ROLL CALL:Concours D’Elegance - Baltimore

I was able to get free so I called Jack Davis up today and he was kind enough to share a place for me to park my 430.
I'll see everyone up in Baltimore tomorrow. Looking forward to it.
We're leaving Leesburg, VA early in the morning hoping to be up there before things get too crowded.
We're hoping for a sunny day.

 

Registration is open from 8:30 till noon. The people who have registered for cars and Pit Passes can enjoy a continental breakfast at the MAC on President Street.

Whether the weather cooperates or not, my Lamborghini will be there.

Remember there is a car wash station in the front circle of the Marriott Waterfront - hose available - remember your rags and supplies. Marriott Waterfront is at the bottom of President Street - the first turn off the circle.

We have a full day of entertainment planned, with professional musicians and programs/dancing featuring some of the children who benefit from the programs at The Children's CUild.

Inside Cinghiale is providing a wonderful lunch and desert reception featuring our live auction and awards for those who have registered.

There is plenty of great shopping in Harbor East - places to duck into to get away from the sun (wishful thinking).

Don't believe the weather guys - remember weather forecasting in the only profession I know of where you can be paid well whether you get it right or not!

Look forward to seeing you and your beautiful rides at the registration tent,
Jeanette

 

A little change of plan due to the weather. I'll be headed down from Bel Air in my DD at around 8:00.

 

Our original plan was to beat the traffic. New plan is to let the rain blow over.
Dave.

 

I agree. We're going to wait for the rain to stop too.

BTW, it looks like the rain will turn to mist around 10 a.m. this morning and fully clear up around 1 p.m.
If you are curious how I am predicting this, read on, otherwise save yourself the trouble of learning how to read aviation forecast data.

Airplane weather forecasts are the most detailed forecasts available and are good for days like today. They are available on the web for most major airport codes. I used IAD for Dulles Airport (actually "KIAD" which is the 4-letter code used in aviation) on this website: http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/taf.shtml

What you get on that website is TAF data format (terminal area forecast) which is a little cryptic for most people.
Today's TAF forecast is:

TAF
AMD KIAD 281002Z 281006 00000KT 2SM -RA BR OVC005
TEMPO 1014 5SM -RA BR SCT005 BKN010
FM1400 33005KT 5SM BR SCT008 BKN012
FM1700 33008KT P6SM VCSH SCT025 BKN050
FM2300 32006KT P6SM BKN050

The English translation of that encoded message is:

TAF ammended report, KIAD 28th @ 1002Z, valid from 28th @ 1000Z to 0600Z, wind calm, visibility 2 SM, Weather: light rain mist, Sky: overcast at 500.
temporary from 1000Z to 1400Z: no wind, visibility 5 SM, Weather: light rain mist, Sky: scattered at 500, broken at 1000.
from 1400Z wind from 330 at 5 KT, visibility 5 SM, Weather: mist, Sky: scattered at 800, broken at 1200.
from 1700Z wind from 330 at 8 KT, visibility more than 6 SM, Weather: vicinity shower, Sky: scattered at 2500, broken at 5000.
from 2300Z wind from 320 at 6 KT, visibility more than 6 SM, Sky: broken at 5000.

Note that "SM" = "statute miles" and "KT" = "knots". The cloud layer references are in feet above the ground, so "broken at 1000" means there will be a "broken layer of clouds at 1000 feet above the ground".

The times are in Zulu Time which is in 24-hour military format and is a 4-hour time difference from Eastern Daylight Savings Time (EDT). The "1400Z" is equal to "10:00 EDT" which is 10 a.m. EDT.

So, it is the "1400Z" line and the "1700Z" line that indicate to me the rain ending at 10 a.m. and fully clearing at 1 p.m. today.

Even aviation weather forecasts can be wrong, which is why they amend them during the day when something changes.

 

I know I am opening a can of worms, however I am curious what comments, concerns, ideas or feed back you might have to offer.
Thank you to those who brought out your cars. Thank you for supporting The Children's Guild.

Jeanette

 

the teaser for the event is here http://www.thunderousproductions.com/iWeb/THUNDEROUS%20PRODUCTIONS/Welcome.html -Josh
Low Quality Youtube Version here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng0qZpxrvao

 

Well,
Let me thank everyone who was involved in putting this event together. I must say despite the rain ( which really wasn't that bad) it was a first class event.

It was great to chat with old friends and meet new ones.

As the biggest proponent for bringing this event back to Little Italy, I'll be the first to admit that the location had much more to offer.


Will

 

Our location along the waterfront at Harbor East worked quite well for the Boutique and Hospitality area. We'd like to have more of our clients and business friends able to host the Mercado right along side with us so we can keep them comfortable, relaxed, socializing, and fed while they meet new visitors and spectators.

We would ask for the spot again for any special event because of the ease of parking the race trailer, the stretch to park our vehicles and place crowd friendly tents, and the sidewalks had tree shaded brick expanses for our grill, keg cooler, and table seating areas where the Guild guests could enjoy the cars and the boats in the harbor.

We'd also suggest you have a separate restaurant who delivers come around to each sponsor vending area throughout the festival and deliver reasonable cost complimentary box lunches for staff that is included in the sponsor package (2 for a Mercado, 4 per 10 x 10 tent area, and head count for key sponsors). Keeping happy vendors helps improve the event for visitors and lets people working keep the tent staffed. Having one volunteer come around to help small vendors head out for a bathroom break or to run quick drink errands would probably be a good idea, as well. Anything else would be behind the scenes feedback and we're happy to fill out the questionnaire Lori mentioned sending out to allow sponsors to be involved with the growth process.

Thanks to Jeanette Scott for working so hard to get the show layout squared up, and to all the Guild members for including us in the 2008 event. You are welcome back at Maserati of Baltimore anytime.

As for annual Car Show(s) in Little Italy, Will--we are happy to work with you for a Late Spring or Early Summer Show and we can do some Mini-Exhibits for you in the Late Fall and Early Spring to help get you started. Kae wants to establish a scholarship fund and Internship for promising automotive tech, engineering, sales, or management students who want to work in with Highline Exotic Cars.

Events in Little Italy would be a natural smaller venue satellite location if we can put it together. It would give us a great way to bring the different restaurants in at different times, and we would be able to have the intern help us volunteer with the various charity foundations we work with throughout the year. That way, each organization and sponsor group could also have the opportunity to cross promote each other's events in a way that is friendly and supportive.

We'll be meeting with the Childrens Guild, the USO Metro, Will, and more than 15 other charity organizations before the end of the year to make commitments and establish next year's event schedule. Keep your eyes on http://www.mobexotics.com for more information about event schedules.

If you have photos of any car show or event we have participated in, please feel free to contact [email protected] about letting us share them on our Flickr MOBEXOTICS photoblog.

Special Event Photos: http://flickr.com/photos/mobexotics/collections/

Childrens Guild Pictures: http://flickr.com/photos/mobexotics/collections/72157607558945174/

Thanks to all the sponsors and show exhibitors for coming out to show your support for the Children's Guild--and to all the people who purchased the great auction items Cathy pulled together.

One last quick work: extra thanks to Chuck Leutner for being a regular in our store and at all our events helping to promote the 2008 Concours D'Elegance. We were really glad to have him with us and hope he'll continue to participate at events with us as Children's Guild and FCA-MAR representative in the future.

 

I was hoping for more feedback. You guys seem to always have an opinion.

What areas could use improvement or tweeking? Did you feel you got value for the price of your Pass or vehicle exhibit? Did you like the entertainment? What types of merchants might you like to see associated with the show? Did it seem that we were organized?
We know that many would like to have seen a mailed confirmation in the week before the show answering the questions asked online - that has been noted for next year.

The only way we can improve is through feedback and ideas.

Thanks in advance,
Jeanette

 

Hi Jeanette,
This was our first event and we thought it was fantastic! Plenty of food/drink and the music was great.
Perhaps there could have been some detailed driving directions from major points of entry with road quality in mind. My wife had a terrible time negotiating the pot holes between 95 and the event location.
Oh yea, and pick a day with no rain

Really, it was a lot of fun!
dave

 

I thought it was well organized. The marketing materials were nice - easy to register. Liked the idea of a pic of cars published in the program. Food was great - I know the line was a bit long for lunch - at times only one person was serving the food. Nice to have the drink tickets. As for dessert - When I showed up at 2:20 there were no desserts - possibly that should be with a ticket as well. Seemed like there was not as much participation in the silent auction - not sure what you can do about that - everything was nicely displayed. Sometimes hard to get people to come inside or they loose track of time - for the live auction.
Liked the MOB rig and vending, etc. I thought it was all good and thanks to all for the hard work.
Curious if the Childrens Guild was happy with the turn out and $$.

Barbara