Community Village Minutes 9-10-2026

Community Village Minutes 9-10-2026

Council present: Karla, Tim, Kim, Erin, Omo, David, Sarah
Not: Diane, Kelsey, Adrian, Kaitlyn

Agenda:

Fair Debrief
Youth Power
Stage Amplification
Workshop participation limits for non-villagers
Canopy debrief
EAB flagging
Moon Lodge
Village restaurant
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Fair Debrief: Great weather, few mosquitos, activist reports at every village meeting. Some frustrations at times when Fred could not find his flashlight…☹ Great Fair!!

Youth Power: Shontell spoke about the booth’s principle – H&R: Human + Resources – humans do the job and need resources to do it right. The kids used a timesheet listing their hours. 34 timesheets were filled out. Fewer ice runs were asked for this year. $461 were given to bulldogs. $491 came in through Village funds and donations. Shontell spent $117 of her own for needed supplies. Kids liked using the time sheets, they liked the “on the clock” feel, and liked being given money to spend at Fair. They got $5/hr. Some kids sold fortunes in the Fair for additional money. Bulldogs can start at 7 years old, but it’s usually 8 and then more experience at 9 years – there are no top age limits, some volunteer at 16 years old. They do a very good job at preventing people without camping beads from entering our campgrounds.
Bulldogs stop at 6pm, some Council members were not aware. We talked about making gates, maybe do that next year? Council members could take over at 6pm, or sometimes teens do so. Council definitely takes over once sweep begins, usually at 7pm.

Stage Amplification: This year the Elder Panel in the yurt experienced difficulty hearing each other due to the stage being too loud. The sound guy came into the yurt and adjusted the volume lower, but some thought it was still too loud. This brought up a Council discussion asking “are we honoring our amplification agreement” and should we revisit it?
History: As the Fair’s ambient noise grew, it became very difficult for acoustic acts to be heard beyond 20 feet or so from the stage. Tim shared that experience he had when he performed with Nel before amplification was allowed. So the Village consented to allow mics and limited amplification, partly so while on the Green people could here our stage band and not the Main Stage music, and with the caveat that conversations with visitors to our progressive booth’s members not be overwhelmed by the music.
What Council members do now while on shift is go to each booth and ask if they think the music is too loud. If they are told it is, the Council person will require the stage sound person to lower the volume, which has been done many times. This year, however, it seemed like, if the boothie who was asked really liked the band, they did not think it was too loud. Should this mean we do not schedule louder rock’n’roll until the last act of the day? “People have the right to complain, but some of us like it louder.” “You can’t have an anti-war event without rock’n’roll.” “Acoustic music if preferred, doesn’t need to be loud.” “Make the yurt more sound proof?”
Also discussed was how the sound check needed to prepare the coming up band’s sound mix was overwhelming the workshop activity in the Green. Options mentioned to deal with this included: 1. Having the Green activity stop 15 minutes before the band’s scheduled time and the sound check use the 10-15 minutes. 2. Or having the Green activity go until the band’s time, and do the sound check then leaving the band to only a 45 minute set. 3. Or changing the schedule to not necessarily being each hour, just adding the sound check so the band starts at 15 minutes after the 60 minute Green activity, etc. Perhaps sync our schedule with Main Stage. Importantly, what matters most, entertainment (which may not be progressive messaging) or workshops that contribute to our progressive mission? This will be discussed at Village meetings next year.

Workshop participation limits for non-villagers: “Alchemy” men’s group got workshop times despite not being Village members. There are a fair number of other non-villager workshops every year, Beth has said. All New Groups not in a Village booth asking to do workshops need to be vetted! This can be done by hearing them do an activist report, or being researched. Village booth member booth groups are already vetted. Perhaps have Beth and Areas Liaison Tim do a debrief together when planning the schedule.

Canopy: Feedback on the new overhead canopy above the Green included many comments appreciating the daytime shade coverage, and others missed seeing the stars overhead at night. It is unknown if the canopy guy, Dave (who is an Arts Booth SO) will be bringing that canopy going forward, and whether or not it will be free. Erin will be talking to him.

EAB (Emerald Ash Borer) Flagging: Volunteers pre-Fair marked with red tags all the young trees we need to protect that are not Ash Trees. Unfortunately, Song, the Decon guy, did not realize this and removed all the tags. Sam took the training to identify these trees, and will lead us doing it again.

Moon Lodge: It was amazing this year! Will those volunteers be coming back next year? We don’t know. Will they be under Spirit Booth umbrella or be independent? Sarah and Karla will talk to them. Karla is storing all their gear.

One Fun Thing: Omo led us in song. Fun!!

B-Heavenly restaurant: Lots of positive comments. Some concern about high prices, no late-night open hours, and small serving size. It was also mentioned that the Fair Food Committee decides for the next year or two what new menu items can be added. Council will meet with her for debrief coming soon.

Kim mentioned that she hopes to schedule a Booth Coord social event. Stay Tuned…

Next week’s Council meeting will be at Sarah’s home. Email if you would like to attend. saralynnsweatt@gmail.com

Notes by Tim