Santa's visit to the Nature Center

Hi,

Just wondering what the community's thoughts are around checking ID for Santa's visit. Seems it would be easy to match the street name on the ID to a list of streets in Broadlands (after all, a street list is produced for snow plowing info). I believe that too many families are coming to the Broadlands event from other neighborhoods. I noticed that Santa will only be here on Friday, December 3, this year. In years past, he visited us on two days, and the lines were very long with those two days. I imagine the line will only be worse this year given he will only be able to make it on one day. Anyway, in an effort to make this a special event for Broadlands residents, I thought that perhaps we could check ID. This may help with the line issue. Let me know what you all think.

Thanks.

 

While I don't doubt a few people from outside the Broadlands come to these events, I'd bet the number is very small. We could check IDs, but good luck finding someone to do that. The committees have hard enough time to get people to volunteer just to run the events. Who would want to do this, and maybe have to turn some kids away from seeing Santa? No way I will, that's for sure.

 

You guys raise some very good points. Of course, I didn't have any intentions of excluding family members like grandparents, etc. who would want to come along as "guests" of the family. I was more or less thinking that one ID would be checked for the entire family. Perhaps you are correct.... we are a huge community and that's where the numbers are coming from. However, I do recall hearing last year quite a number of people say they were from other neighborhoods (and they came to Broadlands to see Santa because it was free). Anyway, it was those comments that made me wonder if that was why the event had gotten more crowded over the years. I love the fact that we do this for our community. I was just thinking of a way to keep the event special for us. Anyway, thanks for the opinions.

 

Just a thought...but if you want to manage the line somehow you could try telling folks with last names that begin in the first half of the alphabet to come early and last half to come later. Or some kind of a general approach to timed visits?

 

Good idea... but if it's only for one day this isn't fair for folks that already have plans during their time slot.

 

I guess you could offer free tickets that could be picked up in advance at the HOA office.

As a non-Broadlands resident I promise not to attend, even though it sounds fun.

 

I'm one of the individuals running the event and i can say that we really don't get many people interested in volunteering. So, just to pull off the event itself that day is difficult. I really don't have extra people to be checking id's at this point. However, if this is what people want, i'd be happy if someone would like to volunteer for the job!

 

Two words:

Easter Bunny

Some of you may remember the years when you could meet the EB and get a picture with him/her/it in the community center. I "heard" that the event was cancelled because too many people showed up from other communities. One year we waited in the cold for 2 hours. It really frustrated me to find out that the folks in line in front of me were from Ashburn village and the folks behind me were from the Villages of Waxpool. I recall that all Easter events would have been cancelled, but a few community members salvaged the event and now the kids can do the egg "hunt" that lasts for 31 seconds.

All summer I saw kids from other communities trying to get in the pool (or successfully convincing one of the guards to let them in). This is an entirely different subject, so I won’t get into it here. At least we are still checking passes for this community benefit.
Last year, in line for Santa, same thing happened. I personally recognized several people from Villages of Waxpool. I understand that we need to share paths, parks, trails, and equipment. I guess we can’t control community events. I would love to attend the Villages of Waxpool Santa greeting.

I remember when I was a kid, living in Reston (one of the first planned communities), you HAD to be a member of RHOA with a valid ID DISPLAYED to even use a tennis court. They had little slots were you put your ID to show that you are a Reston resident. In fact, you had to call to reserve a court and then display your ID. Another example was the Reston community center. It had an indoor pool, workshop, aerobics, etc. You could not get in without a valid RHOA id. All Reston events were for Reston residents only.

I'm not trying to be a Scrooge, but I clearly see where this event is heading in future years. It is not so much that we need to turn people away, it is more that we need to get the word out that it is for Broadlands residents only. A simple asterisk will do on the flyer and paste a BIG sign on the door that says “Broadlands Residents Only Please"

One thing is certain, when the “cost” (decorating, food, photographic paper, camera, etc.) gets too high this event will go by the wayside too. I expect that it will be back to the Mall lines in furture years for our family, since this event wont survive. It’s unfortunate.

Is there anything left in Broadlands that “we” enjoy exclusively as HOA paying members?

 

Would have been cancelled for lack of volunteers, not other people attending.
I believe your theory on the Easter Bunny is incorrect.

 

That's incorrect. It was decided that the event was crazy enough as-is, and that it would be better for the bunny to just be at the actual egg hunt to have photos taken around the hunt area. In the event of bad weather the bunny would take photos inside. I know because I was on the email chain. The tech committee used to take photos for this event for many years, and the Santa event as well. We also run the Flicks in the Sticks. To date it hasn't been a concern (or even brought up that I can remember) about people from other communities being an issue. Not saying it isn't a concern now or won't be in the future, however.

Also we don't do the printed photos any longer. With digital cameras being so cheap (and so good, even cellphone cameras have gotten into HD quality) we decided it wasn't cost-effective or even needed to do it anymore.

 

Mr. Linus:

And I repeat...
"It is not so much that we need to turn people away, it is more that we need to get the word out that it is for Broadlands residents only. A simple asterisk will do on the flyer and paste a BIG sign on the door that says “Broadlands Residents Only Please"

 

Hello,

Personally, I like the idea of handing out free tickets in advance, but since time is beginning to run short for distributing tickets to see Santa this year, I thought I'd throw out another idea...

How about implement a sort of Disney Fast Pass system...
Have residents show an ID or give their family name/address to get in an "express line". This would likely begin to weed out non-residents. Not necessarily turn them away as they would be welcome to stay in the other line. Therefore no child would be turned away from seeing Santa if desired, but this would politely begin to get the word out that there is an id check going on now at the Santa visit in Broadlands. This may also begin to deter non-resident folks next year.

Is there a way and still time to add a blurb in the December HOA newsletter telling residents to bring an ID to advance to the "north pole express line"?
From some of the posts here, it sounds like it is already bare bones volunteers for this event so I am happy to attend the event, prepare some signs and be the one to check IDs and not turn folks away but rather direct them to the correct line.

AND/OR for next year either keep this system if it ends up being successful or I am happy to volunteer to coordinate a free ticket system for Broadlands residents to see Santa. Perhaps when advertising in the newsletter and the forum begins, I'd propose that we include a blurb along the lines of "due to the popularity of this event we will be distributing free tickets at the Nature Center". I would be happy to be the POC to plan and distribute tickets 3-4x during November and early December and I am also happy to attend the event to collect these tickets.

If either of these ideas would help out, who should I contact to volunteer??

Thank you.