Thanks for this feedback. Ultimately I think the best way to plan something like this would be to find out how many are planning on coming first, and then find the best place to accommodate the group size. People would have to trust the organizer to find a good place, but I don't think it would work otherwise, for the reason you mention. If we rent a place for 26 and 6 actually come, we wouldn't be able to afford it.
I personally would pay up to $100/day for a retreat all inclusive. More than possible with the right facility and participation.
I am not sure about a 3 day weekend though. There are no Monday/friday holidays between memorial day and Labor Day and you probably can forget booking anything then. Travel those weekends are a nightmare.
I think 100 a day is doable. I've checked Potts of Gold just to get an idea of it. That could be done. But, it would not be enough if a fancier location was desired.
I didn't mean a holiday weekend when I mentioned three day weekend. You are right, things would be too limited, too expensive, and travel would be tough. By three days I meant what we used to do at Centralia, travel to the location Friday after work, then spend all day Saturday, and leave on Sunday.
I think $300+/-for a weekend staying in a nice place, eating good food and enjoying good drink isn’t too much. (We could easily, at this point, discuss dues). As far as numbers, I think it’s going to be based on the retreat location. It’s going to be difficult to find a location that will accommodate 20 brothers. Distance could be a factor for some, but then maybe it could be a traveling retreat, landing in a different place every year.
A lot of the cost would be dependent on the place. We could rent a place like Potts of Gold on Hood Canal, and fairly easily do it for 100 a day. But, I just took the family down to north Scottsdale, were we rented a huge and super fancy rural home. I believe that worked out to be about 125$ per night, per person, so we'd probably be over $200 per night with food and drink. We'd have to decide is luxury, hot tub and pool worth all that extra money.
I think that the numbers limitation based on size of the place would probably be to our benefit. If it got too big, it might not be nearly as good.
My G L in Canada had a weekend get-a-way in a mountain resort for over 40 years. It took place in a hotel and would be great training for hotel staff hired for the summer season... 600+ would show up. Arriving Friday afternoon registration would include dinner Friday evening with a great speaker in a large banquet room... breakfast, lunch and dinner with many breakaway meetings on a myriad of subjects pertaining to the craft... dinner would be back in the large banquet room with a closing of the subject of the main speaker (included guys like Chris Hodapp who wrote Freemasons for Dummies... the largest selling Dummies book in its now 4th edition)... no regalia, no titles and lots of super Masonic enjoyment.
It kept slowing down and I believe it was that too many "had" to bring their spouses and the true fellowship was gradually watered down to a dribble... one weekend a year without "the little woman" was too much I guess for too many!
They have started another called Weekend Without Titles in a smaller central city in the province but living in Mexico, I have not attended.
I have a term for the phenomena of "the little woman" coming but I'll leave that unsaid and I have no idea how many show up.
The weekend away you mention sounds fairly similar to our Lodge Leadership Retreat here in my Jurisdiction.
You make a really interesting point about spouses. When my Lodge used to hold its retreats we always made them men only. Part of that was a function of the location as it was more of a bunkhouse than a home with privacy, but they would not have been the same had they been open as to gender.
Cost is also a function of group size. Are 6 Masons sharing the costs or 26?
How many of us are on cooking duty, and are we any good at it?
Prospective Masons - yes, but after we have 2-3 successful events behind us.
Driving - 2 hours sure, 3 hours maybe, 4 hours unlikely
Thanks for this feedback. Ultimately I think the best way to plan something like this would be to find out how many are planning on coming first, and then find the best place to accommodate the group size. People would have to trust the organizer to find a good place, but I don't think it would work otherwise, for the reason you mention. If we rent a place for 26 and 6 actually come, we wouldn't be able to afford it.
I personally would pay up to $100/day for a retreat all inclusive. More than possible with the right facility and participation.
I am not sure about a 3 day weekend though. There are no Monday/friday holidays between memorial day and Labor Day and you probably can forget booking anything then. Travel those weekends are a nightmare.
I think 100 a day is doable. I've checked Potts of Gold just to get an idea of it. That could be done. But, it would not be enough if a fancier location was desired.
I didn't mean a holiday weekend when I mentioned three day weekend. You are right, things would be too limited, too expensive, and travel would be tough. By three days I meant what we used to do at Centralia, travel to the location Friday after work, then spend all day Saturday, and leave on Sunday.
$50 - $100
No
As far as it takes
I'm with you, I'd be willing to do a lot of travel for the right location.
Lets do it!
We'll figure something out!
I think $300+/-for a weekend staying in a nice place, eating good food and enjoying good drink isn’t too much. (We could easily, at this point, discuss dues). As far as numbers, I think it’s going to be based on the retreat location. It’s going to be difficult to find a location that will accommodate 20 brothers. Distance could be a factor for some, but then maybe it could be a traveling retreat, landing in a different place every year.
A lot of the cost would be dependent on the place. We could rent a place like Potts of Gold on Hood Canal, and fairly easily do it for 100 a day. But, I just took the family down to north Scottsdale, were we rented a huge and super fancy rural home. I believe that worked out to be about 125$ per night, per person, so we'd probably be over $200 per night with food and drink. We'd have to decide is luxury, hot tub and pool worth all that extra money.
I think that the numbers limitation based on size of the place would probably be to our benefit. If it got too big, it might not be nearly as good.
I like the idea of moving locations.
My G L in Canada had a weekend get-a-way in a mountain resort for over 40 years. It took place in a hotel and would be great training for hotel staff hired for the summer season... 600+ would show up. Arriving Friday afternoon registration would include dinner Friday evening with a great speaker in a large banquet room... breakfast, lunch and dinner with many breakaway meetings on a myriad of subjects pertaining to the craft... dinner would be back in the large banquet room with a closing of the subject of the main speaker (included guys like Chris Hodapp who wrote Freemasons for Dummies... the largest selling Dummies book in its now 4th edition)... no regalia, no titles and lots of super Masonic enjoyment.
It kept slowing down and I believe it was that too many "had" to bring their spouses and the true fellowship was gradually watered down to a dribble... one weekend a year without "the little woman" was too much I guess for too many!
They have started another called Weekend Without Titles in a smaller central city in the province but living in Mexico, I have not attended.
I have a term for the phenomena of "the little woman" coming but I'll leave that unsaid and I have no idea how many show up.
The weekend away you mention sounds fairly similar to our Lodge Leadership Retreat here in my Jurisdiction.
You make a really interesting point about spouses. When my Lodge used to hold its retreats we always made them men only. Part of that was a function of the location as it was more of a bunkhouse than a home with privacy, but they would not have been the same had they been open as to gender.
Cost for 3 days $150
Only Masons
Travel 3 hours.
Thanks Brother!