danceswithcats was kind enough to remind me to start the annual Gettysdope thread. This will make #5, putting it in the running for one of the longest annual Dopefests.
Let’s get this show on the road!
Robin
Methinks item one is date selection. If we act quickly enough, I can get the Firemen’s pavilion secured, which is closest to the playground equipment, for the sake of kidlets.
For the sake of n00bs, Gettysdope is a potluck outdoor gathering at the Borough park.
Food, music, anything else you want to do in a park, board games, general BSing, and nearby battlefield tours.
Please reply with number of people in your party who will attend and what food or picnic stuff you will bring. As the thread grows, an updated posting of who and what will appear at the top of each page. A directions page with map links also will appear the week before the fest.
And since this is #5, we need T-shirts. 
Apologies for the rather perfunctory OP. I spent yesterday being a good 'lil liberal, which meant volunteering at an Earth Day festival and going to Harrisburg to stand and sit on the steps of the Capitol for three hours to hear Barack Obama speak for 30 minutes. Despite the soreness and sunburn, it was worth every minute. I got home around 10:30-11:00, exhausted to the point where I was literally drooling as I fell asleep. But man, what a rush! (I’ll be happy to figure out a way to post the audio of the speech. Conditions [such as Sen. Casey] were not amenable to getting actual video.)
Anyway, I’m not trying to turn this thread into a political discussion, merely explaining why the OP was only three sentences long.
Robin
When are you looking at? Spring or late Summer?
Hadn’t we decided to go for mid-September from now on, so as to avoid the heat and sticky of summer and so everyone who does summer vacation would be back in town? Of course, last year we wound up having it in October, because the weekend we wanted in September had already been booked.
Do you want to have a get-together for Mid-Atlantic Dopers before Gettysdope? F. U. Shakespeare and I were talking IRL the other day and thought that we’d like to have such a get-together soon. Our first thought was that we would have it at Weirddave and GingerOfTheNorth’s house, whether they wanted it there or not. If they tried to be out of town that day, we’d break into their place. Our second thought was to hold it at either F.U.'s favorite restaurant (a Thai place in Glen Burnie, MD) or at my favorite restaurant (a Mexican place in Hyattsville, MD). Anyone interested in such a get-together?
That sounds like fun, Wendell.
Robin
You guys suck. But yeah, my birthday is coming up and wouldn’t it be nice if someone threw a party for me? AND I DIDN’T HAVE TO CLEAN UP AFTER IT?
But that defeats the purpose of having it at your house!
Robin
It’s ALWAYS at my house.
By nature of September 1st being a Monday, there are four non-Labor-Day weekends in September this year. A call to the Parks & Recreation lady yields the following, regarding availability:
9/6: Lions & Kiwanis pavilions available
9/13: Firemen’s pavilion available
9/20: Lions and Kiwanis pavilions available
9/27: All available
Bear in mind that the facilities are first come, first served, so changes can take place at any time.
Any of those dates work for me.
Are we getting electricity again? If I can find my recipe, I’m considering bringing Chicken Biryani, but I’ll need some way to heat it up. (If I can’t find my recipe, I’ll think of something else. Maybe beef adobe, if Mama and Papa Tiger bring chicken adobe like they did last year.)
Any time in September would work for us for GettysDope, as long as we get ample notice. There would be four in our party. I can bring Crock Pot brownies again, if you’d like.
As for an earlier gathering, it sounds like fun, but I would have to delay a definite answer pending consulting with the hubby, and getting a definitive date.
I’m not going to be able to go to a Gettysdope in the foreseeable future, since I now live in central VA and go to school in more southern VA from late August to early May.
Okay, someone’s got to pick a date.
The pavilions get reserved quickly, so we need to settle on a day.
I think we should just decide on September 27th. All of the pavilions are available, it’s not too hot, but it’s not too cool yet. Besides, it’s still five months from now, so we can all block that weekend off.
Robin
supervenusfreak and I are basically able to do any date in September other than Labor Day weekend.
We MAY be up for an interim gathering…we’d need to know the general time period for it before we can say yea or nay, though.
Sounds good to me.
September 27th it is!
Works for me, too! Adds date to her Palm Pilot
Are you going to executively decide to make it the last Saturday in September from now on? That’d make planning a whole lot easier for everyone. 
We need to watch for the shifting date of Yom Kippur, though. That’s one reason we had such a problem setting a date last year. Set it during that 25 hours and we lose at least three people (ScubaBen, MsRobyn and Doc Cathode) for sure, and probably more.