Texas Hill Country Dope Fest! (San Antonio TX, “SATX”)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

What’s the Who What When Where and Why for this?

◆ WHO — Dopers in or near San Antonio + partners / spouses / friends
◆ WHAT — Dope Fest Texas Hill Country. Let’s meet IRL!
◆ WHEN — Saturday April 6, 2024, at approx 12 noon
◆ WHERE — SATX area; exact location is TBD and depends on who’ll be there; if you’re coming then suggest a place (see below); location will be provided later in this thread
◆ WHY — to meet up in real life, in 3D, and get to know some other Dopers who we talk with here; and also so we can fight some ignorance together :wink:

Texas Hill Country Dopers, are you interest in meeting up? Let’s have a Texas Hill Country Dope Fest!

Regarding the WHEN — Because of the total eclipse {thread here, ➜ USA TSE, total solar eclipse: three years away for USA (April 2024) - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board}, the date and time for this Dope Fest has already been fixed. FloatyGimpy and I will be in town for this total eclipse. I’ll be coming from San Francisco and have been planning this trip for over a year, and I’ve been discussing a meetup in San Antonio with ThelmaLou for several months. So that’s why the date and time for this Dope Fest is set and inflexible. Apologies to those who would otherwise be interested in meeting but cannot because of the date.

Regarding the WHY — Have you met any Dopers IRL? Who was it and when? I’ve been to one other Dope Fest, in San Francisco where I live back in June 2023. Here are pictures of us {pics ➜ Dope Fest San Francisco Bay Area! (May/June 2023) - #123 by Bullitt - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board}. We did not have any agenda. We simply gathered and talked and shared some food and drinks together. Oh and we shared our IRL names, too. It was a good time. The shortened link is safe to use, I created it and vouch for it.

Regarding the WHERE — that depends on who will be coming. Let’s find a place that’s convenient to those of us who’ll come. Some considerations for the place include:

● Having plenty of seating so that a group of us (perhaps up to approx 15-20) can readily have enough tables and chairs to accommodate us during their normal lunch crowd.
● Having a decent menu that’s affordable and varied, to accommodate different palates. Alcohol is not necessarily a must have.
● Having easy and plentiful parking.
● Being near mass transportation, if those coming will travel that way.
● Having ready access to accommodate any of us with mobility challenges.

For responses, how about providing the following? If it’s helpful you can copy and paste these bullets:

■ How likely are you to come? (Probable means ≥75%; Questionable = approx 50%; Doubtful means ≤ 50%)

■ How many in your party?

■ Where will you be coming from? (Suggestion: zip code)

■ Would you be driving / walking / taking mass transportation?

■ What meetup place do you suggest? (Go ahead and make it convenient for you)

■ Got any general comments?

We hope you can join!

2

Okay, here are my answers.

■ How likely are you to come? Probable

■ How many in your party? 2. It’ll be the wife and me.

■ Where will you be coming from? 78205

■ Would you be driving / walking / taking s transportation? Driving

■ What meetup place do you suggest? Rainforest Cafe, 110 E Crockett St, San Antonio, TX 78205

■ Got any general comments? None, except I’m looking forward to meeting you! Oh wait, this is Texas so I’m fixin’ to meet y’all, and looking forward to it! :wink:

3

I will attend. The only way I won’t is if the weather looks like it will be horrible for watching the eclipse in which case I would cancel my trip.

Just me in my party.

Coming from BC, Canada but staying downtown San Antonio.

Not totally sure about transportation just yet.

Any place downtown works perfectly for me.

Super excited for both the eclipse and an international Dope Fest! I attended a small one before in Edmonton and loved meeting people I’ve known online for 20 years.

4

You might want to do a Hill Country Dopefest in somewhere like New Braunfels or San Marcos, so you can get the Austin crowd a little bit easier than doing it in San Antonio proper.

Landa Park in New Braunfels would be fantastic, although I bet it’ll be packed to the gills for the actual eclipse.

5

Thanks for the suggestion. However, we have 3 people already confirmed for San Antonio, and hopefully more, so unfortunately we can’t move it to San Marcos or New Braunfels. Not for this time anyway.

6

Heart of downtown, so IMHO not a great idea.

I suggest you plan to visit the Alamo and other downtown stuff on your own. Arranging a gathering there would be a challenge. LOTS of downtown construction and torn-up streets. Makes even us locals nuts!

New Braunfels would be a good idea. Easily accessible from the general Hill Country area. New Braunfels is booming!

One the outskirts of New Braunfels is Gruene, Texas. Gruene Hall would be the ULTIMATE Dopefest venue (featured in the movie Michael where angel John Travolta danced). They have live music at night, but not at lunchtime.

Right next door is a great restaurant, The Gristmill, which does have a party room available to reserve.

7

I’m happy to go somewhere else if I can get there. I would hate to travel so far and miss a dope fest but that’s my problem, not anybody else’s.

8

You will need a car–things are far apart by the standards of other parts of the country. Public transportation around here is non-existent. Each Texan gotta have their own horse, don’tcha know.

9

I don’t think I’ll need a car for the whole trip. I plan on staying mostly downtown except for the eclipse and I’ll just take a cab. It would be nice to have one on the eclipse day and also if I need one to get to the dope fest if it’s far away.

10

I will DEFINITELY attend. If Inna wants to come, she’ll be in attendance as well.

Can drive people. Since I don’t drink, I will be good both coming and going.

Doesn’t really matter where… this is Texas, so a 50 mile drive to meet friends is no big deal.

11

Depending on where we will meet I might be able to give you a ride. (and maybe @JohnT was offering too) But I don’t have my own accommodations set yet. I do for the eclipse, but not the days before.

12

I’ve been to that Gruene Dance Hall. A historic place! I’m open to New Braunfels or San Marcos, or any locale in the Hill Country. I’m not insisting that it’s San Antonio. I didn’t know what @ThelmaLou and @FloatyGimpy thought about it. Sounds like we’re all flexible, so, cool!

13

No, this is our problem. If you don’t get a car, I’ll give you a ride to our dope fest and back. Is someone else can get you back to San Antonio that would help me, but if that’s not available then my wife and I would be happy to drive you. If you’re okay with that?

Agree. Downtown San Antonio is not ideal. I’d love to go to the:

Gristmill River Restaurant & Bar, 1287 Gruene Rd, New Braunfels, TX 78130
830-625-0684; https://gristmillrestaurant.com
mail@gruenetexas.com

Sounds like a great place! My wife and I walked past it when we were there last, several years ago now. The menu looks fine for us, so please check it out @FloatyGimpy and @JohnT . If this works for you then we’ve got a quorum, and our Dope Fest opens itself up to any Austinites that may want to join us.

Thoughts, people?

14

As I said earlier, i am fine to drive carless Dopers, so count me in on the driving arrangements.

The Gristmill also works for us as well!

15

This would not be too soon to reserve the room at the Grist Mill restaurant. Find out of they need some kind of deposit. Make up a number of attendees (20 maybe?). That place is packed every weekend in normal times.

16

Oh. Thanks! I’ll do that today. I’ll find out if they collect a deposit, and circle back here.

17

If they do need $$, count on me for a contribution.

18

I just called them. They do not take reservations on the weekend, so it’s first-come, first-served.

Gristmill River Restaurant & Bar, 1287 Gruene Rd, New Braunfels, TX 78130
830-625-0684; https://gristmillrestaurant.com
mail@gruenetexas.com

But he said they typically don’t start getting busy until around 1pm, but of course that is conditional and variable.

They open at 1100. To be safe, shall we meet there at 1130? If we meet at 1130, we might even be able a nice table with a view!

Thoughts?

19

EEK! No reservations?? :scream_cat:

On Saturday? At eclipse season??

It they open at 11, we should be in line at 10:30. I kid you not.

20

I can be in line @1030. We can start socializing while in line!

I’ll bring a small cooler with some cooled Shiner Bock. We can sip while in line. What’s your poison?