truth in advertising READ THIS

soarcj

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There is a website advertising a ukelele retreat at Lake Tahoe showing beautiful views of the lake with pine trees and blue skies, BUT the event is being held in Nov. The amphiththeatre shown will be 2 feet in snow.

Another website advertises the san diego ukelele festival which is held directly under an airport flight path. Last year James Hill was trying to play as planes went 2 hundred yards overhead and a rock band played in a nearby bar.
 
Sometimes I find a lot of uke things are held in "off seasons" or sometimes in not the most posh places in order to off-set costs and make it affordable for attendees. I wonder if they have an alternate indoor space they can use for inclement weather.
 
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There is a website advertising a ukelele retreat at Lake Tahoe showing beautiful views of the lake with pine trees and blue skies, BUT the event is being held in Nov. The amphiththeatre shown will be 2 feet in snow.

Another website advertises the san diego ukelele festival which is held directly under an airport flight path. Last year James Hill was trying to play as planes went 2 hundred yards overhead and a rock band played in a nearby bar.


I just updated the Events and Calendar page on our uke club's website to include these two festivals and I thought the same thing about the Tahoe one being held when Tahoe is getting a little chilly outside. I also noted that the San Diego festival doesn't have a location yet, just the dates (October 5-6). Maybe the organizers are looking for a less noisy venue....
 
The Actual Truth, if you dare...

Wow, I didn't realize there were such negative people in the ukulele community. This is Doug Reynolds, founder of the Reno Ukulele Festival and of the upcoming Tahoe Ukulele Retreat. Not wanting to be accused of false advertising again, my phone number is 775-783-9247 and I am using my partner Rich Dann's UU account to respond to soarcj. So this is not some semi-anonymous or vindictive post and we believe in full disclosure.

As a 30 year resident of both Lake Tahoe and the valley that lies just below Heavenly Valley Ski Resort, I can personally attest that the ski areas up here WISH 2 feet of snow at Tahoe was the norm in early November. Unlike soar, I don't pretend to be able to predict weather 7 months in advance and I will readily admit that the possibility exists that there could be snow on the ground during our retreat. But if a storm hits that time of year, it is generally very light. That's probably why we can't get any more rooms. Why would all these people be staying at the place if it's a miserable time of year? The resort will be FULL. The ski areas WON'T be open.

Still, yes, it could be a bit cold. And that's why, on the Details & Pricing page of http://tahoeukuleleretreat.com, I write…"After dinner, if the weather is accommodating, we'll strum around the campfire!"

Furthermore, I never allude to using the amphitheater, (although if the weather is good we might!) That is just another photo from the resort's website. The other photos in the right column were taken 4 days ago, just a few days after a snow storm. Looks pretty nice doesn't it?

But your allegation does allow me to advertise that we will have the best of both worlds available to us at the retreat. If the weather is cold, we'll be inside. If it's nice, we have a lawn overlooking the Lake, a fire pit, and the amphitheater at our disposal. And finally, if a freak giant snowstorm does hit, the resort closes down and refunds our money.

The truth is, early November is typically gorgeous weather up here. It's my favorite time of year and I am NOT a fan of snow or cold weather! The percentages for good weather in the fall are much higher than the unpredictability of spring, (as hundreds of the attendees of our Reno Uke Fest who travel I-80 can attest to!) The nights might be too nippy to sit around the fire, but it might also be spectacular. We can decide as a group where we want to play.

So, soar… I'm not sure whether you are an agent for someone who might also put on festivals or retreats in the region that feels threatened, or if you just don't like us for some reason. But I can assure you that there is no false advertising going on. If you do view us a competition, rest easy, we only have 20 rooms at our disposal and can only accommodate about 50 total attendees.

For everyone else, if you will be unhappy if there's snow on the ground, please don't chance it. There is always that possibility in the Sierras. Over 30 years we've had freak snow in every month but August.

And if you've never been to our Reno Festival to see how we operate or if for some other reason don't trust us, please contact us so we can put your mind at ease. And if you are in the uke community, you must agree that you can trust Gordon & Char at Mya-Moe who have been helping us coordinate the retreat from day one and who are our presenting sponsors.

Have a beautiful day. and Keep Strummin'!
Doug
 
I think there's a big difference between thinking a photo is of an EVENT versus it just being of the VENUE. Ya know? I don't believe there was any ill intent!

This weekend I am going to a car show and it's being advertised that it's at Venue X, which has go carts, roller coasters, etc. Except those features of it aren't open till next month. Just the track will be open. I imagine there will be a few people who didn't look at it closely who will assume those features will be available, but it's just another issue of due diligence on understanding what's going on at the thing you are going to. Laziness begets disappointment.
 
Doug,

I've never been to any type of uke retreat but after reading your post and seeing the obvious high level of integrity you have instilled within your organization, it is very likely my lovely wife and I will be joining you in Tahoe. We both look forward to the opportunity to learn and grow with others in what looks like an absolutely beautiful venue.

Cheers,

Mark
 
If it snows at UWC I will guarantee a full refund.

BWAAAA-HAAA. Hey...if it snows at UWC I'm staying anyway!

Did y'all hear about the time that it snowed on Malibu in CA? The hospital emergency rooms were full with patients who had frostbitten their sinus cavities...

John
 
The pictures I've seen of UWC show an empty field populated by a bunch of oddballs.

I will be very upset if I find it to be otherwise when I get there this summer.

(OldePhart: It took me a minute to get that one)
 
Oddly, nobody has yet posted a link to the Tahoe Ukulele Retreat website in question. Here it is: http://tahoeukuleleretreat.com/

On the issue of truth in advertising, this is a quote from the "details and pricing" page on the website:

"What if it snows?
Early November weather is typically far more dependable than in the spring. There is still regional warmth from the summer and the weather is normally spectacular. In the 30 years we’ve lived here, we have only seen a handful of light storms. However, should a freak heavy storm hit to the point where the resort was deemed unsafe and unable to open, they would refund our money and we would get it all back to you."

By the way, websites advertising conventions frequently post photos of amenities in the area without suggesting that the meeting is going to actually be held at the amenity or that the amenity will even be accessible during the meeting period. For example, websites for conventions in San Francisco frequently display photos of the Golden Gate Bridge, the cable cars and Fisherman's Wharf, even though none of those tourist attractions is visible from the convention center (although one of the cable car lines is in walking distance). And these websites don't show photos of these attractions in the rain for conventions that are held during the winter rainy season.

One other thing about the weather, for those who don't live in the Western US. Our nicest weather tends to occur not in summer but in autumn. In San Francisco, September and October are typically the warmest and sunniest months of the year. The storm season tends to start later than people think (this year, it only began a few weeks ago!), and while it can definitely be cold enough to snow in the Sierras in November, it's typically dry until late November or early December, even in wet years.
 
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+1 on San Diego

Another website advertises the san diego ukelele festival which is held directly under an airport flight path. Last year James Hill was trying to play as planes went 2 hundred yards overhead and a rock band played in a nearby bar.

Yes indeed, we were a bit taken aback the first night during Jake's show by the constant noise from the airplanes.
 
(OldePhart: It took me a minute to get that one)

Hey, hey, folks - he'll be here every night this week, tell your friends!

Usually I'm as subtle as a sledgehammer, once in a while I like to throw a changeup... :)

John
 
Yes indeed, we were a bit taken aback the first night during Jake's show by the constant noise from the airplanes.

San Diego also has an outdoor theater in Balboa Park that sits under the path of aircraft landing at the San Diego Airport. When plays are performed at this theater, the actors stop to let the jets pass by.
 
I'm sure the venue will be nice, though as to snow in November in the Tahoe area in the last 30 years, I seem to remember a snowstorm circa 1990 or so that kept our RV stuck in the Bally's RV Park lot in Reno for three fun filled days during which we won and then lost again something like $1,500 at slots and poker, and had the worst Thanksgiving meal of our lives because either the cooks quit or threw a tantrum. I think we were actually really stuck maybe only one day, but we did have several feet of snow and driving out had a lot of it still under our tires on the roadway. Maybe it hit Reno harder. Maybe it only seems like three days in retrospect because I was ukeless then. :(
 
My browser cancelled my email account due to "abnormal negative activity" on my email account beyond this forum. I deeply regret anything I might have said about the weather, I think you do a great job, I respect you, and appreciate all you do.
 
Wow, I didn't realize there were such negative people in the ukulele community.

And if you've never been to our Reno Festival to see how we operate or if for some other reason don't trust us, please contact us so we can put your mind at ease.

From this thread, in regards to a Koaloha that was stolen at the Reno festival, it was suggested that the promoters of the event (You?) weren't bothered and made little to no attempt to track down the thief, not even so much as an announcement. That's a pretty serious lapse in judgement right there. Sorry to be all "negative" but this would have been the thread in which to make your appearance.

I wasn't there, obviously, but it was posted here and so I read it, and am quoting it to you to see what your response is, if any. Negative things happen, and sometimes we have to talk about them.

So sad to hear that Eileen who has the Kanikapila company and runs the great Wine Country Ukulele festival in Napa had a pikake soprano taken from her booth yesterday...Shame on whoever the culprit is....maybe they will get nonbuyers remorse and it will reappear...If not the God's of Pele will reign upon them/..

This has been reported to the Sparks police, case # 12SP02904. We'll see what happens. (Security at the Nugget was pretty disinterested.)

A number of people are keeping an eye out on CraigsList and eBay. Besides being a KoALoha soprano pikake, it had a date stamp on the label in the sound hole: August 2011. The more eyes the better. Thank you.

Frankly, I'm still a little shocked and very disappointed that the festival organizers didn't do anything (nada...nothing) to recover this the minute they heard it had been stolen, which was within minutes of the fact. A general announcement at the very least might have increased the chances of recovering it significantly and catching the culprit. It was the only KoAloha pikake at the festival......

Thanks, however, go out to everyone else for their concern and help.

I'll keep you posted.

Elaine

Strange that you got angry about a post that reads as a tongue-in-cheek reminder that objects in window might be snowier than they appear, but you didn't say a word about this much more serious problem.
 
Another website advertises the san diego ukelele festival which is held directly under an airport flight path. Last year James Hill was trying to play as planes went 2 hundred yards overhead and a rock band played in a nearby bar.

Even worse than the venue was that the promoters saw nothing wrong with the venue.
They also did not hesitate to change the schedule without telling anybody.

Doug and Rich run a first class festival in Reno, they are VERY receptive to requests and suggestions from the attendees.
Elaine also runs first class events and I feel sorry for her KoAloha ukulele loss at this years event.
There is never any guarantee as to weather, but if Doug believes the weather will be ok in November, I'll go with his judgement.
 
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