Post by Ogre on Oct 24, 2014 22:43:23 GMT -5
So I ran this idea by Canto at Firestorm and he thought it was a good Idea so I want to get the rest of forum's opinion on it.
So many of you may or may not be familiar with an event on the West Coast called "The Airsoft Camp" which is an event that Evike puts on to draw Airsoft players together for a weekend of camping, recreational activities and of course, Airsoft. After watching the Not So Round Table episode that was done at The Airsoft Camp, I thought, why not do something similar here. From what I can tell, only the West Coast has something like this going on. The East Coast and Midwest haven't really had a organized event for this purpose.
What I would like to do, is get Several event organizers who would be interested in putting this together, to come together and throw this big event. Since MiA consists of players from all walks of life and skill levels, I think a weekend of camping would be a great way to reinforce the "community" aspect we should be striving for, as well as get people from the various facebook groups, who might have something against MiA, to get on the forums. This event would be family friendly, would encourage new players to come out, have some fun and learn from the older more experienced crowd, without necessarily being "intimidated"as airsoft will not be the sole focus of this weekend. Ideally I would like to mimic as much as possible what is done on the West Coast and offer Biking, Archery, Fishing and swimming as activities throughout the day, have a squad tactics class players could sign up for and experience, invite some vendors out so those newer to airsoft can get a chance to finger bang some of the newer and more expensive guns that are on the market. Have semi large swap meet for players, ect. I would like this event to be family friendly so if you are looking to show the wife or girlfriend what we do, or get your kid involved into airsoft, this would be a great way to show them how awesome the community is in Michigan.
Obviously the biggest issue with this is going to be location and price. Evike charges $150 for tickets to this type of event, I would like to keep the cost if possible below $60 If it has to be more to make this happen it will be, but if Mosin has proved anything, is that quality events that would normally be in the range of $60-$100 dollars, can be done for less, hopefully that holds true here. Several locations come to mind when I think of places we could do this, I would plan for anywhere between 40-150 players depending on how fast this idea takes off. Here's a list of places that come to mind when I think of places this could be done and the pros and con's of each.
Bangor
Pros:
Great field
Everyone is familiar with it
Canto has a great relationship with the owner
Close to Lake Michigan, making fishing and Swimming easy.
People are familiar with hosting there so It would make running rec games a little smoother
Won't have to scope out the field prior to figure out how to run games.
Cons:
Not sure how many if any trails there is for biking around the area
Parking could get a little chaotic
Camping space would be limited, and would probably have to expand into the field, causing a safety hazard for gameplay
Area 51 Paintball
Pros:
Great Field
well built up
Lots of space
ground is flat so expanding camping into the back area of the field wouldn't be too hard and is far enough away from the gameplay so that safety wouldn't be an issue.
relatively close to lake Michigan, making fishing and swiming easy.
More options for biking trails around the area.
Plenty of parking
Cons:
Too far North for most players.
Field owners don't care too much about Airsoft
Only known host there has done some sketchy games
Not sure how well they would be willing to work with outsiders if Toby wasn't involved
Reserving a Campground
Pros:
Plently of room for camping
Lots of space
Showers and bathrooms
Plenty of parking space
Will offer more area for biking, hiking, fishing, swimming, ect
Cons:
May be pricey
May have a smaller area to do airsoft
Event hosts would have to scope out the area
Will have the rent the ENTIRE PLACE out to keep unwanted guests from coming in.
No connections with owners to host ban event like this.
Private Property
Pros:
MiA owned
Will be able to run the event however we would like
Cons:
May or may not be ideal for camping, fishing, rec games, etc.
Toilet's will need to be rented prior to event.
Additionally, there is a chunk of land in the Thumb that is owned by my dad's sister that isn't used for anything other than camping that I can see about using for an event.
Pros:
60+ Acres
Trails
Plenty of camping space
pond that stretches almost 2 football fields long that would be perfect for things like swiming fishing and Pedal boating.
Electricity
great terrain variation
closer to a lot of players than traveling to Area 51 or Bangor
Plenty of parking space
Because of the space between campsites, it would be easy to separate camping from areas that are in play for airsoft.
Cons:
No paintball netting
Might be a slight upfront cost
Event hosts would have to meet there a few weeks before the event to plan out everything.
So there you have it folks. That's my idea and I would love to hear feedback from you guys, as well as see volunteers who would help plan it.
So many of you may or may not be familiar with an event on the West Coast called "The Airsoft Camp" which is an event that Evike puts on to draw Airsoft players together for a weekend of camping, recreational activities and of course, Airsoft. After watching the Not So Round Table episode that was done at The Airsoft Camp, I thought, why not do something similar here. From what I can tell, only the West Coast has something like this going on. The East Coast and Midwest haven't really had a organized event for this purpose.
What I would like to do, is get Several event organizers who would be interested in putting this together, to come together and throw this big event. Since MiA consists of players from all walks of life and skill levels, I think a weekend of camping would be a great way to reinforce the "community" aspect we should be striving for, as well as get people from the various facebook groups, who might have something against MiA, to get on the forums. This event would be family friendly, would encourage new players to come out, have some fun and learn from the older more experienced crowd, without necessarily being "intimidated"as airsoft will not be the sole focus of this weekend. Ideally I would like to mimic as much as possible what is done on the West Coast and offer Biking, Archery, Fishing and swimming as activities throughout the day, have a squad tactics class players could sign up for and experience, invite some vendors out so those newer to airsoft can get a chance to finger bang some of the newer and more expensive guns that are on the market. Have semi large swap meet for players, ect. I would like this event to be family friendly so if you are looking to show the wife or girlfriend what we do, or get your kid involved into airsoft, this would be a great way to show them how awesome the community is in Michigan.
Obviously the biggest issue with this is going to be location and price. Evike charges $150 for tickets to this type of event, I would like to keep the cost if possible below $60 If it has to be more to make this happen it will be, but if Mosin has proved anything, is that quality events that would normally be in the range of $60-$100 dollars, can be done for less, hopefully that holds true here. Several locations come to mind when I think of places we could do this, I would plan for anywhere between 40-150 players depending on how fast this idea takes off. Here's a list of places that come to mind when I think of places this could be done and the pros and con's of each.
Bangor
Pros:
Great field
Everyone is familiar with it
Canto has a great relationship with the owner
Close to Lake Michigan, making fishing and Swimming easy.
People are familiar with hosting there so It would make running rec games a little smoother
Won't have to scope out the field prior to figure out how to run games.
Cons:
Not sure how many if any trails there is for biking around the area
Parking could get a little chaotic
Camping space would be limited, and would probably have to expand into the field, causing a safety hazard for gameplay
Area 51 Paintball
Pros:
Great Field
well built up
Lots of space
ground is flat so expanding camping into the back area of the field wouldn't be too hard and is far enough away from the gameplay so that safety wouldn't be an issue.
relatively close to lake Michigan, making fishing and swiming easy.
More options for biking trails around the area.
Plenty of parking
Cons:
Too far North for most players.
Field owners don't care too much about Airsoft
Only known host there has done some sketchy games
Not sure how well they would be willing to work with outsiders if Toby wasn't involved
Reserving a Campground
Pros:
Plently of room for camping
Lots of space
Showers and bathrooms
Plenty of parking space
Will offer more area for biking, hiking, fishing, swimming, ect
Cons:
May be pricey
May have a smaller area to do airsoft
Event hosts would have to scope out the area
Will have the rent the ENTIRE PLACE out to keep unwanted guests from coming in.
No connections with owners to host ban event like this.
Private Property
Pros:
MiA owned
Will be able to run the event however we would like
Cons:
May or may not be ideal for camping, fishing, rec games, etc.
Toilet's will need to be rented prior to event.
Additionally, there is a chunk of land in the Thumb that is owned by my dad's sister that isn't used for anything other than camping that I can see about using for an event.
Pros:
60+ Acres
Trails
Plenty of camping space
pond that stretches almost 2 football fields long that would be perfect for things like swiming fishing and Pedal boating.
Electricity
great terrain variation
closer to a lot of players than traveling to Area 51 or Bangor
Plenty of parking space
Because of the space between campsites, it would be easy to separate camping from areas that are in play for airsoft.
Cons:
No paintball netting
Might be a slight upfront cost
Event hosts would have to meet there a few weeks before the event to plan out everything.
So there you have it folks. That's my idea and I would love to hear feedback from you guys, as well as see volunteers who would help plan it.
