##PennFest 2000 - March Update
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Hello fellow CoCo users,

PennFest 2000 will be held at the Holiday Inn, 1406 Beers School Road, 
Coraopolis, PA 15106 on the weekend of August the 19th and 20th, 2000. This 
is the same location as last years PennFest '99.

#$Main Hall and Seminar Rooms

Ron and I have listened to feedback from attendees of last year's Fest and 
have addressed the issues of the small hallroom. Last year, Ron had booked 3 
partition sections for the main hallroom and a separate seminar room. 
Unfortunately, when Ron got there, he found that the separate seminar room 
had been converted to a gym!! This forced Ron to cram the seminar area 
within the main hall which made for a tight squeeze for everyone!

This year, Ron has secured 4 partition sections for the main hall AND a 
separate seminar. He has payed his deposit and has made it clear to the 
Holiday Inn that we want that separate seminar room! Even so, we are 
prepared for Murphy's law and *IF* we lose the seminar room, we have an 
entire extra partition area over last years fest to use as the seminar room. 
It can even be partially walled off to allow greater privacy. 

#$Special Guest "No-shows"

This must be an organizers nightmare not to mention a big dissapointment for 
attendees. As we have already publisized, Kevin Darling will be our special 
guest this year. Ron has been trying to get Kevin to attend since his first 
PennFest is '97. To quash a few myths, Kevin had to cancel his appearance at 
PennFest '97 due to "SEVERE FAMILY HEALTH MATTERS". The details remain the 
personal details of Kevin and his family. He did not "jump ship" on the CoCo 
community. Kevin would like to make up for this event by attending PennFest 
2000.

It would be important to note that we cannot guarantee anyone's attendance 
to the Fest if they are called away for some other more pressing matters 
such as health or disaster.

Once again, Ron and I are preparing for "Murphy's law" by enlisting more 
special guests. We currently have 4 other prospective guests, all classic 
pioneers and well known and respected CoCo industry illuminaries that have 
shown an interest to attend but cannot confirm till within about 2 months of 
the actual event. We will not disclose who they are till they actually give 
us the confirmation.

#$Vendor Tables

We currently have 9 exhibitors (plus Ron and I, 14 tables total) who have 
committed to attending by advance paying for their tables. A call was made 
around December '99 for support from prospective exhibitors to advance pay 
so that Ron can place a deposit on the hall. Both Ron and I greatly 
appreciate the support of these early payers for it is because of them that 
the Fest even got the go-ahead. 

It is important to stress that PennFest 2000 (as all the Pennfests so far) 
is totally funded via Ron's pocket. In the past, the PennFests have been a 
one man operation. Ron decided to start the PennFest after Atlanta stopped 
having theirs. As a service to the CoCo community and as an effort to keep 
the CoCo alive, Ron decided to go it alone. It's been a learning curve and 
there have been some errors made along the way but the important thing is 
that everyone enjoys themselves while getting to "play CoCo with the boys" 
one more time.

This year, Ron has asked me to assist with what he plans to be the biggest 
and last PennFest. It is the CoCo's 20th anniversary and both Ron have put 
our heads together and have brainstormed the contents of this years Fest.

So what's this got to do with vendor tables you ask? Nothing except to let 
everyone understand that both Ron and I are both enthusiatically determined 
to make this Fest the best PennFest ever and that in order to do this 
financially, we need the support of the CoCo community.

We therefore ask that anyone interested in being an exhibitor, if they could 
advance pay for their table so as to help us reach that goal. It would be 
GREATLY appreciated.

#$Attendee Advance Payments

The same goes for attendees. We really need some funds in advance to help us 
purchase many of the items we plan to have at this Fest.  It is also 
important to show which people have paid in advance and are therefore 
committed to attending. There are many CoCo users out there who would love 
to attend but don't know if it will be worth the drive or flight to attend. 
They don't know exactly what they will be seeing there and they don't know 
who else will be there. What's needed is some insurance of what they can 
expect. I have created a table on my web page listing those who have advance 
payed. Currently, Steve Secord and Randy Weaver are attendees that have 
advance payed (thanks guys!) but these alone aren't enough to swing people's 
decision to attend. 

The other reason to attend is that they save 25% on the entrance fee as well 
as being elligible to win a genuine Australian boomerang that I will bring 
with me. Ok, big deal, but if we had more upfront cash, we could have 
included a free CoCo3 with each advance payment….Yeah right! 

Oh! And a third reason is so that we can plan for how many to cater for the 
Kevin Darling open forum dinner. (Food payed by each individual)

So please, may I humbly ask for the support of those planning to attend to 
consider paying in advance to assist us with the creation of PennFest 2000.

All payment are to be made directly to:

Ron Bull
115 Anne Street, Duncannon, PA 17020-1204. 
E-mail Address: ronbull@aol.com 
Phone: (717) 834-4314 

Thank you,
Nickolas Marentes

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