UPDATE AS OF JULY 24: For those unaware, TC Maker is also planning a "zipline" vehicle race next spring or summer. Participants can make electrical/mechanical or possibly rocket-fuel "cars" to travel along a steel wire about 50' and return. Rules for the actual event are still being worked out. If you would like to bring a SAFE vehicle or toy to test an idea, we plan to bring some steel wire to the potluck. If you have any questions, post in this thread.

UPDATE AS OF JULY 16: The Twin Cities Maker potluck will be at Lakeland Park in Brooklyn Park. We have a site reserved from noon until 8 PM. Please use this thread to RSVP with what you're bringing and for further updates.

At the last meeting, we agreed to have our potluck on Aug 1 (Saturday) at 2 p.m. It's bring your own meat (or whatever main course you wish to have), plus one item to share.

We are in need of a venue; if you are willing to host possibly up to or more than 50 people at your home (in your backyard, most likely), please let us know. Otherwise, I am looking into Minneapolis city parks as a possibility.

Finally, I'm asking everyone to RSVP in a reply to this post with the number of attendees and the dish you're planning to bring. As replies come up, I (or another admin) will concatenate a summary of them below.

My wife and I, and we will bring Swiss corn bake and maybe a layered bean dip.

I'll bring some chips to share. My wife might be able to come but she doesn't know for sure yet.

I can check into cost/availability of city parks in Brooklyn Park -- resident discount.

I can also provide fuel and an ignition source. Fire good!

Fees in Minneapolis are around $100 for a half-day in the shelter sizes we're looking for. We could either bite the bullet and pay it, or do a first-come, first-served at a park that doesn't offer reservation.

We'll see what DanBackslide comes up with first.

Hey! Can someone bring some frisbees? I've been moving stuff around to renovate my basement and I'm not sure I can find any. Or does anyone have a good croquet set? Volleyball net and ball?

Resident rates in Brooklyn Park are $25 for 40-person pavilions, $50 for 60-person pavilions, more for a couple of the really big ones. There are a few parks to choose from with 40- and 60-person units. I'll give BP Park & Rec a call in the morning. (I'd intended to do that today, but Work happened.)

OK: We can get a 60-seater in Lakeland Park on 8/1 for $50. However, to get access to the bathrooms we need to rent the building as well -- another $100. The parks with open bathrooms are already booked for the weekend.

So are bathrooms a necessity? (I'd say yes...)

$150 is pretty steep- That'd be almost 1/3 of our aggregate intake to this point.

I don't think we want to go that far, since we have an end goal of savings to reach. Will they allow us to cancel or change? We did not approve an expenditure at the last meeting for this project, and our next business meeting is next Wednesday.

Yeah, it's a bit high, which is why I didn't book in just yet. There's no refund within 30 days unless the the pavilion gets re-booked.

Now that I'm finally home from work and my belly's been filled I'm off to look at one of the parks. The city's website says there's no grills/restrooms there, I'm thinking it might be out of date. Worth a check (esp. since it's close to home).