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If you’ve checked the events calendar on the Club website lately, you might have noticed that we’ve not yet listed a date for the 4th Annual Burning Wreck Barbecue, which is typically held in September, and for the last three years has been held at the Crowne Plaza in Irvine (home of West Coast Melee.)
As many of you know, the Burning Wreck Barbecue is an outgrowth of the Club tradition of having a Mexican barbecue sometime near Cinco de Mayo. That event, which we referred to as our “Cinco de Gringo†barbecue, was a one day pot-luck affair where we met, played, and sampled each others favorite Mexican dishes while consuming various alcholic beverages.
What we’ve come to notice with the 2-day format of the Burning Wreck Barbecue is a steady decline in attendance on the 2nd day. The event typically draws about 22 – 25 members on Saturday, but of those only about 10 or so actually stay over and play on Sunday. The event is not cheap to organize; the facility rental alone is $660 for the two days, plus roughly $20 per person for dinner, plus the cost of free beer and soda for both days. We charge a $20 entry fee, which defrays the cost of the dinner, but the Club’s net outlay is in excess of $700. Added to that is the fact that in each of the previous three years we have not been able to arrange a truly satisfactory group dinner. For our first two years we let the hotel cater the dinner, and in both cases they bungled it badly. Last year we went to El Torito’s but even there the service was so inept I felt compelled to give the manager a much deserved chewing out. (But hey, on the plus side, at least they knocked something off the tab.) Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind the Club spending the money if it’s a popular event and a significant portion of the membership participates. But in my mind, from a cost vs benefit perspective, the current format just isn’t cutting it. The Club Officers have agreed that we should take the 2-day Crowne Plaza format off the table in favor of some alternative.
That leads us to the question: Where do we go from here? We are at present looking at several alternatives that will entail a return to a one day format along the lines of our old Cinco de Gringo events. Depending on the availability of a venue, we're tentatively looking to hold this event on either the 4th or 5th Saturday in October, when we can take advantage of the cooler weather. Our goal is to organize an event that will deliver all of the enjoyment you've come to expect from the Burning Wreck Barbecue, but in a much more cost-effective one day format.
It is my goal to have the details for the 4th Annual Burning Wreck Barbecue nailed down by the middle of August, and as soon as we do, I'll get that information to you via our e-group and website. Stay tuned.
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