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Possibilities and Pondering for 2022

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Its obvious how much time has passed since we have posted to you, oh website. Lockdown 2020 happened, and I told you what was happening. A short time later Stego had to make that call to OC Parks related to our annual event (which had to be canceled). Even then we had a feeling that what was happening then, was not going to go away anytime soon. Im sure many people noticed that there hasn’t been any new things to update you guys with (beyond us tweeting and retweeting some small things from our Twitter acct)

Once our calendar was taken down, I (Kat) tried to think about what we might do in the meantime. We knew some of our community had gone deeper into social media, and taking things online (using services like Twitter and Discord to notify people of a live stream, online art jams, and the like). Virtual events are definitely an option, which brought thoughts back to a “locals directory”, an idea I had before and had since shelved. However, it seemed that, when I entertained the idea to others (Local community, mid 2020), I just got a lot of silence back. With everyone’s social bandwidth so low, and the massive effect on others’ mental health, I definitely did not want to push further.

So, I just kept watch on some things within the furry community. I took mental notes as we began to learn more and more about the virus and its transmission. While we stood fast against the compulsion to let fear run our lives, there was no time I felt comfortable bringing the calendar back. As it was, I had seen some dangers in one or two of the local organizers, who seemed to still want to run events, when there was still no vaccine available (and one of those two events was being held indoors with no change to capacity limits). We noted this (and who these people were), but were pleased to see that a decent chunk of SoCal fandom locals were being careful.

I would think back on things and wonder “What can we do with our site that makes sense in the now? Is now an okay time to try and posting events again?” Honestly, I still would like some input from people on this, especially as I watch how things work in the aftermath of a convention weekend and people posting their COVID test results. With the pandemic, things can change and I want to do things with as much room to change with any new factors related to mitigating transmission. I have been writing down some ideas on how we can tailor our events calendar and provide some degree of safety considerations for people to think about as they get back out there. Would anyone be interested in helping out with our website with what we could plan?

Composition showing a poll started by SoCal Furs in March of 2022. The results are shown at the bottom.

I’m still going through some of the technical aspects to our site. SoCalFurs.com currently uses WordPress, and will be using the Modern Events Calendar plugin for posting events. I have been playing with labeling and tagging functions over on my test server (see this progress thread). .There is potential to (still) do something with this website, and I know it. If you share this sentiment (maybe you were one of the people who answered our poll), please reach out via our contact page. My overall schedule and work-fun balance is not as consistent as it once was but, Im usually around and hang out in the SoCal Furs’ Telegram chat. Id love to (finally) bring more people into the circle and make a good effort on this.

FurBQ Recon Mission Report

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One of the things done during that trip to the Prancing Skiltaire was to visit Irvine Regional Park to get the scoop on what could be in store for the SocalFurs FurBQ this spring.

In talking to the ranger on Saturday, we learned one thing …. our FurBQ is definitely going to require us to plan even further in advance simply because people have already begun reserving these areas in May, despite that this is 3 months away.  Of course this requires additional resources and planning now that we are no longer in the “free to the first person” picnic areas.

From pricing and specific location within the park, we have found a great spot that can hold the size of our crowd:

The Good Stuff

  • 3 Grilling Areas – BBQ Grills are scattered around this group picnic area.  Each one is off to the side and therefore will keep foot traffic near hot grills to a minimum. With more grills to use, this may mean we can designate one or two of them for dietary accommodations (e.g. fish allergies, vegan diet, etc..)
  • Plenty of shade – The seating area sits under a canopy of trees. This should keep guests and our grillmasters out of the sun and help prevent overheating.
  • Cement surfaces in the grilling areas – For years, we have had to spend a bit of our prep time making sure we have room for food prep.  While we will need to get some plastic covering for the 2 cement “tables”, we now have many more surfaces to work with.
  • Open field for sports – While not part of the reserved area, there is an open grassy field where people can play volleyball, frisbee and other activities where a large area is needed.  This area exists a short distance away, but is far enough away from the hazards of our grilling and eating areas.

The Not-So-Great

  • Parking  – OC Parks offers no reserved parking with any of the group picnic areas. Parking wont be any worse than before, so we will need to remain considerate of other guests at the park by not blocking right-of-ways.  This site has 2 parking lots nearby that are first-come-first-served. From there, people will have to find whatever parking available and be prepared for a walk to/from the picnic grounds.
  • Less Bathroom Stalls – This group area is located towards the back of the park, which still has yet to get its modern upgrades.  The bathrooms closest to this site are not unisex bathrooms like our old lot.  The “men’s” bathroom has 3 small stalls and 3 urinals.  The “women’s” bathroom has 4 stalls.  There is another set of bathrooms in the field area nearby, but it will require a walk.

Where do we go from here? Lets Decide!

During our visit, we got a list of days that are still available for booking this area. Once the $300 reservation payment is submitted, the spot is reserved.  Because reservations are first-come, first-served, we need to be quick about it. Please use this poll to choose what you want to be as our FIRST CHOICE when we set up our reservation with OC Parks.

What weekend should we book for our annual FurBQ?

 This poll was closed

The above poll will close as of Saturday, February 27th, at 23:59. Second and third choices will be gathered based on what comes in 2nd and 3rd place.