Potluck & Campfire
This past Saturday afternoon, we hosted the first community gathering of our 2024 program & event season here at Empty Mountain. We decided to kick things off with a social potluck & campfire and we had a lovely lovely time.
In this new EM experiment we’re engaged in - and I do very much see it as an experiment - we’re in learning & figuring it out mode (which I imagine will last a good long while). Since a vast majority of the folks coming to EM are based in Missoula, 60-miles east of here, every gathering or event we organize and host provides us with valuable information, such as: How many folks are willing to make the 1-hr drive out here? What sort of gatherings are people most interested in attending, and on what days of the week and at what time?
For the potluck, 10 people (and 2 dogs) attended, which felt like a good turnout. Last year, we decided to set a 5-person minimum for the events we hosted. Meaning if at least 5 people didn’t RSVP, we would cancel the event. So far we haven’t had to cancel anything due to low numbers, but we’ll see what happens for the rest of our planned events this season.
The rest of our schedule for this season consists of a day of mindfulness (DOM) in June and one in July, and a camping retreat weekend in August. The DOM’s will start at 10am and end after lunch at 1pm, giving folks enough time to sleep in a little and then also have a leisurely afternoon at home back in Missoula.
At the potluck on Saturday, I felt a deep sense of gladness that I am someone who truly enjoys gathering folks together, whether it’s for social or practice related events. It’s something I’ve been putting my time, energy, and heart into for many years. When we lived in Missoula, we hosted dozens of potlucks and campfires at our house over the years. In this day and age of online offerings (which I think is awesome), I think it’s especially important to keep alive the art of organizing and attending in-person gatherings. Organizer/event planners don’t seem to abound from what I can tell, so I am glad to be one of them. We all have different things we gravitate to doing with our time, and this is one of the undertakings I personally enjoy.
All the prep that goes into getting ready and setting up; all the announcements and online posts that go into spreading the word; and all of the clean up and take down afterwards are all super worth it, as far as I’m concerned. Saturday was all about good friends, good food, and good music making around the campfire. As far as this gal is concerned: Best day ever!
