02/05/2021
Can you believe it’s been almost a year since we last gathered at the Sheraton Detroit Novi Hotel? As the world began shutting down, we were busy cropping away! I’ve thought about that crazy, surreal time often over this past year and how blessed we were to be able to gather. This November was the first time in 19 years that I didn’t have a fall retreat ☹ We sure have some lost time to make up for!
I’m very, very happy to let you know that we are planning on, once again, cropping at the Sheraton in March!!
The staff at the hotel is committed to working with us so we can gather safely. There are still a lot of uncertainties, but the hotel needs a pretty good estimate of our numbers so we can start pulling it all together. It will be here before you know it! So, please look over the info below and let us know asap if you would attend our March 19-21 weekend. No commitment is required at this time but please, give this some thought and let us know by Wednesday, Feb. 10th if you think you will be able to join us. I’m eager to here your thoughts & suggestions.
For now, this is what we are planning:
First – everyone will be properly socially distanced. Safety is the main priority for those of us organizing the weekend as well as the staff at the Sheraton. We are going to ask everyone to wear masks when in public spaces and also when moving about in the crop rooms. I know many will be vaccinated by then, but we’re hoping that they will still wear masks to encourage others to do the same. We will have items available to keep things sanitized & clean in the crop areas and will encourage frequent hand washing and social distancing whenever possible. Even with all the precautions that will be in place, we simply can not guarantee a sterile environment so please, as much as we want to crop with you, realize that if you're not comfortable with gathering in person, it can wait. We are looking into some sort of a virtual option for those who want to connect from a distance. It will probably be very limited but, hopefully it will help us get back together one way or another. More about that soon!
Space: It is uncertain which rooms we’ll be in. We might all be in larger banquet rooms or maybe have some of our group in the banquet rooms and conference rooms, as usual. We will be properly distanced. I’m not sure of the specifics, but the Sheraton will be working to ensure they’re compliant with federal and state guidelines for events and gatherings. The space we’re in will depend on our numbers. We plan on doing drawings, classes, etc. via Zoom during the weekend. Anything we’d all gather for in the past we’ll do online, except for meals of course and we’ll probably break up into groups for that so we’re not all trying to eat at once.
Price: We’re very sorry but we need to eliminate the ½ table option offered in the past. We are not anticipating any increase in the past price for those who opted for a 6’ table ($175 for the whole weekend - not including a hotel room) but a ½ table will no longer be available. We’re still planning on having 6’ of table space (side to side) per cropper, but I’m not exactly sure how everything will be set up. The hotel has a lot of different types of tables and if we’re seated across from one another we’ll make sure there is more than enough space between us. I will do my absolute best to keep all groups together, but with the smaller room capacities we might have to split up very large groups. I’ve never had to do this before and hope to not have to but need to mention the possibility, especially this time.
Meals: Not really sure what options will be available from the hotel, but we let the folks at the Sheraton know that we’d like to have them provide a comparable value as in the past. That was - Friday dinner, Saturday lunch & dinner and breakfast & lunch on Sunday. The hotel is thinking that we will still be able to offer these same meals, but they are not sure what the actual menu choices will be. After running with a skeleton crew for so long it might take a while for the Sheraton to get back up to full speed and that might impact our options. We’re probably still looking at buffet style meals served by the banquet staff. To help keep things sanitary, we will not be providing any additional food or snacks during the weekend and it’s unsure at this time if the hotel will be able to provide water service or a Pepsi cooler. So, if you plan on attending, please bring a cooler for any items you need refrigerated and you’re always welcome to bring your own snacks/drinks. I think we’ll still bring the Keurig machine and pods with some disposable gloves to wear during each use. It could get ugly if we eliminate caffeine 😃
There are lots of variables to consider, but in order to figure it all out the Sheraton needs to get a fairly good estimate of our numbers.
Please let us know by Wednesday, Feb. 10th if you’re interested in attending in person our retreat March 19-21st at the Novi Sheraton. You can get a feel for what our retreats are like by visiting our blog http://cropalot.blogspot.com/
