tough and florists are unable to donate at this time.
Decision: Committee members will work together to make center pieces.

Event Slogan: A slogan or script about the event and CLWN is needed for Board and Committee members to use to sell tickets and to create awareness about the organization.
Decision: Ronda and John will talk about with Board members.

Next Meeting Date: Monday, May18 at King Ferry Hotel

Meeting Minutes respectfully submitted by Carmel Schmidt, scribe.