Scuba in the Park

[acoustic diver]

Scuba in the Park went off with a bang. On what was mostly a flawless day.
Their were 16 exhibitors, 12 main door prize-bundles worth about $450.00 each, 1 early-bird draw worth $600.00, 2 vacations given away (minus transportation) one to God's Pocket, British Columbia for two, and one to Roaton, Honduras to Fantasy Island Resort for one, along with a lot of stuff that was just thrown out passed out randomly.
The final count is not in yet but roughly 500 people came out to check out the event.
Some events were delayed as there were 96 divers there for the Lillie Parsons dive, which ran things an hour past the schedule.
The fashion show was put together well and displayed in a comic fashion with the male models striking the Zoolander poses.
Electric Lettuce took the stage at 6:00 and stayed up there for three encores. Their blues rock fit the crowd of all ages.

Only fallouts for the day were really the Scuba swap, no one showed up with stuff to sell, the Kid's snorkel hunt and that was only because it was late starting due to the Lillie activity and I have heard the Project aware pulled out a lot of garbage but did not have the gifts for everyone it promised ( I heard amends were made by the end of the day)

All in all it was great - people, the band and exhibitors were already asking if the date for next year was set. Not yet - but maybe by the end of the week.

The website will be updated by the months end with pictures of the day and details/plans for next year. (just have to wait for the pictures to come in)

 

[JimC]

To make the scuba swap successfull:


Have scuba in the park people run a bunch of tables on a 10% commisson. Then you can drop your stuff off, go diveing, come back, browse, go eat, browse.. and around 6 come back and see what sold and collect your cash.


I had 4-5 things in my car that didn't come out after I found that I needed to pay 10 bucks to sit (on a chair I didn't have) at a table (I didn't bring) all day.

I am sure a whole bunch of other divers felt the same.

 

[taz22]

A good day had by all.

Saw Diving Gal, Diver Joe, FreeFloat and barb at the Park.
Looking forward to next year's event.

Cheers!

 

[FreeFloat]

I didn't go on the charters - partly since they're too deep for a freediver that I presently am, and partly due to a severe funding shortage

But I went out snorkelling around the island opposite the sandy beach and found a bottle (which I recovered), and some broken plates and half a teacup (which I didn't bother with)

Won a doorprize. That makes it worth the price of admission!

Great people, lots of free conversation and advice.......

Who knows, by next year I might have my OW c-card and be able to go diving with the charter boat!

 

[DivingGal]

Saw lots of folks I haven't seen in a long time, visited the booths, and generally had a grand time.

Oh yeah, the fact that I won a door prize that had a brand new BC, didn't hurt either!

 

[diverdeb001]

I had a great day too. My buddy and I got a bonus on our dive to the Lily by swimming back along the shore in shallow water and then dropping over the wall to do the drift again x 2.
I was disappointed in the cleanup event as it was supposed to be a PADI Aware event and we didn't get certificates. The prize of one t-shirt and a signal sausage per buddy pair was hard to split up. Oh well it was refreshing to get into the water on such a warm day.
I thought the event was really well attended and the door prizes were really great. The organizers deserve a big thank you and I look forward to next year.

 

[BLACKPEARL]

diverdeb001 once bubbled...

I was disappointed in the cleanup event as it was supposed to be a PADI Aware event and we didn't get certificates. The prize of one t-shirt and a signal sausage per buddy pair was hard to split up. Oh well it was refreshing to get into the water on such a warm day.

That's too bad you were disappointed over the 2 prizes that were given to participants of the clean-up. My Buddy and I thought they were very generous considering that the PADI Aware Project promotes awareness for cleaning up the environment and is NOT geared towards being motivated by prizes. We have been involved in several clean-up dives where a mere thank-you for participating was given. Besides the great prizes for the clean-up (which were not expected) the overall event was well attended and the opportunity to win lots of other prizes was more than we expected. Maybe you should check with the co-ordinators of the PADI clean-up event as we received our certificates.

 

[BLACKPEARL]

acoustic diver once bubbled...

Only fallouts for the day were really the Scuba swap, no one showed up with stuff to sell, the Kid's snorkel hunt and that was only because it was late starting due to the Lillie activity and I have heard the Project aware pulled out a lot of garbage but did not have the gifts for everyone it promised ( I heard amends were made by the end of the day)

$10.00 wasn't really that big a deal to have the opportunity to unload some dive gear at the swap. If any one person didn't have enough to make it worth while, getting together with others helps offset the price of the table as well as always having someone attending the table while other is out diving.

Didn't see alot of kid's around during the day for the kid's snorkel hunt. Maybe next year it could be promoted differently, inviting more of the non-divers to an event they think is just for divers.

As far as gifts go for everyone after the PADI Project Aware Clean-up, my buddy and I picked up our prize almost immediately after the clean-up at the co-ordinators booth. The prizes were more than we expected. The packages were all personalized by name with the participants buddy pairs as well as our PADI Certificate to be picked up at the store as there was no way for the co-ordinators to know what names to print before the event. The best prize for me was the fasinating bottle amongst all the trash that was brought up.

 

[diverdeb001]

Thanks for the scoop on the certificates for the cleanup. Even though my kids couldn't make it this year we are keeping the certificates in our diving scrapbook. As far as the prizes go, they were very generous as were the door prizes at the main event. I just had an awkward moment with my buddy who I don't know very well. In the end it worked out well because I had a sausage from last year's event and the T-shirt was xxl, too big for me so I was happy to give both to my buddy.
As far as the swap tables go, I set up late in the afternoon with a friend but it was after most of the diving and people had already pretty much done the tour of the manufacturers. We each sold a couple of small items but I think it could be successful with more tables set up.

 

[taz22]

BLACKPEARL once bubbled...


$10.00 wasn't really that big a deal to have the opportunity to unload some dive gear at the swap. If any one person didn't have enough to make it worth while, getting together with others helps offset the price of the table as well as always having someone attending the table while other is out diving.

Didn't see alot of kid's around during the day for the kid's snorkel hunt. Maybe next year it could be promoted differently, inviting more of the non-divers to an event they think is just for divers.

As far as gifts go for everyone after the PADI Project Aware Clean-up, my buddy and I picked up our prize almost immediately after the clean-up at the co-ordinators booth. The prizes were more than we expected. The packages were all personalized by name with the participants buddy pairs as well as our PADI Certificate to be picked up at the store as there was no way for the co-ordinators to know what names to print before the event. The best prize for me was the fasinating bottle amongst all the trash that was brought up.

Excellent comments and suggestions!!!

Too bad that someimes we forget that we dive because we like to dive, not that we expect a reward for doing something for the environment.After given more thought to the event, I strong think that additional entertainment is needed. Also, featuring local bansds could be advantagous by lowering costs and accesss the fan base that have already built up that will come out to the event etc. We have a number of great bands right here in our own back yard:

Jeff Callery & Runaway Train
Healy & Orr
Shiver mme Timbers
Brian Downey Jazz band
Midnight Rider
etc
etc

Why feature a band from out of town that has no ties to the region?


Additionally, businesses outside of the scuba industry should be targeted next year so you can access additional sposnsorship dollars and bridge the gap between divers and the non-diving community.