Chairperson
Coordinates the event, submits the Trade Show License application, acquires the Public Health permit, acquires the Fire Department permit, creates the festival layout, makes sure expenses stay within the budget, and more.

Chili Cook-Off Coordinator
Organizes and coordinates all aspects of the cook-off. This includes receiving the application forms, soliciting cooks, scheduling cooks, acquiring necessary items and misc. preparations. Needs to acquire a Washington Food Worker Card.

Arts & Crafts Market Coordinator
Organizes and coordinates everything necessary for the arts & crafts market which will be outside with the chili cook-off.

Music & Performances Coordinator
Organizes and coordinates the music and performances for the outdoor stage. There will be only one stage with a combination of possibly local folk musicians, an “Inquiring Mind” performance and storytellers from Seattle Storytellers Guild.

Children’s Indoor Arts Activities Coordinator
Organizes and coordinates all aspects of up to 4 art activities for children which will be indoors on the ground floor. Solicits necessary volunteers and obtains necessary materials. Nancy Green would like to do the sculpture workshop and we should try to get the Seattle Weaver’s Guild again.

Children’s Outdoor Activities Coordinator
Organizes and coordinates all outdoor activities for children, such as the Home Depot’s Kids Workshop, PCC Kid Picks Mobile, possibly a pie-eating contest and more.

Sponsorships & Grants Coordinator
Solicits sponsorships for Chili Palooza from local businesses and/or organizations. Writes and submits grants for funding applicable to our event.

Event Volunteer Coordinator
Solicits, organizes and coordinates volunteers for the following:  (a) Set up day before, (b) Event prep on event morning, (c) Take down, (d) Final clean up, (e) Kitchen clean up before and after, (f) Ticket sales table, (g) Refreshments table

Odds & Ends Coordinator
Organizes and coordinates the following: (a) Garbage & Recycling - set up, clean up and haul away, (b) Parking & Traffic - set up signs and coordinate during event, (c) Event Signage - put out signs and banners and pick up after event, and misc. as needed.

Beverages, Desserts & Popcorn Booth Coordinator
Acquires needed drinks, sets up Refreshments Booth with drinks, ice & coolers, etc. Sets up popcorn machine, preps for popcorn, etc. Sets up desserts brought by artists and crafters, etc. Cleans it all up.

Publicity & Graphics Coordinator
Sends out press releases and coordinates the graphics for the main poster, event program, signs, banners & aprons.

August 2008

The Haller Lake Arts Council would like to thank all attendees, participants, organizations, volunteers and chili cooks for your participation in the 4th Annual Chili Palooza of 2008. Congratulations to the Chili Cook-Off winners. All of you helped make this event a success and we greatly appreciate your involvement. A big thank you to the Haller Lake Community Club for allowing us to hold this wonderful community event on their property and for the use of their chairs and additional tables. It was great to see so many more children this year.

The attendance was equal to last year, around 500. We would have liked more, but given the fact that we were unable to do a community wide mailing like we did last year which went out to 10,000 residents of the Haller Lake community, we think we did well. To consider Chili Palooza as a fund raiser for the arts council is a misnomer. All funds earned at this event go right back into the event. Additional funds are always needed and have come from donations and/or grants and of course from the arts council. The arts council virtually does not gain any funds from this event to actually use for our other programs/projects. In fact we end up using “Arts Live!” funds generated over the year to help fund Chili Palooza. This was not what we originally planned for ”Arts Live!” funds. For Chili Palooza the arts council has purchased much of the necessary equipment and supplies, such as 13 awnings/tents, 11 tables, 2 chili cook-off wash stations, 4 propane burners, 2 large banners and much, much more. The event is very close to being self-supporting financially with the addition of grant funds or other sources.

We’ve had the opportunity to analyze this year’s event and how it could be improved. We’ve tried for two years now to bring people inside to the arts and crafts, with not much success. So the decision was made to put the arts and crafts outside and have only one stage, which would be outside with a mix of local folk music, storytelling and possibly an “Inquiring Mind” presentation. People primarily come for the chili. So the other elements we give them such as the community information tables, arts & crafts, children’s activities and entertainment need to all be in and around the chili. Simplification is what it is all about.

It takes more than funds to put on this community event. Volunteers are the most important element at this point. This event just doesn’t happen over night but literally takes months of planning, coordinating and organizing. We had great difficulty this past year getting people to commit to helping organize this event. So we ended up with a few people spending hundreds of hours on it. We fell very short of committed volunteers to set up and work on the event day. We had fewer volunteers this year than ever before. Our current arts council board has decided to not continue to sponsor this event with arts council funds meant for other projects. Additionally we do not believe it is our soul responsibility to put on this community event. Larry and I are literally burned out and will not be involved in putting together a 5th Annual Chili Palooza for 2009 other than as advisors to those volunteers from the Haller Lake Community Club or the broader community that may desire to take it on. Much of the planning should begin now, such as grant or sponsorship solicitation, date selection, and so on and so on. We advise having 11 positions filled by 11 people to create a reasonable and fair division of the work for this community event. (See list & description of positions above.) We thank all of you once again for being a part of this fun and unique community event and it is our hope that it will continue.

Thank you,
Desiree Smith, Haller Lake Arts Council Chair