11 February 1984

1984 COUNCIL OF COUNCIL MEETING

. The 1984 meeting, hosted by the Florida Van Council, was held at Port-O-Call campground in Kissimmee, Fl. Representatives from Florida Van Council (FVC), Southern Van Council West (SVCW), Alabama Vanners Association (AVA), Maryland Van Council (MVC), Louisiana Van Association (LVA), North. Carolina/South Carolina Van Association (NC/SC), Southeastern Virginia Van Council. (SEVVC) and the Dixie Van National Committee were present.

Dave Pilon of Florida Van Council chaired the meeting, and introduced the attendees.

FVC noted that membership is about the same as last year, 30 clubs. SVCW reported having 42 clubs, AVA said they had about 6, SEVVC has about 30, NC/SC has about 8 and MVC has about 40 to 45 clubs. SVCW has about 28 independents and FVC has about 10. NC/SC recently decided to allow independents in hopes of reviving their sagging membership.

SVCW raised their dues to $15 a year and MVC raised their dues from $12 to $18 a year. The other councils maintained their old rate.

AVA noted that there is a delay in getting information out especially since there is no monthly outlet for disseminating information. FVC noted that information, other than from publications and newsletters, has been sparse this past year. The clearinghouse has not gotten a lot of information from individual clubs and no council could afford free mailing to all vanners. AVA noted that they tried to mail out info especially to the Georgia vanners, who currently have no council. A possible solution might be getting the information to VANTASY magazine, which has just been born. MVC will look into this. MVC noted that it would be better to send information directly to the council as some member clubs only check their mail box about once every three months. SEVVC noted that they do hold council meetings at events and have a presidents breakfast at every event to help out with communications.

Mike Smith noted that LVA is having a difficult time getting participation. He's tried everything, including pushing the idea of doubling up, with no success. MVC noted good participation except for a few clubs who wanted too much money for what the event had to offer. Those clubs are learning what the old timers already knew. LVA noted that they get more participation in games by making the games easy; no real physical exertion required.

LVA noted that they had a rewarding time helping out by hauling celebrities for the Special Olympics.

SEVVC noted that they have had date conflicts with events in adjacent councils for about 3 years. They have worked most of these out except for-some conflicting dates on events in Pennsylvania. FVC noted that this isn't a problem for them, as they currently have no adjacent councils.

The group concluded that it is a good idea not to have more than two Vendors of the same type at and event. Sundowners of LVA noted that they do give exclusives, but charge a higher fee to the vendor for on exclusive.

Rick Cowley of FVC explained the FVC's judging system, which doesn't separate classes by make or age of van. This cuts down on the number of trophies. It was noted that FVC doesn't have a lot of interest in van judging so events are successful with or without van judging. The other councils are still heavy into "Show and Shine" and not having van judging will markedly affect attendance.

The group again noted the age-old problem of pre-registrations. The event is hampered if the host club doesn't get the pre-entries early. This lets small clubs the hardest. To date there are 128 pre-registrations for the Dixie Van Nationals.

Mike gave a report on progress for the 12th Nationals. He noted that the campground is adding acreage, electricity, and bathhouses. It will be hot and humid. There will be a special arrangements for camping prior to the event and SVCW is arranging special parking for those who want to go to the' Worlds Fair, before or after the event. The campground for the Nationals is in two counties, one wet and one dry. Pop-up campers will be allowed. Pets will have to be leashed. There will be both rock n' roll and country music.

It was suggested we consider a logo for the Nationals and a Slogan other than 2%. It was concluded that this will take a few years due to the wide variety of suggestions.

Some people are already loaded up with event T-shirts. The suggestion was made that event patches might be the way to go.

It was decided to have Maryland Van Council host the 1985 meeting. At that point the meeting was concluded.

COUNCIL OF COUNCIL ATTENDEES

Dave Pilon - President, Florida Van Council

6148 Glen Barr Ave.

Orlando, Fl 32809 (305) 351-2121

Mike Limper - Vice-President

7714 Raleigh St.

Hollywood, Fl 33024

(305) 966-8921

Pat Bell – Treasurer

135 Alcazar Street

West Palm Beach, Fl 33411

(305) 793-8172

John Cunningham – Secretary

2137 N. Hampton Circle

Winter Park, Fl 32792

(305) 678-3281

Steve Blankinship

5474 Yakinvile

Paffatown, NC 27404

(919) 922-3328

Terry Moorefield

115 S. Gordon Dr.

Winston-Salem, NC 27104

Joe "SATCH" Burch, Sr.

RT. 2, Box 134B

Bridgewater, Va 22812

Brian Bowie

RT. 4, 992 Highpoint Dr. Annapolis, Md 21401

(301) 757-5821

Jim Schmidt

P.O. Box 1483

Cullman, Al 35055

(205) 325-9657

Van Dispatch

Don Hawkins

c/o Hawkins Auto Parts

1860 Montclair Rd.

Birmingham; Al 35210

(205) 956-2.630

Susan Jones -- Public Relations La. Van Assoc.

1601 Audubon Ave. Sundowner Vans, Inc.

Baton Rouge, La 70806

Mike Smith - Vice President, La. Van Assoc

41 Jupiter Circle FUGM Vans

Violet, La 70092