Hello all you Healeyphiles, in this month’s newsletter you will find a new four-page Big Bear Gazette issue which is all about Conclave 2021.
When I wrote the copy for this (about a month ago in order to make the deadline for the Healey Marque magazine), I had no idea how clairvoyant It would prove to be. I knew at that time that Conclave registrations were coming in at a good pace, but “Selling out FAST” was a bit of a stretch! Well, here we are on November 1 and we are indeed “selling out fast”.
As of this writing, the host hotel, the Lodge at Big Bear, has been fully booked for two weeks, all 148 rooms.
We have made arrangements for alternative lodging at the Robin Hood Resort, just down the road and their 60 additional rooms will probably suffice. But housing is the easy part. The real challenge comes with hosting 400 guests.
As you know, every public space in a hotel has a fire department mandated capacity. The Lodge has a large banquet room and a public space upstairs consisting of a central lobby and several meeting rooms (we are calling this the Social Center). The capacities of these spaces, plus the outdoor pool patio, are just barely enough to hold our anticipated maximum numbers, but not without some rather unusual maneuvering.
For example, the Grand Banquet cocktail party will be held poolside, then (somehow) the group will move to the Social Center for dinner, and then move again to the ballroom for awards and closing ceremonies.
My head hurts just thinking about the logistics! But fear not, we will figure it out.
Another noteworthy characteristic of this group is that they are participators. Pretty much everyone is signing up for everything. The optional boat rides are sold out, despite doubling the number of cruises. We may have up to 100 cars at the Gymkhana! The Car Show will be over 150. With this level of anticipation and enthusiasm, we should have one heck of a good time. So, if you have not registered for Conclave yet, I urge you to do so before we have to go into “capacity control” mode.
To Register for Conclave 2021, go to: www.austin- healey.org, scroll down to the Conclave box and click register. You will have the option of registering online or downloading a mail in form.