It was wonderful to see so many club members downtown on Saturday night. While it was not without issue, the party went off great and a good time was had by all.
Since the club began in 2005 we have had various version's of holiday parties and eventually moved out of December and into January and re-branded as Kick-Off Parties - to kick-off the new year and new season, talk about what we have planned for the next year and relive some of the great times of the past year. We have had sit down dinners coupled with feather bowling, pizza and open bar parties coupled with roller races, banquet style parties, and even a Mongolian BBQ night. So, kick-off 2017 we tried something new. There was no-way to anticipate travel downtown would be problematic and that there would be comedians scheduled at Cobo and monster trucks at Ford Field. Because of those, the parking attendants of course raised prices based on demand, another issue out of our control.
We thought we could control food. We planned, ordered, and paid for food based on 125 people. We had 112 people scheduled to attend and about 104 made it in the end. Nonetheless, there still was not enough food. We tried our best to work with the venue and the best they could provide was pretzel bites and chicken wings - I know, not the greatest, but something was better than nothing. Again, my apologies to anyone that did not get their fair share of food for the evening - hopefully the door prizes and other give-aways made up for it.
In regards to the give-aways, special thanks to Sandy and Bonnie for working the tails off to get those boxes put together and to help with everything inside. Also, a big shout out to Fraser Bike and Hanson's Running shop for the gift certificates that we were able to include for everyone - they put out a nice chuck off $$ to cover all those.
Also have to thank Tri to Finish, Epic Races, X-Terra, Back to the Beach, and The Athletes Palate for all their donations for the extra give-aways. We greatly appreciate the additional support now and in all the past years.
Special thanks to all the board members for your contributions and help. Seemed like everyone had a great time with the IMTC Member Bingo as well ;-)