Much or all of the following info will
probably also be available on http://DCFestival2008.com within the next
24-48 hours. If you manage a website or blogsite
or similar, we would ask that you please include the same somewhere on
yours. Ty.
Note: A few large orgs are involved
now. Plans include hooking up with WTP and other orgs who
will also just happen to be there in DC, at the same time... Next conf
calls are Sat's, Sun's and Wed's at 8pm Eastern: http://talkshoe.com/tc/43507
The below is divided
between: Event Summary
Places to
Stay Ridesharing Spread the Word
Event Summary:
August 15th & 16th (Fri/Sat),
downtown Washington, DC, at the Capitol Hill area ("on Capitol Hill"..). There
are four (4) different categories of events all going on throughout both days, i.e., a true "festival" of
events:
(1) The main Festival activities, including the
live music, most speakers, some of the
ceremonies, and etc., will be held on center sound
stage in Upper Senate Park, directly across Constitution Avenue from the
Capitol Building. Upper Senate Park is a five-sided block that can easily
hold several thousand people, and has plenty of manicured trees and grass,
several sidewalks, a marble sculpture fountain plaza
for our center stage area, and fantastic
views in every direction. If you click once "UP" on this cool 3D map,
Upper Senate Park is the five sided trees/grass block across from the
Capitol Building to "the left/up", i.e., across Constitution Ave, also seen as
a
downtown aerial marking several important buildings nearby, and a
zoomed aerial of the Park itself, which also shows just behind, to the
left across the street, the Main Event Hotel, the Hyatt Regency
Washington on Capitol Hill, where the DC
Festival 2008 meeting/training rooms will be located.
(2) Scattered throughout Upper Senate
Park during the same both days, will be the organizational booths/tables (low $200 each,
contact Lary Holland at dcevents@familycourtreports.com),
facepainting and balloons for the
kids (or you? lol), at least three physical Festival
Information Center locations setup inside the Park (i.e.,
stations with displayed area maps, schedules, directions, flyers, etc. for the
public to know where to go, what to do, etc.), and
other activities to be developed for all visitors and attendees.
If you have ideas, please get them in to either Lary Holland
or myself... asap.
(3) Other general Festival events include:
WeThePeople will already be there on the National Mall, MediaRADAR
is hitting up Congress over VAWA, Fathers-4-Justice
is leading an all-org Justice March
throughout Capitol Hill,
NANCM is leading a large and very public Candlelight Vigil at the Lincoln Memorial, and there will surely
be more added soon!
(4) At least three Meeting
Rooms at the Hyatt Regency
Washington on Capitol Hill will include two dedicated Meeting Rooms for
various training purposes,
with seminars held every 60 or 90 minutes, all-day on both Friday and
Saturday. An additional Room will be used for rotating purposes, including
scheduled book signings (Dr.
Baskerville, Dr. Baker, etc.), registered slots for people to sit with
licensed Attorneys for free private legal
consultations, periods for open organizational merchandising, and also showings of
important videos, such as
"A View For The Bench", "Support: System
Down", "Jake's Closet", "A
Father's Right", "Freedom to Fascism",
and so forth... A fourth (4th) Meeting Room may be added soon to increase
overall availability, and for even more functionality. For especially the
training seminars and video showings, printed "vouchers" or "tickets" will
be available for pickup by interested people, at several different spots located
within the Upper Senate Park festival area. This is to maintain
the audience maximum limits per Meeting Room.
Places to
Stay:
A wide variety of identified options, both in price and amenities,
are available for overnight
accomodations, including hotels, hostels, campgrounds, and even
log cabins. People can stay near DC for LESS
THAN $1.00/person/night!!!
There are five (5) hotels within immediate walking
distance from Upper Senate Park, represented by the five red balloons shown just North of the one really big red balloon for the Capitol Building, on a map here.
You can also stay at most other hotels in the DC area, and ride the Metro from your hotel
right to Union Station, one block North of Upper Senate
Park.
# 71 -- Hyatt Regency Washington Capitol
Hill, 400 New Jersey Avenue NW, Washington DC, 20001. Best price
for all three nites [Thu in, Sun out] for two double beds, two
adults = $333 + taxes. The Meeting Room events are at this hotel.
# 29 -- The Liaison Capitol Hill (used to be Holiday Inn Washington - On The Hill), 415
New Jersey Avenue NW, Washington DC, 20001. Best price for all three
nites [Thu in, Sun out] for two double beds, two adults = $408 + taxes. Modern rooms, 32" flatscreen
TVs, etc. "Book in advance and save."
# 13 -- Phoenix Park Hotel DC
Capitol Hill, 520 North Capitol Street NW, Washington DC,
20001. Best price for all three nites [Thu in, Sun out] for two
double beds, two adults = $467
+ taxes. Big plush rooms, 32" HD TVs, terry cloth bathrobes, etc.
"Advance Promotion -- Save 15% on your nightly rate. Book by July 7,
2008."
# 34 -- The Hotel
George, 15 E Street NW, Washington DC, 20001. Best price
for any one night, for two queen beds, two
adults = $175/night + taxes.
All rooms non-smoking. Incredible 350 sq. ft. rooms, granite desk, bar, marble
bathroom, Italian hygiene products, etc. "Stay 3 nights and save
20%."
# 49 -- Washington Court Hotel, 525 New Jersey Avenue
NW, Washington DC, 20001. Best price for any one
night, for two queen beds, two adults = $176/night + taxes. Kids eat free. Again,
huge spacious rooms, marble, Italian stuff, etc.
However, there are over 100 other
hotels in the downtown DC area, providing many, many options as shown
on this map:
and with the DC MetroRail &
MetroBus systems, getting from anywhere in DC, on down to the Festival
is a breeze:
CHEAP SLEEP /
NIGHT:
Courtesy of the Ron Paul camp, we have
over two dozen places in or near downtown DC for
**CHEAP SLEEP**, such as hostels, RV
parks, local churches, and several other options for dirt cheap sleepovers, some
with really nice amenities:
And, within the Prince William Forest
Park, about 30 miles South of downtown Washington DC, are two
campgrounds:
Camp Mawavi group log cabin campground. Each of five (5) clusters
of log cabins [each campsite] rents out for an entire group/night,
with the cost/person at about 50 cents... Campsites for approx 75
persons (total = $175/night) and for approx 150 persons (total =
$315/night). http://www.nps.gov/prwi/planyourvisit/group-cabin-camping.htm
Ridesharing:
Within a 500 mile radius, 4 people in an economy
car (30 mpg), or 6 people in a minivan (20 mpg), can ride to DC and back for
about $35-40/person, at $4.50/gallon
calculated for gasoline prices... or,
$30-35/person, at $4.00/gallon... At a 1000 radius out, simply
double those costs, plus add for one night at a Motel 6 or something, along the
way and back:
Together with building additional "pulsed"
MEDIA EVENTS spiraling into DC
during the same few days before, at different "meetup" cities, this webpage
provides all details on driving to Washington DC from anywhere in the Eastern
2/3 of the USA, with links and further information on
how people can hook up with others for caravans and
rideshares:
People in some States are trying to work on buses,
or even have bus information available now. Most people from the West Coast are
probably looking to fly in, but it seems there are a few who are planning on
driving across the country.
But, the bottom line is that
everyone, everywhere, needs to arrange rides on a common, "no org", open system
of state and county groups. Please encourage everyone to join at least their own
UCRCoA State Yahoo Group provided here:
and don't forget the clusters of 10 and 20
activists that are out there on so many UCRCoA County Yahoo Groups:
Spread the
Word:
There are actually seven (7) events in
total, explained by the UCRCoA official support letter for DC Festival
2008:
These include -- the CRISPE Bus soon to begin traveling and stopping
across the USA on its way to DC Festival 2008; the current July 4th local
events; the upcoming Parent's
Day (July 27th) proclamations and rallies; the Equal Parenting Bike Trek; the
gala mega spectacular DC Festival 2008
itself; and the Democratic and Republican national conventions
shortly after, in Denver and the Twin Cities. Of course, there are many events
at State levels in the meantime, and supporting all of these many goals, the eComm/eBlitz team(s) are
being strongly encouraged to wrap up soon, and launch across
America.
This spreadsheet shows the largest [family rights
types] Yahoo! Groups for all 50 States:
Anyone can quickly learn how to use the Internet to
find tons and tons of activists right in their own backyard:
Sooo... WHAT are you waiting on? Get started,
right now!
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