Record Number of Families at Family Week!
Dustin on Jul 29th 2007
It’s only been two days since the 12th annual Provincetown Family Week began, and I’m already astounded by the growth! I’ve seen many old faces and also a lot of new. This year, R Family Vacations is running the large social and entertainment events, like their Under the Big Top Circus Dinner and their Classic Disco Family Tea Dance, and already 3 of the 4 major events are SOLD OUT with more than 650 people attending each one! Last year, our biggest dinner (also run by R Family and pirate-themed) was 350 people. We estimate well over 500 LGBTQ-headed families in PTown this week–that’s at least 1,000 if not more than 1,500 people from our community. The growth is tremendous!
So much has happened since we arrived Saturday morning, not to mention the drive up. (I surprised my boss, Family Pride Executive Director Jennifer Chrisler, with my fancy driving. Hey, that rest stop crept up on me, and I hadto get over two lanes of traffic to get there. Parents understand: when someone in the car has to go, someone in the car has to go.)
We had a great time at check-in and registration Saturday morning, down on MacMillan Pier. We’ve moved most of our events down there this year–both to create a one-stop shop for our families and because the breeze off the water is oh so nice! We busted out the sound system and I plugged my iPod in–I have a special “Family Pride” playlist for just such occasions, with great LGBTQ family hits like “We Are Family,” “Love and Happiness,” “Freedom 90,” and more. As R Family staff handled tickets and program books, the Family Pride staff was able to do what we’ve always wanted to have more time to do at Family Week–talk and share with all the wonderful families!
We have a full workshop schedule this week, continuing the tradition of bringing fresh, valuable education and advocacy programming to LGBTQ-headed families even as we ratchet up the fun side of the week through our partnership with R Family. I’m particularly excited to present on safe and inclusive schools with Jennifer on Tuesday and to lead parents through our “Toughest Questions” workshop Wednesday morning, an exercise pulled directly from our OUTSpoken Families Speakers Bureau toolkit.
Other highlights of the past few days include:
The Gathering for Families with Members of African and/or Caribbean Descent (held at the Family Pride staff house!)
The Broadway Belters Brunch (think bacon, eggs, vibrato)
The Welcome Family Beach Picnic (complete with cool breeze and even cooler water)
The Blogging and Online Activism Workshop (with our good friend, Dana Rudolph of Mombian.com)
The Sandcastle Building Contest (complete with Family Pride ribbons for all the families that participated)
Tomorrow’s our first full day of workshops and entertainment programming, with “little gatherings” for the under 4s first thing, followed by a workshop conducted by Jennifer Chrisler on “Talking to Our Children” about being LGBTQ. Then it’s on to “Relationship Success,” a presentation on keeping LGBTQ partnerships strong, followed by Beach Olympics, the 7th Annual Guatemalan Barbecue (for families with children adopted from Guatemala), and the big deal, big-time Under the Big Top Dinner!
I can’t say I’m not a little exhausted already, and I think I speak for the Family Pride staff as a whole. However, there is a strange energy that develops around Family Week–an energy that keeps a smile on our faces (through the pounds of sweat) and pep in our step (with burns on our necks). The truth of the matter is that there’s no way to explain or describe this energy as anything other than the warmth and good vibes we get from being around all these beautiful families. I’m excited to keep you all posted as we work through the week, and to have other Family Pride staff members update you, as well. It’s not easy finding a few minutes each day with packed schedules like these to share what’s going on here on the Cape, but we believe in sharing our work with as many people as possible, especially the ones who can’t be here.
And now for some much-needed rest…
Stay tuned!
Dustin
Filed in OUTSpoken, family week, general, r family vacations, staff |
GO TEAM FAMILY EQUALITY!
HI,
I am just wondering how others feel about the Family week this year. My partner and I took our 7 kids and were not very happy. The dinner under the big top, was not worth the money…We paid $180 and it was a buffet style with corn dogs, burgers, and chicken, the food was awefull. My kids are not picky eater, nor are either one of us but the food was gross. We thought it was a circus thing, and it ended up as people dresse d up, handing out food….the kids were disapointed and so weren’t we. We could have gone out to dinner 3x’s for that kind of money, or we could have taken our kids somewhere fun. We spoke to several families before we left on Tuesday and many of them agreed, and didn’t understand why the events were so expensive and it was NOT what it was made out to be. I heard the brunch ran out of food…..How does this happen? What ever happened to families just hanging out? I know we will not bring our kids back to family week next year, we will find something else to do, something they will enjoy more.
A quick note to Eileen and the parents upset with events at Family Week this year:
First of all, we welcome and encourage your feedback. This is my second Family Week working for Family Pride, and I can say that it’s one of the most dynamic annual events I’ve been involved with. Each year we learn new things about the week, and each year we try new things to see if we can improve upon the events featured during. This year, for instance, we thought we’d put most of our events on the pier, to make it easier for families to gather in one spot. Most families have enjoyed the pier, but we appreciate feedback such as “there feels like less Family Week presence in the town” and “sometimes the noise of boats disrupts workshops,” etc.
The fact of the matter is that Provincetown Family Week grows by leaps and bounds each year, and there’s little we can do to control that growth–nor do we want to! Provincetown Family Week has become a signature national event for LGBTQ families to share experiences and build community. But the high numbers make it logistically difficult to provide warm meals, for instance, to well over 650 people. Few other event in Provincetown brings in as many people as Family Week; therefore local caterers have to stretch themselves quite thin to meet our needs. Each year it’s a colossal effort to provide as rich an experience for as many families as possible.
In the coming days we’ll post a feedback page on the Family Pride website, so you can let us know what worked and didn’t work for your family this year. We just ask as you evaluate your personal experience that you take into consideration the monumental job it is to produce this event for 1,500+ individuals. We take your feedback seriously. We strive to make change.
Thanks for starting this dialogue,
Dustin Kight
Program & Education Associate
Thank you Dustin, and I understand that it takes a HUGE undertaking to do something like this, I have been involved in school things that are big, and it is alot of volunteering, so I do understand… We were just disapointed as a family that what we thought was going to be a circus was NOT and then we heard others were disapointed too. It wasn’t easy for us to part with $180, we have 9 kids, 7 of whom came with us, and we are a one income family, so it really stretched our wallet to come to family week, and then we picked one even to attend, thinking the kids would have a blast…and honestly they enjoyed shopping(with their own money) more….I look forward to reading others thoughts too. I think it is amazing that there is such a huge turnout for family week, but would love to just hang with families….
Thanks for listening,
Eileen
Omigoodness, we paid very high prices for events that were not well run.
No food at the Sunday brunch, depressing atmosphere at the “circus” event (not sure what type of circus it was meant to be), and the main tent was situated on hot pavement - so close to the ocean that more than a few kids almost went over the edge.
r Family has not earned my dollars for next year’s Family Week.
The week’s vacation was made beautiful and fantastic by the 600 families visiting PTown at the same time.
Family Pride can do this without r Family’s help. Don’t mess-up a good thing!
My partner and son participated in Family Week again and were very disappointed by this year’s organization and events! Very poor planning! The events with r-family were horrible! Our family will not participate next year in these events! Not sure if we will donate $$ if there is not better organization next year as well.
Our son was so disappointed that there was no parade! no sense of community! The gatherings under the “big tent” were hot, a free for all for bad food (because there was never enough, couldn’t eat it anyway it was bad)
False advertising by r-family in every event. The “Under the Big Top” was a “Big Flop”. There was no circus, not even a clown! My son was again disappointed. We left with some other families and had dinner in town and had a better time.
I also heard that COLAGE might not be part of the week! Very big mistake! My family definatey would not participate in family week if COLAGE is not part of the programming.
I feel strongly (as well as all of the families we I talked to) that the organizers should be held responsible for some very missed opportunities for our families to come together and celebrate our wonderful families.
The best time was spent meeting families on the beach, during the under 4 play time, and COLAGE events. There needs to be better planning and partnership between Family Pride and COLAGE. In my opinion, r-family did not add anything to the week, but only detracted from the sense of community and fun.
Get back to the basics. Create a sense of partnership and community. Bring back the parade, meeting a the beach, better meeting places for discussion topics.
I hope the organizers, organization leadership, and donors listen to the comments made by families. Family week is important to many families and it would be criminal to let such a great opportunity for our children go down an unproductive path.
I attended Family Week for the second consecutive year, along with my partner and son. This is an INCREDIBLE opportunity for our families to connect with other gay families from across the country, and we loved meeting with so many other gay moms and dads. As long as Family Week and COLAGE
…continue to be held in Provincetown, we will continue to come for this wonderful week of sharing and connecting and community building.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that Family Week 2007, from an organizational perspective, was a major disappointment. This was the first year we signed up for any of the formal (paid) events, and initially we even had a difficult time deciding upon which events we would attend, since, at least on paper, they all looked like so much fun. We signed up for “Under the Big Top” and the Tea Dance. Since there was no registration fee this year, the cost of these events fit our budget.
“Under the Big Top” was a complete DISASTER. We paid $100 for our family of three to attend, and basically were served hot dogs, hamburgers and potato chips. As a vegetarian, I and other vegetarian friends were stunned that there was not a non-meat alternative. It was crowded and chaotic and the food was terrible. And we are still trying to figure how this had a circus theme. Although naturally we did not expect elephants and a lion tamer at the pier, we did think there would at least be some clowns and games for the kids, beyond the bean bag toss, for which little kids had to wait 15 minutes for a chance to play. The promo for this event was VERY misleading and it was a total waste of time and money for our family. We left thinking: “Thank God we didn’t pay for the Luau!”
We did not enjoy the Tea Dance either, due to the crowds, chaos and heat on the pier, but I can be more forgiving of this event, as it was at least a nice attempt to get our families together, and the cost was relatively low.
We plan on continuing to attend Family Week, but we will NOT sign up for the paid events next year. We would rather spend that $125 in town on the local merchants. We really do appreciate all of the staff time and effort that went into planning Family Week, and recognize the tremendous challenges involved, but Family Pride/R Families should PLEASE listen to the feedback of the families who attended this year. Thank you.
We also found the R Family events disappointing. Unfortunately we purchased tickets in advance for the Broadway Brunch, Under The Big Top Dinner and the Farewell Luau. The food choices at the Broadway Brunch and Under The Big Top Dinner were extremely limited and certainly not worth the price we paid. In addition, the entertainment offered during both dinners was lacking in excitement and originality. At the Farewell Luau there was a greater choice of food items but no entertainment or communication other than drawing a ticket for a free cruise. If we had not purchased our tickets in advance, we would not have attended the Luau at all.
Despite our disappointment with the R Family events, we had a great time in Provincetown. We met several families with wonderful children and we plan on keeping in touch with them. Our 5 year old son was able to interact with children that have families just like his and that is what made Family Week a success.
This was our fourth summer at family week and our third summer as major donors to Family Pride. Although we had a terrific week with family and friends, I have to agree that R Family Vacations did a terrible job. Most notably the R Family events were not kid friendly! The arts and crafts were unimaginative, under-supplied (how can you run out of paper bags and markers!), and not designed to be engaging for children of any age. The Luau was overcrowded (we couldn’t even get to our seats), hot and again without any planned activities that would engage children (let alone the frustrated adults) - like many others we left without eating (after sinking an inexcusable amount of money in to the tickets) and had burritos in town. What happened to the parade? That was always a highlight for the kids and our families (can it be true that R Family felt the permit was too expensive! Is this about their profit margin or our childrens’ experience?). Most disturbing, we understand that coinciding with the transition to R Family this year COLAGE did not receive the same level of support or cooperation from Family Pride. The consensus among families at the beach and pool was that if COLAGE does not return, many of our families also will not return. We know we will never pay for an R Family event again and are reconsidering our financial support for Family Pride. As an alternative we may sponsor a COLAGE camp activity next summer to make sure that is available for our children next year during family week.
Family Week is a special week for us, we look forward to this week all year long. To us, it’s organic, being with friends, meeting new families, going to the beach and just walking down Commercial Street with friends and families.
Our kids are middle school so COLAGE is very important to them. They look forward to seeing their friends and Show and Tell and the dance are highlights.
Family Pride is great, what they do is awesome for our family. Jennifer in the driver’s seat is wonderful. We are so impressed with her. However what Family Pride is not - is a vacation company. There time and effort should not be planning the entertainment for Family Week. Thus this year they went with R Family Vacations. R Family does a super cruise product and our family goes each year. However for Family Week they fell way short.
We had promises and hints of unbelievable surprises and super entertainment. I couldn’t wait to see what R Family had planned! The tickets for the events were expensive, but I was sure each and every event would be worth it.
Each event had below average food, not enough food and the same old tent with a new theme. Provincetown is a town with top entertainment and the entertainment that R Family brought in was minimal. I wish they would have just used local talent.
I didn’t feel the money spent on the events matched what was given to us.
I think maybe food events are not what R Family should do. We love having dinners with other families in town or at our condo. I really don’t want to go to a tent on the pier for corn dogs. I hope R Family can come with a good comedy show, revue or Broadway show with NO food. It didn’t work this year.
Also a change of scenes would be nice - each event in the tent felt the same.
I did not like two programs. COLAGE and Family Pride should share one program and show unity that both have a place at the Family Week table. COLAGE provides things for teens that nobody else at Family Week provides. Everyone needs to work together and everyone has a place at the table.
Also I did not like the branding of Family Week as R FAMILY WEEK. It’s been Family Week for years and it’s a special week that is not owned by any one group or organization. It’s just - Family Week!
I thought R Family fell short this year and did a very poor job with organizing their events. I am willing to give them a second chance in 2008, but I hope they learn from their mistakes and make sure there is some value in the events that they offer. They did not meet anyone’s expectations this year. They deserve a second chance, but not a third!
My family and I went to three of the “events” run by R-Family Vacations/Family Pride, the “Broadway Brunch”, the “Under Big Top Dinner” and the “Farewell Luau”. I, like some others, made the mistake of purchasing the tickets in advance. This was a $275 mistake I do not intend on repeating.
Whilst I completely agree with the complaints of all the previous posters, I feel that they have adequately summed up the situation and other than restate the obvious, I do not have more to add to their comments.
I do feel it important however, to voice our dismay at the decision to stop supporting and working with Colage. It seems to me that Family Pride has lost sight of what is important to the LGTB families that come to Provincetown for Family Week. It is surely not for the cheap Chinese trinkets, crummy food and poor entertainment that they provided. Unfortunately nowadays, all three can be acquired almost anywhere in the U.S. and at a significant savings over the price that we were charged in Provincetown.
On the other hand, our 11 year old daughter was absolutely delighted with Colage and the programs that she participated in. The friends that she made and self affirming experiences that she had are what we came for. We would have paid more and gladly put aside any notion of being fed, if these were the sorts of things that you were offering.
As a result, next year we will be financially supporting Colage and encouraging others to do the same. I sincerely hope that Family Pride and R-Family Vacations take these and the comments of others into consideration when planning their events next year.
The partnership with r house did nothing to enhance a sense of community and added nothing to my child’s sense of belonging to a community that supports gay and lesbian families.
I would encourage people to put there $$ toward COLAGE. They seem to have the correct focus on children and children’s programming. I hope Family Pride can collaborate with Colage and get Family Week back on the right track toward focusing on children and their families.
Bring back the parade, stay in town, (pier for one event), mix it up, the beach, Bas park.
I hope others will add thoughts and respond about their experiences and hope Family Pride and Colage hear what is being stated over and over again.
Family Week is NOT an organization. It’s a wonderful organic week of gay and lesbian families ending up on the Cape during the same summer week.
It broke my heart that R Family tried to turn it into a gay cruise event on land and steal ownership of it. They did a very poor job with what they did and the tickets were way overpriced. We never even saw food at the kick off brunch and wouldn’t you have thought the Circus event would have at least one circus act?
I asked Gregg (the R Family owner) if we could have a refund for the Broadway brunch since they ran out of food and our table did not eat. He looked at me and said “NO” and walked away.
We had a great time and loved being at the beach with friends and family. We had some great family meals in town. It’s such a special week.
Our daughter did COLAGE this year. WOW - now there is a group that knows how to run a program! If you missed the Show and Tell and Town Hall it was the highlight of my week. COLAGE works with the kids and helps them to a place where they can feel strong about who they are. I was SO impressed with their staff and their work.
I hear R Family is trying to squeeze them out of Family Week. This would be ashame as for our family they are the piece that is SO important.
We will buy NOTHING from R Family next year and I hope to God that COLAGE is back in 2008. We DO NOT need to be ripped off by a poorly run cruise company. I hope if R Family comes back nobody will buy their worthless programs and support COLAGE events for their kids.
Hi - I just want to say that my family and I have gone to Family Pride Week for the past several years. I applaud Family Pride for being able to provide the leadership to continue growing it and making it possible for so many families to celebrate the true meaning of Family Week — time for us and our children to spend in a community of lgbt moms and dads.
I have done events planning in my career and I can tell you P-Town is an impossible location to pull off completely successful event planning. Nonetheless, I love P-town and I know people don’t want the location to change — so I appreciate that they make the best out of a tough spot. For a small non-profit, I applaud Family Pride for doing as great a job as they have in bringing us the many events Family Week provides for the last several years. As a donor, I applaud Family Pride for partnering with R Family (a vacation company) to do the vacation part and leave my Family Pride dollars focused on the important work of advocacy and education in our fight for equality.
I have been on a R Family Cruise, it was wonderful! I have complete confidence that they will use our feedback to improve their product and me and my family are eager to see the whole gang back in P-town next summer!
Thank you Family Pride Team!
Anna O’Day
Ok — I normally don’t get into these blogs but I’m wondering if I was at the same family week as everyone else. We had a great time — despite the food problems which I suspect R Family Cruises gets and will fix.
Enough! How about we stop tearing down our own week and focus our energy (and anger) on the religious right, the upcoming elections and the conservatives?
As one writer said — Family Week is organic…well actually while it would be nice if that were true, I think we all know it takes somebody to pull it all together to offer us stuff that puts us in the same place at the same time to enjoy each other’s company. Hang in there Family Pride and R Family Vacations — many of us appreciate that you are making the effort to bring us this great week each year.
Hey — I also notice that all of these blogs seem like they are a put up job by Colage’s folks. Blame, blame, blame…Colage could you grow up and stop blaming other lgbt organizations and vacation companies for everything. My memory of past family weeks is that Colage has always complained about everything and not having enough resources to be able to afford to come back. I suspect this is a fundraising ploy to try and raise money by getting us to panic that you are not coming back. Stop the emotional blackmail, run a good program/organization and fundraise on the merits.
I work for a corporation that sponsors gay organizations. Corporations donate to gay groups for strategic reasons and bottom line reasons. Grow up Colage and figure out how to get corporate sponsorships — like every other non-profit. I would question supporting a non-profit that isn’t savy enough to figure out how to get a corporate sponsorship from a company like R Family Vacations and instead bellyaches about not getting a handout from them.
Good luck,
Kevin
Family Pride does great work, absolutely!
I strongly feel they missed the mark this year at Family Week in Ptown by partnering with r family vacations. I to am sure that the leadership will listen to feedback and strive to make things wonderful for another great Family Week next year.
But I strongly urge families to put their support toward family centered programming, child centered programming and community building programming, instead of misleading commercialism by r family vacations. COLAGE focused on the right stuff for me and my family. Colage will get my support and would encourage families to push for greater collaboration between COLAGE and Family Pride.
Prown is the perfect location, very family friendly, wonderful beaches, wonderful community, various activities and events to do with children, teens, and adults, a perfect place for an event such as Family Week!
The few responses from r family representatives and Family Pride leadership have indicated that their excuse for such poor event planning was that the venue was difficult to coordinate. I don’t understand that argument, since Family Week has been growing for years. It would seem that if Family Week in Ptown was such a difficult place to have an event, then Family Week wouldn’t have grown in popularity and attendance wouldn’t have increased. This argument, to me is irrelevant since LGBT family participation has grown each year.
I to am eager to see the whole gang back in P-town next summer for a wonderful Family Week!
I haven’t heard anyone at COLAGE complaining or badmouthing anyone at Family Pride. They run a very well run program on a shoe string and do an outstanding job for my kids. I have never once heard them complain. It’s the parents who saw them being squeezed out - not being allowed a place on the pier to register, not being in the program (having to publish their own). They are trying to review if Family Week is the best use of their resources - it’s expensive for them. No complaints by them, they are true professionals.
The best part of the week was the Show and Tell at Town Hall. Did you go? The kids made a project about being in gay families and showed them off. Some did U Tube questions for the Republican debate candidates that were tear jerking. The R Family program suggested “LAST TIME FOR BEACH TODAY - HEAD TO THE BEACH” during this important event. Isn’t that working against COLAGE?
I am not sure how anyone can say R Family ran a good program this year? I don’t think the $120.00 cold corn dogs and nothing entertainment was worth the price. They just blew it and totally over charged for it. Did you know they gave the catering company the wrong count for the Broadway Brunch? They kept selling tickets after they gave the final count! The catering guy told me this first hand…..it’s something anyone who throws a function knows - COMMUNICATION with the kitchen! Then Gregg just said “oops”. When about 60 families paid $30.00 a piece and were not fed. R Family refused to give anyone who did not eat a refund!
I suggest it just goes back to The Provincetown Inn - the food wasn’t great - but they had enough of it and got it out on time! Take R Family out of the mix.
We too have been on R Family Cruises and NCL does all the work Kelli and Gregg have to do very little but glad hand and smile. The cruise line does all the work - they do it week after week for years. All R Family does is take the bookings and show up and shake hands.
It’s a bad excuse to say you can’t get good catering or party planning on the Cape. There are world class functions held here. There are many good catering companies on the Cape. If you can’t find a good gay one - then go with a better straight one.
We too will be back. We had a great time - NO THANKS to R Family. We applaud Family Pride and COLAGE - we just felt R Family did nothing but mess up the week. I hope they won’t be back in 2008, if they are - we will buy nothing with their name on it!
As a new parent with my partner, we both thoughley enjoyed family week in P’Town. This was our first time attending this event and we felt very proud to be with so many other LGBT families. The support we received and all the new friends we made made it well worth it.
My hat goes off to Family Pride and R Family for organizing such a large event. As one other person wrote, there are many other issues that we need to focus on then to tear each other apart. I attended one of the workshops on becoming more politically involved and although there were a fairly good number of people who showed up, I would like to have seen many more. We have larger issues that we need to deal with then complaining about cold corn dogs.
My partner and I, along with our 3yr old daughter look forward to next year. It will be wonderful to see everyone again! I know many of the people I spoke with also plan on returning next year. Massachusetts is moving in a good positive direction and hopefully next year there will be other states that also have marriage equality. We would have more to celebrate!
Thank you Family Pride
Thank you R Family
I want thank Family Pride & R Family Vacations for a great week in Ptown. It was fun to take my sons to all the wonderful events. This is our 5th year going and we haven’t been dissappointed yet.
It is really exciting to see more and more people each year. Having the chance to be around other gay Dads with their kids was really nice for me and my sons.
Thank you for a great vacation week on Cape Cod.
Bill Green
Hi - Let me just say — thank you R Family, Family Pride and Colage. I can only imagine how hard all of you and your staff worked to bring us families (who get to sit on a beach blanket all week!) all of the events and workshops.
Please don’t give up your hardwork or get discouraged by some of the complainers. I spoke to at least 20 parents all of whom were having a ball and plan to make this a regular part of their vacation schedule.
You may all get a laugh out of the old adage, hand some people lemonade and they will figure out how to make lemons, when you hear this: I heard one couple complaining to a Family Pride or Colage staffer that their cottage was not very clean and the beds were uncomfortable! Sorry staff that you have to listen to the very small minority of complainers after working so hard.
We loved our week and we love all of you!!!
Karen
Hi - it was so wonderful being together. Thank you for the great week and all the events! Please keep me posted for all of your events as I will bring my kids to as many as possible. I’m looking forward to my first R Family Cruise as well!
Keep up the great work!!!
Love,
Conny
Hey ya’ll,
I’m from the South and come to this event because there is nothing like it where we live. Sure, each year it’s a little different and we enjoy some years more than others, but it’s always a great experience for our family.
As a donor to Family Pride, I know that they not only make good use of our money, but that they give money to help Colage as well. Family Pride has been doing this for more than a decade, with a very small, dedicated and hard working staff. They have made a huge difference in our lives by bringing national attention to our families, like with the Egg Roll at the White House.
Charlie
Hi All!
I know there’s been a lot of back and forth about how the week went, but Family Pride has done a great job for the last 5 years I’ve been attending Family Week. I also know that I’ve seen them work hard to incorporate people’s feedback and I’m sure they’ll do the same from this week. While there may have been a few bumps, I’m sure it’s all fixable and I think we should trust that Family Pride will continue to deliver the way they always have. Let’s also not lose sight of the fact that at the end of the day Family Prides’s work extends well beyond one week–a very important, wonderful and heartfelt week–but just one of the many things Family Pride does.
See you next year!
xoxoDeb
Yes it was a wonderful week absolutely wonderful, no arguments here about that!
I think the previous folks are missing a major issue or maybe losing $200 on a misleading event (much more than a cold corn dog) is no big deal to them.
Family Pride and COLAGE do wonderful things for the LBGT community, absolutely. No lemons here!
The collaboration with r family did not add anything to the week. It took focus away from our children, our families and our community.
I met and talked to many families that week, all of whom were having a wonderful fun filled week, but all felt used and misled about the events and how the collaboration between r family and Family Pride. I am not talking about just a cold corn dog here, but the bigger picture.
First off Anna calling R Family a Vacation Company is incorrect. They are a booking company - a middle man not a vacation company. They charter a cruise ship that does all the vacation planning and they fill the ship. They don’t plan or package vacations, they book ones that are already planned.
What Family Week needed is an Event Planner or Party Planner. I agree Family Pride should not have to take on that role. They have bigger fish to fry!
I find it odd in an organization of gay parents - they could not find a party planner, wedding planner or event planner! My suggestion to them is to find a team of Family Pride members and have them plan the events for Family Week - they can work with a budget, find unique and fun events and report back to Family Pride for final approval.
R Family is NOT an event planner and what they thought they could do was hire a catering company, set up a tent and let it all just happen. It all really backfired and they found out what event planning is really all about - they found out the hard way and WE had to pay! Sadly it made Family Pride look bad.
We ate at the brunch (it was pretty bad), but when four people at our table did not get food as they ran out because of a miscount by R Family the family never saw any food. When they asked the owners for a refund the owner of R Family said “NO, you are paying for entertainment, not food.” We heard five poorly sung songs. There was NO entertainment at the Circus or Hawaiian night. Does anyone think it’s fair to go to a brunch, the company runs out of food and no refund is given to those that don’t get to eat?
I am really ashamed someone here would run down COLAGE and tell them to grow up. Both of our kids go to COLAGE and it’s a wonderful group and I never heard them complain or bad mouth anyone. If your kids don’t feel a need to met other kids with same sex parents - fine, don’t send them, but please don’t call them names!
Does anyone else think it’s odd this whole string of praise posts all were posted the same day, about the same time and all have the same spelling error? Hmmm, maybe it’s too easy to come on here and post different names! Seems to be this whole string is the same person!
Anyway Family Pride and COLAGE need to work together for our families. Each has a unique role. I don’t see a role for R Family, a team of volunteers should be set up to plan the events for Family Week in 2008.
There is no excuse that P Town does not have catering. We went to a great event of over 400 people for MASS EQUALITY and it was first rate and all catered by Cape Cod companies. The giant lawn of the Unitarian Church is a wonderful place to hold events!
I just want to add we went to the Major Donor events for COLAGE and Family Pride.
COLAGE had all the food donated from local places like Relish and other local eateries. They had sponsers pay for the event and pay for the drinks and bar. They had hot, fresh pizza for the kids (and plenty of it). Volunteers went to the local gardens and had great cut flowers. The arrangements were stunning. It was elegant and cost COLAGE - ZERO! They raised over $20,000.00 at this event and it was very, very nice.
FAMILY PRIDE had their event in the same old tent, no flowers or any decor on the tables. They had overcooked lobster by the same bad catering company and served on paper plates, they offered no dessert. They had nothing for the kids to do. Jennifer tried to talk but with the pier and ferry traffic, nobody heard her. I don’t know how much the event cost them to put on, I am sure lobster and wine is expensive. I have no idea how much they spent or what they made. They made a pitch for money and I was told they did not hit their goal.
Which group was more creative? Which group raised more money?
Nice events don’t have to cost a lot of money - being creative and using your imagination is FREE!
I do find it sad that Kevin thinks COLAGE is the bad guy here. COLAGE is a great group made up of kids with gay parents. There events are well attended at Family Week and the kids enjoy them. It’s run by kids and young adults and maybe they don’t have the same fundraising savoy as HRC or Family Pride as the staff is pretty young. It’s fine if you don’t support them but I agree with Ami - if you don’t agree with their organization, don’t send your kids - but bad mouthing them as an organization only shows your lack of knowledge as to who they are and what they do!
Thank you for the opportunity to give feedback about the 2007 Family Week.
It was our third Family Week. We rent a beach cottage and bring our two daughters, ages 8 and 14, from Ontario. As a family, we look forward to Family Week all year and it has become a firmly entrenched tradition. We do give a donation to Family Pride to register for the week (not this year, obviously). We do not attend any of the workshops or COLAGE events, partially because we are Canadian and a great deal of the topics discussed do not apply, and partially because we view the week as a holiday and like to sleep in, hit the beach, etc. We have met many families who have been attending for years and to whom the COLAGE workshops and other activities are an integral part of Family Week and we absolutely see their importance.
As the week is a major holiday for us, we were so happy to see R Family involved and were amongst the first to purchase tickets. We were lucky to get tickets to the Pirate Party last year, and had such a great time that we bought tickets to all four events. We have always wanted to go on an R Family cruise, but as one of is a teacher, the school year dates do not work, and the summer date is too close to our week in Provincetown (I can’t imagine many families can afford time or money to do both?). So, under the impression that R Family held top-notch events, we happily signed up. We even brought a thank you card to give to R Family to thank them for being a part of our favourite week of the year.
We picked up our tickets and program on Saturday, still full of excitement for the week to come. The program and errors on the tickets should have been the first clue that this event was in trouble. The calendar seemed like a proof that accidentally went to the printers- rife with scheduling errors and a blank page in the back.
Unfortunately, the events we attended (all four ticketed events and a few of the free beach events) were very poorly planned and executed. As two people who are in the hospitality business (we are a restaurant owner in a busy tourist town, and a high school Hospitality teacher), we immediately saw that the food situation was not good- the caterers were obviously way, way over their heads. We understand that this is out of R Family’s control, but limits should have been placed on ticket sales. The entertainment was not good, especially from a company that places great emphasis on the quality of their entertainment. The Broadway Brunch singers had talent, but the songs were obscure, even for serious Musical theatre fans. After that event, entertainment was non-existent. We do not consider a cruise give-away entertainment, nor do we see standing at the back of rental van to get a freebie (that was obviously provided at low or no cost to R Family- better goodies in the Family Pride bag from years past!) as a good time. The games at the beach were lame, and we had trouble finding them, as the exact locations were not communicated. We met up with several other families searching for the “sand Castle competition”- none of us ever found it. We didn’t care about these games, but our kids are old enough to read the program and they were disappointed. They were really looking forward to the advertised Amazing race that obviously never happened.
We honestly do not care amount the cost of the tickets, but would have much, much preferred to give the money directly to Family Pride. We had more fun taking the kids to the Family drag shows, out to dinner in Provincetown and spending time with friends met at previous Family Pride events. Why did things go so very, very wrong? Why were certain, very popular and meaningful events, such as the parade, eliminated all together? For our family, the week is made by marching with our kids through the streets of Provincetown, under the banner proclaiming Family Pride week, and marveling at our sheer numbers. We missed that SO MUCH.
As an aside, it was announced that Family Pride week would be moving to August 2 to 9 in 2008. This change in weeks, although it seems petty, is a major issue when it comes to rentals. Many, many people have the same week booked each year (starting the last Saturday in July) - this happens all summer, so many of us will not be able to stay in rentals we have held for years. Our rental, along with many others, is already booked for the 2008 dates because the new dates put Family Week a week later. I know this is not a unique situation and that many families will be facing the same issue. We are hoping that the week change has nothing to do with the fact that R Family scheduled a cruise so close to Family Week. Any feedback on this issue?
To summarize, we were as disappointed as everyone else with R Family’s events, but would be devastated if this meant the end of Family Week in Ptown. There are many postings calling for the event to change locations- totally unfair! Provincetown IS Family Week to us- no other location will do. Over the years, we (and many others) have made friends with town residents and know our way around, and each year it is like coming home. Family Pride has always done a stellar job. R Family deserves a second chance (we are guessing the events won’t be so overcrowded next year!!!) to right this years’ wrongs. Looking forward to Family Week 2008.
Hi,
We were very excited that R Family was involved in the events this year because we thought they would bring a level of fabulousness! We anticipated a good time. Since we did not get it together to purchase tickets in advance, we made sure that we were on the pier early to purchase tickets. Due to the cost of the events, we carefully selected two events to attend. We chose the Circus event and the Friday night Farewell event. We were so disappointed in both. The food was NOT good for either but better on Friday. The Circus event….three ring toss onto plastic traffic cones, two hula hula hoops, and three bean bag toss into cheap plastic buckets…and that’s it….Please!!! Staff wearing circus costumes does not make an event! The Luau did not provide the grass skirts, as advertised. Staff wearing Hawaiian shirts gave us a lei. They did a hula dance together. That was it! That is not a luau! My son asked where the games were - nothing for kids. A tiny area in front of the dj (OK - great dj!) - was makeshift for dancing. Of course there was plenty of of R family paraphernalia for sale. We heard the thanks for coming announcement 50 minutes after arriving. Keep the cheap toys you passed out at the end and provide more substance to the events.
I didn’t speak to anyone that was happy with the events. We will attend family week next year but R Family events will not get a penny from us. We will give to COLAGE which had a wonderful events especially the show at Town Hall. No parade thru town. No Friday night dance for the little kids. No cross-referencing to Collage events. So outrageous and infuriating!
As the time away from the event increases, I feel more angry. At the time, we were happy meeting other families. Now we feel ripped off.
Ami, I was so glad to see your comment about the “coincidence” of having so many positive comments all sent at about the same time and with the same spelling errors. I noticed the same thing–there are almost no positive comments about R Family’s collaboration, and then all of a sudden there are 5 in a row?? Gimme a break–it is so transparent.
And “Allen”, it is about much more than cold corn dogs. It is about deception and misleading advertising on the part of R Family–a real breach of trust. In addition, we can find time to engage in political advocacy for our families, while also providing feedback when necessary on our experiences at Family Week. The two are not mutually exclusive.
I think Family Pride made a huge mistake in teaming up with R Family. Just because R Family donated some money to Family Pride they should NOT be given the Family Week contract. Please bid it out next year.
I tried to talk to Gregg and make my voice heard. He just shut me down and didn’t want to hear. He blamed it all on the catering company. Okay so who hired the catering company? Didn’t you know they couldn’t handle the event. How gave them the wrong final counts? Who was in charge of entertainment, decor and activities for the kids? R Family fell flat and then blamed it on everyone else.
I think we are due a refund and I think someone from Family Pride should issue a letter of apology. Just because you ignore the unhappy feelings does not make them go away.
Everyone said the events would be better this year because a vacation company was doing them. The events were 100% better last year when Family Pride and COLAGE were in charge of them. I suggest you go back to the old system.
I looked up past press releases - where were the bonfires, the events around P Town, name entertainment and Pirate Night that were all promised?
Plus the events were grossly, grossly, grossly overcharged. We paid a premium price and had no entertainment, terrible food, no games for the kids and in some case people didn’t eat because you ran out of food.
Also what is this about COLAGE and Family Pride having a fight? Is this true? If so, all I can add is for the two organizations to kiss and make up. There is no room in the gay family movement to have the two big players fighting. Why was COLAGE not in the main program? Why was COLAGE not allowed to be at the check-in table at the main tent? I did sense some bitterness. Please work this out.
We will be back next year - but will be part of the
My one suggestion would be that you be more clear in 2008 as to what was included in the tickets. I would clearly label the meal as to what it is: Fried Chicken and mashed potatoes or corn dogs and popcorn. Also be clear on the entertainment, such as: local singers, a full Broadway show or No entertainment at all.
I think a lot of the problems came from the fact the information was very sparse and I think people assumed they were getting full dinners and some sort of entertainment.
We paid $75.00 for the circus thinking there would be a complete dinner and some type of circus acts. I wasn’t expecting a lot, but I was expecting something for the $75.00 we paid. My partner just started grad school this year and our budget is tight. We would have loved to have gone into town and had a nice meal at the Lobster Pot for that amount of money. We just felt we didn’t get what we thought we were getting. I am not sure who’s fault that is, but I think it would help if you were more clear in 2008 as to what was included in the ticket prices.
I agree with you Robin. We thought that $30.00 tickets to an event would include a hot meal and some type of entertainment. I don’t think it was clear even when we asked about it at check-in.
I also agree the attitude or R Family staff was bad. I witnessed someone first hand asking for a refund and Gregg doing the “talk to the hand” gesture and turning around and walking away.
I hope these things can be fixed in 2008. Family Week is a great event and one all of us look forward to year after year. R Family really blew it in such a big way this year - I don’t think they should be invited back. These were not small mistakes.
We were back at Family Week for the 6th year. I just now looked at all the above postings and I basically agree with all the feedback regarding rFamily.
My family stays at a great place right outside of town where many other gay families stay and we have a wonderful time just hanging out at the beach and the pool. We met some of these families our first year coming at the PTown Inn and have developed real friendships and bonds that grow stronger every year. I realize that as the event and the movemnet gets bigger you lose some of the intimacy that Family Week used to have - but I hope people continue to work toward recapturing some of that. Maybe you shouldn’t try to have 2 big dinners for a over 500 people. Have 5 or 6 with 200 people. The dinners at the PTown Inn were wonderful I can still picture all the kids running outside on the beach after dinner and the real sense of Family that came with all the parents overlooking all these beautiful children.
And the parade needs to come back!!!!!!!!!!!! That was such a meaningful way to begin the week.
Also, the change in weeks - a very big issue! We stay in the same cottage every year in a place that books the same cottages to the same people for the same week every year - in some cases for generations- and at this point the cottage and the people who return every year are just as much what Family Week is for us as the rest of the planned events - This really needs to be addressed so that so many people who have been Family Week stalwarts are not put in this difficult situation.
As as a mother of 2 children and a long-time attendee of past Ptown events, I am shocked at the level of anger, bitterness and projection going on in this blog. I witnessed a lot of really bad behavior on the part of the attendees to each of these events. Instead of enjoying our time together in line, during events or on the beach, many attendees complained and expected to be handed so much. Events were well-attended it is true, and by not having the registration fee this year, I imagine that it was impossible to know how many people would actually show up to crafts or games. I was helped out by R Family staff when I had neglected to sign up in time to get tickets, they helped me find someone who wanted to sell their tickets. Family Pride provided their usual high quality of lectures and information. It is my personal belief that Family Pride and R Family Vacations did their level best to provide us with time and opportunity to engage with each other in a town that we love to squeeze into every year. My two are too young for Colage, but from what I was hearing, the Colage group broke away from Family Pride on their own, as opposed to being “forced out” as a previous poster believes. I encourage Family Pride to keep up their hard work, we really do appreciate all they do for our community. I understand that the bonfires were cancelled by the city, as was the parade. If we want bonfires and parades, we will plan them on our own!
Bette, I take it you worked for Karl Rove’s office at some point. He is the only person who can spin a lie better than you.
I spoke to Don Mora’s office in P Town (City Manager) - the city NEVER turned down requests for a parade or bonfire. He actaully said they love Family Week and would do anything to make things happen. In a town that has parades almost weekly in the summer - the NEVER denied Family Pride the chance to have a parade. It was never requested, you just fibbed!
As far as COLAGE it was R Family who asked them NOT to be at the main check-in table and NOT to have their schedule in the main program. COLAGE was shocked - they never “BROKE AWAY” from family week as you suggested. They were there this year, even if they were not allowed a chance to be in the program or at the check-in table. Another Bette Fib!
I am glad that you and your family had a smashing time at the R Family events. I am so glad you liked them. I would like to invite you and your family to come over - I will set up a tent in the Wal Mart parking lot and you can sit on a folding chair, for $30.00 a piece I will put on a red nose and feed you cold corn dogs! You will LOVE it!
I am glad Family Pride found a family willing to sell you tickets to an event. After the disaster opening bruch WE were ALL trying to sell off our tickets! Not hard to find.
In keeping with the circus theme - THERE IS A SUCKER BORN EVERY MINUTE! Glad you were so anxious to buy those $30.00 corn dogs, we wondered who the family was who wanted them?
Sorry your don’t think folks have the right to complain for bad service or poor value. This is still America and we still have the right to FREE SPEECH. Maybe you can tell your boss Mr Rove to take that one away too!
Bette, with all due respect, you do not know what you are talking about. For one (and I will not address all of your factual inaccuracies, since a previous blogger did a fine job of that): After word got out about what a rip off the brunch and circus were, people were scurrying to dump their pre-paid tickets to the remaining events. We spoke with several families who had no luck selling off their tickets. So of course R Family “helped out” when you had neglected to sign up in time–after paying so much for so little in return from R Family, many of us were suffering from a severe case of buyer’s remorse and wanted nothing else than to sell our tickets. The worst part of all is the fact that R Family has done nothing but make excuses for their poor planning and for having taken advantage of Our Families.
The only reason R Family canceled the parade was that they could not make $$$$ off of it. They planned to charge the folks who wanted to be in it!!!! If R Family can’t make a buck off of something they won’t do it.
It was never requested and the city did NOT turn it down.
I called R Family this week to see about the refund we are due. I did not get the refund but Gregg did tell me that R Family would NOT be doing Family Week in 2008. BIG SIGH OF RELIEF!!!!
We may have OUR old family week back — that was a little good news!
I do find it very odd that NOBODY from Family Pride or R Family has addressed our concerns for 2008 and the disaster of 2007. It seems to give a message - “We don’t care!”
It is interesting that there has been no follow up comment or posting to the overwhelming concerns about this year’s Family Week. Family Pride, I thought, was encouraging families to leave feedback in order to “better plan” for next year. R Family has not commented either on their feedback forum. I have been trying to get a refund on some of the events I went to, since I didn’t get food at two of the dinner events I went to. I hear a lot of families have been trying as well. Next year I say lets meet at the beach and everyone bring a dish, I make great chicken wings! See ya there!
Can anyone else confirm that R Family will not be there????????
I LOVE Chicken Wings…See you at the beach - we will bring our kites that actually fly and are not made from DOWELS and TRASH BAGS!!!!!!!!