August/September 2005 Meetup

[TonyPSchaefer]

I just finished watching the Cubs pull out another nail-biter. It occurred to me that I guess I've been a little delinquent in organizing another meetup. I'm not saying these two thoughts are related, those are just the order in which they happened.

So let's throw it out there and see what happens. Who has thoughts for a location? Anyone aware of any public events we can crash?

I heard on the radio over the weekend that there's a Toyota dealer having some sort of "Toyota Celebration Days" or something like that. I wasn't fully paying attention so I can't remember the details. I mentioned before that perhaps it would be cool to have a bunch of Prii lined up and we can field questions as real owners talking to other owners and perspective buyers.

This is the working list of those who can/will/might/are considering attending the IREA event discussed throughout this thread:

Saturday: (6 Prii)
BLNfanMatt
FireEngineer
Sparky?
Tiffany?
Helmkera?
Drifter?



Sunday: (7 Prii)
BLNfanMatt
FireEngineer
Helmkera
Bill60546
Sparky?
Tiffany?
Drifter?

[FireEngineer]

Let me throw out 2 events.

On August 13 and 14 the Illinois Renewable Energy Association will be holding the 4th Annual Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living Fair in Oregon, IL. Illinois Renewable Energy Association It seems that someone with a Honda affiliation will be there to talk about the Insight. A good opportunity to tout our Prius.

The other is the Toyota take over of Millennium Park on September 8.

****Start Article****

[align=center:27d07f5861]MILLENNIUM PARK AND TOYOTA MOTOR SALES, U.S.A., INC. TO FORM SUMMER 2005 PARTNERSHIP [/align:27d07f5861]

[align=justify:27d07f5861]The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs has announced a new partnership between Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc. and Millennium Park. As part of the agreement, Toyota will rent parts of Millennium Park for a private event on Thursday, September 8. To compensate for the use of the space, which will be closed to the public, Toyota will pay a $300,000 rental fee, plus an additional contribution of a $500,000 sponsorship to support free public programming in the park.

“Private rentals are an important source of income for the park,” said Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner Lois Weisberg. “However, if park users are going to be inconvenienced by a partial closure, there must be a compensatory benefit for the public. In this case, that benefit will be realized through Toyota’s major sponsorship of free public programs throughout the park.“

During the private event on September 8, The Crown Fountain, Lurie Garden, Wrigley Square and the Millennium Park Bicycle Station will remain open to the public, as well as the Harris Theater box office. The remainder of the park will be closed for the entire day.

“The Toyota event will also be a useful test case for this type of rental. If it is successful, we may consider similar partnerships two to three times a year during non-peak times in the future,” continued Weisberg. “Toyota is honored to partner with the City of Chicago as a major sponsor of free concerts and events in Millennium Park. We hope these concerts are enjoyed by everyone and keep the city thriving, growing and evolving,” said Jim Lentz, Group Vice President and General Manager, Toyota Division.


Chicagoans and visitors are encouraged to visit the rest of the park during the partial closure, including The Crown Fountain, the Lurie Garden and Wrigley Square, or to return the following weekend for the park’s “Blockbuster Weekend” featuring free performances by the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
[/align:27d07f5861]
****End Article****

Maybe just meet and then parade around the park in our Prius.

Wayne

I apologize, Wayne, but the embedded PDF was causing Adobe to launch every time and this was reaking havoc on my home PC. I have pulled the PDF article and pasted it as straight text. -Tony

[TonyPSchaefer]

Thanks a bunch, Wayne.

Oregon, IL - for those like me who didn't know, is South of Rockford, a little to the West. Here's a Google Map.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1440+N+Limek...,1.714279&hl=en

It's a bit of a haul. But I think that if a good group of us show up, it would be pretty fun. And it really would draw a lot of interent for the Prius. I mean, if someone is going to be there to talk about the Insight, there should be a swarm of people there to talk about the Prius. It's just a question of sales ratio (oh, did I just say that?).

I will send an email to the "Contact us" link on the website that Wayne provided above. I would advise that others do the same. It's one thing to receive an email but something quite different to receive a dozen. I'm just going to mention that there's a group of Chicagoland Prius owners and we are interested in coming out and making our cars availble for public display and discussion. We should all try to stick to the same line.

The private Toyota event in the park seems like it's an employee event rather than a public event. For that reason, I'm sure they wouldn't want a group of people from the public coming by and crashing it. My company has annual employee picnics and we don't necessarily welcome people to come by just because they bought our products.

Additionally, it's on a Thursday. I'm sure they will be doing their thing during the day. I - for one - will be at work.

But overall, I think the biggest "bang for the buck" would be the Oregon, IL event.

Thanks again for bringing this to our attention Wayne.

[jimofdg]

Then there's the exotic distinction of being able to say that you drove all the way to Oregon, and they didn't stop you at the border.

I agree that crashing others' events is poor form. Though I notice that the "get around" slogan has not been used by our Regional Transportation Authority in many years, so I would like to suggest the name "Get-around" for a get-together in which the drivers move around the periphery of some landmark.

I greatly enjoyed our last meetup, at which I was privileged to see the faces of onlookers as yet ANOTHER Prius passed them. After a while even the motorcyclists noticed.

[helmkera]

I'm a newbie and am curious to see the faces behind the names posted here.

I like the idea of the Oregon meeting: a road trip, a meeting at an alternative energy fair, and being able to talk to others about our cars. I dropped a note to the fair contact asking about it and about bringing out a Prius (or two or more).

[helmkera]

Those folks are fast:


From: Sonia Vogl [mailto:sonia@essex1.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2005 2:35 PM
To: Helmke,Richard A
Subject: Re: Fourth Annual Renewable Energy Fair


That would be great! We have a transportation exhibit area where you can have your cars and talk with visitors. Let us know the names of the others so the ticket takers will let them in free. Thanks!



Jul 27, 2005, at 1:19 PM, Helmke,Richard A wrote:


I just noticed your flyer on the upcoming event. I see you have Honda and some grown alternate energy cars being shown. Would it be worthwhile for me and several other owners of Toyota Prius cars to bring them to the fair and be there to talk about our real life experiences driving a +50mpg vehicle to work every day - summer and winter? Speaking personally, its been a hoot to commute in comfort with a car that doubled my mpg. We would be personal owners, not Toyota employees or marketing types -- just happy owners.

[TonyPSchaefer]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(helmkera\";p=\"110833)</div>

Those folks are fast:[/b]

WOW indeed. I'm still watching my email for a reply, but it's great that you've gotten a hit already. And in for free even!

I cross-posted about this event on GreenHybrid.com mentioning that we here are interested. I figure that if anyone from North-Central IL or South-Central WI is interested, that would be great. I say we flood them with hybrids! The Madison, WI group always has such great tun-outs.

helmkera, if you don't mind, please reply that we are gathering names and will have a list for them as soon as possible.

BTW, for a "face behind the name", that's me in my avator.

[sparky1015]

This sounds like it could be fun...add me to the list.

[FireEngineer]

Since this is a 2 day event would we target one day or would we split it and some folks do one day and some the other. I wouldn't mind being there both days, love to catch some of the events besides selling the Prius. Besides, I'll be out that way (OK, a little further south on I-39) Sunday anyway for the Mendota Sweet Corn Festival, free all-you-can-eat buttered sweet corn at 2:00.

Wayne

[helmkera]

helmkera, if you don't mind, please reply that we are gathering names and will have a list for them as soon as possible.
BTW, for a "face behind the name", that's me in my avator.

Well, I don't have the legs for tights ;-)

I told Sonia that we are from the same group and are working on a list of names (since she got your mail too).