Looking for a club house to rent

[nauti1us]

Hi All !

I have been giving this much thought and I'd like to see if anyone out there might know of or have access to a club house or similar venue to hold ORCA meetings at.

As most of you know, our regular monthly meetings have grown quite a bit since the first of the year. Last year our meeting attendance ran roughly 40 ~ 60 members and guests. We are now averaging around 70 and we've seen it go much higher.

While this is very cool and I certainly welcome all the new members, this definitely puts a strain on any member trying to host a meeting. I think we all know how cramped and warm it gets with 70 + people packed into someone’s home.

So, I'll throw this out there in the hopes that someone might know where there's a meeting spot we could rent once a month that could accommodate roughly 85 + people (worst case scenario). Years ago we used to own a house out in Clermont. Part of the Home owners Assoc. included the use of a club house. The clubhouse was in a fenced in area with a pool and outside grilling/picnic area with a small kitchenette and big screen TV inside. The clubhouse was available to rent with advanced notice for a nominal fee. The fee included the cost of a maid service that would clean up the place the next day. The cost was real reasonable.

If anyone knows of a similar place or venue, please PM or email me at: president@o-r-c-a.com

 

[bluerug]

How about the Isleworth club house?

 

[nauti1us]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10392300#post10392300 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bluecarpet
How about the Isleworth club house?

I'm not familiar with it. Can you be more specific..? Or as I requested, PM or email me with specifics, contact info etc. Thnx.

 

[bluerug]

Well here it is.

http://www.isleworth.com/home.html

Top class by the way.

 

[nauti1us]

thanks!

 

[bluerug]

Not a problem.

 

[55semireef]

That's going to be expensive.

 

[Me No Nemo]

I know it's on the other side of town, but here in Geneva we have a nice club house that I beleive we can rent. There's a kitchen area, but we would have to clean it up when we're finished. I'd have to check out more info if you can't find something more central.

 

[bluerug]

Isleworth sounds great to me, perfect location for everyone i believe. My dad's a member of the country club ( not that he plays much golf :lol: ) so he can do all the setting up and stuff and find out the prices.

 

[chrisstie]

Matt I'll see what I can do about talking to the avalon park folks about a clubhouse and\or school here that may accomodate us. I think it would be *MUCH* cheaper than a place like isleworth (sure it sounds great but the club has to pay for it and if we can do the same thing at someplace cheaper, more money will be freed up for other activities)

Theres supposedly a 50 person limit but I can see about using the outdoor facilities by the pool so we might be able to host more people.

We have some brand new schools here too that may have a place to rent if you'd like me to check

 

[TechniTony]

Many churches will rent out space cheap for community events.

 

[tomlando]

One problem with that is no TANKS. When I was new it was great to see all the different setups our members have. It really helped the learning process. Too bad we can't rent a place (really cheap) on a permenant basis to set up tanks. Maybe even pay for it with propagation tank or something. I know...I'm a dreamer! ha, ha. Maybe one of our members will hit the lotto and donate a place for us.

 

[dugg]

I have been in the Oklahoma club COMAS a few years, and they have a deal with a local college for a meeting room. They keep and maintain a reef tank in the school's main lobby in exchange for the use of the meeting room. They just have like a 120gallon or so set up with FO and a few mushrooms and xenia type stuff that is easy to keep and doesn't require a large investment in equipment. Just a thought i figured i would toss in there while you're looking and considering options.

 

[cschweitzer]

We could look at a restaurant that has a fish tank(at least it would give us something to gawk at)...I bet if we made a deal for the night, compensated them for the party, we could probably rent out part of a big or all of a small restaurant.

 

[cschweitzer]

If we do decide on this idea, we should make sure the place(whatever direction we go in) in a centralized location. I.E. nothing in Kissimee, Sanford, Christmas, etc., but instead someplace close to the city but far enough not to be too expensive. I'm sure there are some nice places near Semoran area.

Heck, if we really want a tank at the place, maybe we could have our meetings at a place in trade for setting up a tank for the restaurant/clubhouse. I know, I know, I'm a dreamer...

 

[55semireef]

I thought the greatest ORCA meetings was when we were at SITC and at Exotic Abyss (aka Saltwater Reef).

 

[cowboyswife]

Yeah what about rotating fish stores for the meetings? Id love to see one at Reefworks

 

[tomlando]

Cowboys wife suggestion really sounds like a good option. I'm sure most of the LFS wouldn't mind a hundred or so reefkeepers in their store. It would also give them a chance to show new stuff and get good feedback as to what we want or like.

 

[mykpoz]

i know in my neck of the woods, there are several venues which are run by the county, that actually let you rent them for free, you just need to make sure their are available.... they are community cneters with power, and facilities. You might want to check in on that to see what may be available to you, most of the times that I have seen them, they are stuck away and not readily visible from the road. One that I have used often is actually located on a road that leads to a subdivision.

i took it upon myself to do a little research...

there are several locations that the county runs that have spaces available for rent, although not free like up here, they do charge a nominal fee of $50/hour, which really isn't that bad. There is an exception where if the meeting is on the weekends they require a 4 hour reservation. They have various sizes of rooms available to pick from as well.

here is the link to the parks.

Orange County Amenitieshttp://www.orangecountyfl.net/dept/cesrvcs/parks/Amenities.asp?AmenityID=1

from what I have been told...

Barnett Park
Capehart Park
Curry Ford Community Park/Renaissance Senior Center
Cypress Grove Park
Marks Street Senior Recreation Complex

all have indoor facilities available.

Good luck

 

[skinnyjoe1976]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10398482#post10398482 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cowboyswife
Yeah what about rotating fish stores for the meetings? Id love to see one at Reefworks

i agree with becca. benifits everyone. and meeting times are usually close to after hours and the stores would be the business and the club would get a cheap roof over their heads.