Special Event at 2011 SummerFest: Thursday, August 4th.
SummerFest: Friday, Saturday & Sunday, August 5,6 & 7th
Where:
JunglePlex located in Plymouth, MA.
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Welcome to my first Martial Art SummerFest update. Running a successful camp is a lot of work and requires lots of support and help from my friends. After many years of conducting the camp at the Mass Maritime Academy, Sue and I decided to try out a different facility and to make a few important changes that many people have suggested.
Many of our participants are over 40 and found the dormitory room setup uncomfortable. . . especially trying to get into the bunk bed which was six feet off the ground! Rain, although something we never had to deal with, is always a possibility and a potential problem we didn’t want to deal with. The Maritime cafeteria served OK food, but for many camp participants, dining at local restaurants is a preferred option. Probably the biggest pain for everyone was the drive to camp while fighting Cape Cod traffic.
The new facility in Plymouth is easy to reach from Boston and other locations. Local hotels are cooperating by offering discounts for early reservations and we are working at getting local restaurants to give our people discounts.
And with 60,000 square feet of workout area, plus many rooms for “breakout” sessions and a full service lounge and cafereria for snacks, our camp should run smoothly and stress free.
I’ve been working with a number of senior martial artist who are skilled in conducting major sporting and educational events in order to find out other areas of SummerFest that need updating, modification and improvement. Some of the areas we are working on include:
1. Identify and finalize the Presenter list for the three days of camp as soon as possible.
2. Create a new and well organized website with easy to find links and topics.
3. Publish an advanced schedule of seminars in order for participants to review and sort out their list of seminars to attend during the three days.
4. Map out the facility with clearly defined seminar areas so presenters and participants will easily be able to find them.
5. Publish a list of local hotels and restaurants with discounted rates for camp attendees.
6. Because this will be a very important camp for many of us, it has been suggested that we adopt a dress code for working out. I would like to hear from you on how you feel about wearing a lightweight gi bottom, camp t-shirt and karate belt? I kind of like this idea.
I’ll be continuing to work on this site and hope to have all the important information up by the end of May. Early registrations, hotel room reservations and airline tickets should be done as soon as possible. Airline fares continue to fluctuate and you should start checking them out now to get your best deal.
Looking forward to seeing you at camp this year,
George Mattson