Inside Events & Festivals - Edition 12

Inside Events and Festivals The official publication of the Washington Festivals & Events Association

See Inside: •

Remembering Al Silverman and looking back at his Hall of Fame speech

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Save the Date for the 27th Annual WFEA Educational Conference

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How to keep your event cool

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Making and keeping your event green Pictured: Recycled Arts Festival June 27-28, 2020

The Lineup Save the Date WFEA Annual Educational Conference March 24-26, Red Lion in Bellevue Page 4

Remembering Al Silverman Remembering a giant in the Festival and Event Industry Page 5

Keep Your Event Cool How to keep your guests, food and beverages cool at your next event Page 10

Making and Keeping Your Event Green Save money and stretch your budget by reducing the amount of garbage you dispose of at the end of the day Page 14

Inside Events and Festivals Edition 12 Washington Festivals & Events Association

Save the Date WFEA Annual Conference Info & Registration Coming Next Week!

MARCH 24-26 RED LION, BELLEVUE, WA

REMEMBERING AL SILVERMAN A giant in the Festival and Event Industry that was inducted into the WFEA Hall of Fame last April, Alan Silverman passed away on November 24.

Silverman was the founder of Festivals Inc., a special events production company and Lifestyle Events Inc., producer of Coffee Fest – the largest and first Coffee and Tea Trade show in the US. A native of New York City, Alan’s background included over 50 years in the restaurant and hospitality industry which provided the foundation for the growth and success that both companies experienced.

Festivals Inc. was formed when Alan created and produced the first Bite of Seattle® in 1982. The Bite has grown into one of Seattle’s largest community festivals attracting over 350,000 people annually and remains a flagship event for the company. Alan was a visionary and pioneer in establishing procedures and guidelines for special events in the city of Seattle. Through strong leadership, ability to combine creative freedom with strong teamwork he prided himself on “doing the impossible.” Over 25 successful events were created, consulted and produced under the leadership of Alan Silverman in Western Washington alone.

As an accomplished restaurateur, Alan saw clearly the business opportunities within the fast-growing coffee and tea industry. In 1992 Coffee Fest Seattle was born and. It was his vision, drive and passion for the industry that built the foundation for what is still today -- the leading trade show for coffee and tea.

Alan served as chairman and helped organize ASSET (A Seattle/King County Special Events Team). ASSET’S primary goal is to communicate the value of sports and special events to the city, county and state governments, the media and broader community. He dedicated many years as a board member for Food Lifeline, Washington State’s largest food bank operation. The Bite of Seattle® alone raises an average of $50,000 per year for this worthy cause.

Continued

Above all else, Alan Silverman was always a dedicated family man. After his retirement in 2000, Alan turned the business over to his daughter Jody May and her business partner Brett Gorrell. He and his beautiful wife (now deceased) were married over 45 years and they raised their three children on Mercer Island.

Alan appreciated nature, which is what attracted him to the Northwest. He was an avid skier for 46 years – his most recent trip to Whistler was last year at the age of 86. He was dedicated to many causes – in recent years examples include; placing American Flags at the tombstones of Jewish Veterans on Memorial Day – still an avid patriot, forming a group called “Grandparents against Gun Violence” and coordinating a trip for all members to participate in a local march here in Seattle.

Alan Silverman was truly the ultimate entrepreneur who was inspired by creativity, the pure theater of events and the people who attend and participate.

He was a community leader and visionary for sure!

Al Silverman Hall of Fame Induction Speech The following was delivered by Al Silverman at the WFEA Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony April 4 at the WFEA Annual Conference in Bellevue. Many called it the highlight of the entire convention.

Good afternoon.

The Bite of Seattle was not born out of a creative idea, as much as a necessity.

In 1982 I had a restaurant called Barnaby’s in Factoria. I and my fellow restaurant owners were seeing reduced customer counts due to a severe recession. Interest rates were at 23% and the public was not dining out. So, at a meeting of local restaurant owners to discuss possible remedies, I attended.

I told the others about an event held in Chicago the previous year, called the Taste of Chicago, and after some discussion the group agreed that if I would produce an event they would participate.

Continued

In other word’s this would be my responsibility.

Now, for those of you sitting out there in the festival business digest the timing of this decision. This was midApril of 1982 and we wanted the driest weekend of the year, the third weekend in July, just three months away.

I selected Seattle’s Green Lake as the site, but found out there was a softball tournament already scheduled on the fields surrounding the Evans Pool. The Seattle Parks Dept. said no way and so I called Mayor Charles Royer and told him the restaurant industry needed help. He instructed Parks to work it out with us.

They grudgingly gave us the 12 foot- wide path that leads from Green Lake Way to the lake. We were now ready to put our plan into action. Little did I know what I was getting into.

I had already told the restaurants what their fee would be, I just guessed…………

I had no budget!....... I was finding out what a tent cost, what electrical outlets cost, where to set up a three compartment sink, I did not know enough to rent radios, ……I never did…………no communication between me and my staff, unless we ran into one another.

I called the owner of the garbage company (Robanco) and asked their advice on trash. They said they would provide a few four-yard dumpsters and have a garbage truck on the grounds to compact it all. I hired my daughter and some of her college friends to push the containers to the garbage truck. (PAUSE) Have any of you ever tried pushing a garbage loaded four yard dumpster on grass? Not easy.

I went down to the Department Of Health and asked their advice on what I needed to do. They said cover everything with Saran wrap.

I said Wow! That was easy. I never went to the Fire Department, because I did not know I needed to……………

But more on that later.

Virginia Swanson was my contact in the Parks Dept. That first year she and I made all the plans and decisions for the event. Virginia said she would handle the police because if I did they might take advantage of me. (Fancy that) My only regret in those early years is that I could not take Virginia with me when we moved to Seattle Center. Later on Virginia went on to chair the Special Events Committee for the City of Seattle.

When we organized the second Bite in ’83 there were four representatives for the city, Health, Fire, Police, and Virginia. In 1984 the organizing committee involved 15 people from various City and County departments including the ASPCA. I knew I had finally arrived at the epicenter of special events when I drew the attention of the dog catcher.

The first Bite was just two days, Saturday and Sunday.

We had anticipated that perhaps 25,000 people would show up over the two days, instead we ended up closer to 75,000. The proximity to the softball tournament caused us to station outfielders next to the BBQ’s to protect them from getting hit.

The press exposure was beyond my belief, it was fantastic.

We were on the front cover of the Seattle Times Weekend Magazine section on Friday then a banner across the top of the Saturday Times and then pictures and story on the front page of the Sunday paper. No social media. We were the talk of the town.

There were 28 restaurants in the first Bite. They were lined up on both sides of that narrow path, in fact opposite lines intermingled in the middle of the path so that you were not sure which line you were in. You could only shuffle down the path. The restaurants were constantly sending couriers to their stores because they were running out of food.

Continued

All the restaurant owners who came down Saturday afternoon in their alligator shoes and gaberdine slacks were soon seen with their sleeves rolled up pitching in to help their staff keep up.

Remember my mentioning that I never applied for a Fire Permit, well………..the Fire Chief found out about our event and instructed his Fire Marshal to cut short his weekend in Yakima and get down to Green Lake.

I also realized our garbage was getting out of hand. You could not find the four- yard dumpsters, they were surrounded and buried with garbage bags already full. As the band was preparing to play its encore number I grabbed the mike and asked the audience to take the garbage bag liners I had my staff giving out and help clean up the grounds around themselves after the show. The result was astounding.

It was hard to find a cigarette butt when they all left.

On Sunday I heard about this and his threatening to shut us down. I instructed my staff to make sure the Fire Marshal did not find me until 3 PM that day. When he did, he let loose a 20 minute tongue lashing without me being able to get in a single word. He claimed I had enough propane in the park to blow up half of Seattle. The up side of all this was that Tony (the fire Marshal) and I became good friends and over the next couple of years wrote much of the rules for special events.

I lost $18,000 on the first Bite and because I was determined to succeed we expanded over the entire field at Green Lake the next year, and now we had radios. We also had 50 vendors. I convinced John Schwartz of Schwartz Brothers to set up a grand piano (like he had in Daniels Broiler) in the middle of his tent, the pianist was dressed in a tuxedo, despite it being 90 degrees.

Red Robin built a special electric sign to front his booth, one restaurant set up blenders in the back of his tent where he made virgin daiquiris, and burned up four blenders over the weekend. It was wild, people were buying like they were never going to have another meal.

However, all was not smooth sailing. In 1984, still at Green Lake, it was a hot weekend. The vendors were adding more and more equipment, refrigeration, lighting and on Saturday afternoon we blew up two transformers on a utility pole. We had shut down a whole section of the Green Lake area. Fortunatly City Light was on the ball and within three hours they replaced the transformers. They were terrific. We dodged a bullet.

One of my greatest enjoyments of those early days of the Bite was in that second year when I climbed up on the single entertainment stage we had, our feature closing act was an up-and coming band called The Convertables. From the height of the stage located at the furthest end of the field looking toward the lake you could only see the heads of what was a multiple of thousands upon thousands of people. No one sat, there was no room, you would be trampled. As I surveyed the crowd the thrill I got from knowing that I brought all these people to this place hooked me for the future. …………(pause)

The second Bite was more successful. We only lost $8,000.

The Bite was ordered to move to Seattle Center in 1986.

We left many great memories at Green Lake, including 2 miles of gas pipe that I buried in the ground (it’s still there), but the continued success of Festivals and the Bite of Seattle is the hard work and creativity of my daughter Jody May (who cut her teeth pushing around garbage dumpsters) and her partner Brett Gorrell…..(please stand) …..(wait for them to sit down) Sitting next to Jody is my other daughter Marni. She and her husband David Heilbrunn, who since 1992 successfully led the Coffee Fest trade show until it was sold two years ago. (please stand)

I want to congratulate Robert Nellams and Beth Knox for their awards, both well deserved.

I very much appreciate this award from the WFEA and the work Bruce Skinner has done over the years to promote the wonderful events that all you here produce that help make this state such a great place to live.

If there is any advice I can leave you with it is this. Strive for unreachable goals, you may actually hit a few, don’t shortchange your events, and invest with more not less.

Thank you for listening.

Keep Your Event Cool Tim Medved U-Cool Refrigeration, LLC

AIR CONDITIONING Do you have tents, or buildings that are too warm to be comfortable for people working, or attending your event? Many of the tool and equipment rental companies rent out fans, air conditioners, or misters.

Some of the rental companies that provide this type of equipment are United Rentals, Sunbelt, Herc Rentals, Spot Coolers, and Aggreko.

REFRIGERATION Does your event includes perishable goods, such as food and beverages, or ice? Food safety standards require perishable foods to be keep under 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Commonly stored goods include fresh, and frozen food, beverages like beer, wine, soft drinks, water, and party ice.

You can purchase ice from Artic Glacier (formerly Star Ice), or from Reddy Ice (formerly Allied Ice). Another source for ice to consider is Costco and Restaurant Depot. You can pick up the ice from them yourselves, have it delivered, but you will need something to hold the ice. Party ice comes in 7 lb., 20 lb., and 40 lb. bags. The simplest method is to fill chest coolers with ice, and the product is placed in the ice. Larger jobs will require “ice merchandisers”, normally provided by ice companies. And you can rent an “ice trailer” from one of the ice companies, or from U-COOL Refrigeration, or Thermo King NW. Refrigerated box trucks can be rented from U-COOL, Ryder, Penske, International Leasing, or Leaseway.

“Commercial grade” refrigerated equipment often seen at events include reach in refrigerators, and chest freezers, refrigerated vans, trucks, trailers, and shipping containers. This equipment usually comes from rental companies, but also has been provided by beer distributors and ice companies, and food service providers, such as Sysco Foods, or Food Service of America.

Equipment providers: U-COOL Refrigeration, Thermo King, Reddy Ice, Artic Glacier Ice, Cort Party Rental, Polar Leasing, Dry Box, Pac Van, Mckinney Trailers, Xtra Lease, Penske, Ryder, International Leasing, RWC Leaseway, FSA - Food Service of America, Sysco Foods.

THINGS TO CONSIDER REFRIGERATION EQUIPMENT:

WHEN

RENTING

Plan ahead, Shop around! Make advance reservations. Peak season is June to September.

Equipment, price, and service will vary from one company to another. Calculate the amount of space needed, number of rentals, and placement at event site. What is the best time to start and stop the rental? Do you have to pick it up, or can it be delivered? Ask how the unit is powered. Does the equipment run on gas, diesel or electricity? Run equipment and pretest on site, before event. Monitor the box temperatures during the event.

THINGS THAT WILL AFFECT THE TEMPERATURE OF YOUR REFRIGERATED BOX: • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Number of door openings Duration of door openings Temperature of product being loaded Amount of product being loaded Moisture content of product Air flow surrounding product Outside temperature Outside humidity Box is in shade or direct sun Formation of ice on evaporator Defrost cycles Slope, angle of refrigerated box Attempting to use as a flash freezer

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO OPTIMIZE PERFORMANCE OF YOUR REFRIGERATED BOX: • • • • • • •

•

• • •

THE

Minimize the number of door openings Minimize the duration of door openings Minimize moisture inside Store product on pallets or shelves Keep product away from ceiling and evaporator Park in shade, out of the sun Defrost cycle pre-programmed at every 3-4 hrs.

Manual defrost may be initiated if heavy ice buildup is found inside on the evaporator Park refrigerated box on an angle, to allow water to drain out of the hoses, and onto the ground, when it goes through defrost.

Turn refrigeration unit off, if doors will be open for extended use, ie, loading, or when not in use.

Refrain from using unit to flash freeze (reducing product temperature quickly)

HEAT LOAD The refrigeration system on your walk-in does not make things cold. The system instead removes heat from the walk-in structure.

Where does the heat come from that must be removed by the refrigeration process? The two most common sources you can control are door openings and product load. Did you know that one 100-watt lamp left on in a walk-in would generate 8,208 BTU in a 24-hour period? Keep door openings and closings to a minimum to conserve energy. When working inside the walk-in, close the door behind you.

PRODUCT LOAD The main heat source in your walk-in is the amount of heat that must be removed from the stored product.

For example, if you load your walk-in with 1500 pounds of product at 0° F, very little heat will have to be removed to obtain a temperature of –10°F. If the same 1500 pounds of product is delivered from your supplier at +25° F, you must pay to run the refrigeration system to remove this heat from each and every pound of product, until the satisfactory temperature of –10° F is reached. You will have smaller utility bills if you let your supplier remove heat from the product, rather than doing it yourself.

Remember, your unit is designed as either a holding unit (little or no product load) or has been designed to compensate for known product load. It is important to tell your sales consultant how you intend to use your unit. If significant product load occurs in a unit designed for holding, serious temperature problems may occur.

LOADING YOUR WALK-IN Always move product into your walk-in as soon as you receive it. The longer you wait, the more heat it will absorb and the more you will pay to operate the walk -in. As you load your walk-in, be sure to allow plenty of airflow around the product because good airflow decreases the amount of time needed to remove heat. Be sure to allow adequate room around the evaporator. As well, never have a product closer than 12 to 16 inches to the evaporator. Remember, the evaporator is hot during defrost and can thaw a product that is too close.

EXTRA CREDIT Basics of Refrigeration for Geeks Modern refrigeration has many applications. The first, and probably the most important, is the preservation of food because most foods kept at room temperature spoil rapidly. However, when kept cold most foods will keep much longer.

Before looking at the operation of mechanical refrigeration, it is important to understand the physical and thermal properties of the mechanisms and substances used to extract heat. Removing heat from the inside of the walk-in is somewhat like removing water from a leaking boat. A sponge may be used to soak up the water and then held over the side, squeezed, and the water released overboard.

The operation may be repeated as often as necessary to transfer the water from the boat back into the lake.

In a walk-in, heat instead of water is transferred.

Inside the walk-in heat is absorbed by the liquid refrigerant in the evaporator as the refrigerant changes from a liquid to a vapor. After the refrigerant has absorbed heat and turned it into a vapor, it is pumped into the condensing unit located outside the refrigerated space and then compressed. The heat is "squeezed" out by high temperature and then cooled in the condenser. This cycle repeats until the desired temperature is obtained.

Cold is a relative term used to describe low temperature, it is not something that is produced.

Rather, the removal of heat results in a condition termed “cold”. A refrigerator produces a condition called "cold" by removing heat from inside the refrigerator and the stored content within it. You have probably felt the heat on the floor as you walked by your refrigerator in your home. The principle of heat removal is the same for your walk-in cooler and/ or freezer.

The fact that bacteria are present in most foods calls for it to be preserved in some fashion. Exposing the food to cold or low temperatures slows the growth of these bacteria preventing foods from spoiling as

quickly. A cooler temperature slows the activity of all organisms, thus the growth of bacteria on refrigerated food slows dramatically. The spoiling of food is actually the growth of bacteria. If the bacteria can be kept from increasing, the food will remain edible for a longer period of time. Since most foods contain a considerable amount of water, the food must be kept slightly above freezing temperatures. If food is frozen slowly, at or near the freezing point of water, large ice crystals will form and break down the food tissues. When such food defrosts, it spoils rapidly and the taste and appearance of the food is greatly compromised.

To prevent this problem fast freezing at temperatures between 0° F to -15° F is recommended. By using these low temperatures small crystals form which do not injure the food tissues. It is always important to keep in mind the difference between refrigerating and freezing. Further, the standard walk-in cooler is designed to maintain the temperature of the product at 35° F, providing the temperature of the product is within 10° F of this temperature. If the product to be maintained is continually at a higher temperature, additional refrigeration system capacity will probably be required. The same parameters hold true for freezers. To insure you have adequate refrigeration capacity, be sure to provide your sales consultant with as much information as possible about how you intend to use your cooler and/or freezer.

Making and Keeping Your Event Green Sally Fisher Clark County Recycled Arts Festival

W

hen planning your festival or event, one of the last things you want to think about is garbage and recycling. However, this is really one of the first things you should consider. It is inevitable, and you are going to have to deal with it one way or another.

The good news is that you can save money and stretch your budget by reducing the amount of garbage you dispose of at the end of the day. A green, or even better a waste-free event, can be a terrific marketing tool.

Your disposal guidelines will vary from place to place so do check with your local garbage hauler or the solid waste department at your local government.

They may also have some good suggestions for managing waste at your event or even equipment you can borrow to make it go more smoothly.

You’ll want to place your garbage and recycling receptacles right next to each other. It is more convenient for your guests and will increase your success. People tend to throw whatever is in their hand into the closest container and that results in contaminated recycling that you end up throwing in the trash, or wasted recyclables going straight into the garbage. Clear, concise signage is also essential to assist your guests with getting items in the right place. If you can put samples of the most common items on a board above the containers (coffee to-go cups, plasticware, paper plates…) it will be much easier to understand and can help cross a language barrier. You might want to visit each of your food vendors or food establishments adjacent to your event and get a collection of all the most likely suspects.

Do you want to take the next step and collect food waste? Talk to your food vendors to set up your expectations well in advance. You may want to focus on just food directly from your food vendors and collect only the scraps from food preparation. You’ll need to provide containers for those food scraps to be delivered to, either by the vendors or have volunteers make a regular route through the event to do that for them. This could look like carts that are wheeled from vendor to vendor or smaller ‘buckets’ that are carried in a wagon to the designated container for collection by the hauler.

If you want your guests to sort their food waste, it is highly recommended that you have staffed sort areas where someone can help people decide what to put where. Again, good signage can make the difference of night and day. You could contact your local Master Recyclers for guidance with this and they might even be willing to volunteer to help set up your station(s) and staff them, at least during the peak meal hours.

Washington Festivals & Events Association 1015 Georgiana St. Port Angeles, WA 98362 www.wfea.org