Behind The Scenes Planning For Our 40th Reunion
Wondering how things came together for our 40th Reunion? Take a peek behind the scenes to learn more about how the Planning Committee made their decisions.
We got the ball rolling by forming our 40th Reunion Planning Committee. After asking around to see who might be interested in helping to put everything together, we came up with these volunteers: Wes Bowman, Brian Ash, Anne (Preuss) Keller, Lori (Cavener) Twitty, Cathy (Dixson) Fredrick and John Sweaney.
If too many people get involved in a committee, it actually makes things harder. There were times the six of us struggled to reach a consensus on some of our decisions.
The Planning Committee started meeting in March of 2022 and had monthly meetings weighing the pros and cons of various locations.
In the beginning, we were considering locations that were a little more upscale. But after talking more about it, we had some concerns about potential risk of not enough people showing up and we didn’t want anyone to feel like they couldn’t afford to come, so we ended up scaling back our potential out of pocket expenses.
Another big factor was wanting to do something different from past reunions. We wanted to pick locations and even the format of the events to be something that hadn’t been done before.
Every potential location that we considered had both pros and cons. In the end, the committee picked two locations and two types of events that seemed to have the best chance of being fun with minimal chance of financial exposure regardless of turnout.
Friday Night Mixer At Hold Fast Brewing
Fri June 16th 2023 6 PM – 10 PM
235 N Kimbrough Ave, Springfield, MO 65806
(click for directions)
Come hang out at Hold Fast Brewing and reconnect with your classmates. We’ll have tables reserved for our group.
Cash bar. Order food from the food truck or Billiards next door if you get hungry.
80’s DJ from 7-10pm.
In addition to a great selection of beers, Hold Fast has wine, cider and will also be serving green and gold boozy slushies.
Click here to RSVP to the Facebook event.
Our Friday night event is typically more of a casual, mixer type event. We picked a Downtown location, but on the edge of Downtown. The biggest challenge might be finding parking, but there are several lots close by that are available.
The biggest deciding factor on choosing Hold Fast for Friday night was that they seemed most excited to have us there and have been very easy to work with. It will be an 80’s party with a DJ. There’s both a covered area and an outdoor patio so we’ll be in good shape no matter the weather.
Food will be available for those who need to grab a bite to eat either from the on-site food truck or Billiard’s next door which can be ordered with their online app and delivered over to Hold Fast.
By having a cash bar on both Friday and Saturday night, our classmates can spend as much or as little money as they’d like. By paying for your own drinks, it will hopefully keep everyone safe and prevent people from trying to drink like they’re still in high school.
Saturday Night Main Event ** Now At Rock & Pillar **
Sat June 17th 2023 6 PM – 10 PM
1614 Moore Rd Springfield MO 65807
(click for directions)
For our 40th reunion, the Saturday night main event will now be at Rock & Pillar.
Originally our Saturday Night Main Event was scheduled to be at Lori’s house. Click here to read the blog post on why we’ve had to move the location.
Food and beverages will be available for purchase.
Be sure to RSVP that you are going and help spread the word. We can’t wait to see everyone there.
Click here to RSVP to the updated Facebook event.
We wanted our Friday and Saturday night events to be different, so it didn’t feel like the same type of event two nights in a row.
It will be a little more low key at Rock & Pillar. Still a lot of fun, but more conducive to deeper conversations and catching up with old friends.
The two biggest ways that everyone can help make these events a success are:
- Help spread the word. Don’t assume that someone you want to see there already knows about it. Better that they hear about it from multiple people than not at all.
- Participate in our Online Directory. The first question most people ask when they see a classmate at the reunion is “Tell me what you’ve been up to.” By putting that information in our online directory, everyone will know what their classmates have been up to and how to get in touch with them.
We hope to see lots of our classmates at both the Friday and Saturday night events.