And Glen Morningstar responds...
FYI...the Education Department at the Henry Ford (nor any other department) has never approached me to say there was an issue with
declining enrollment, nor any statement that there was a minimum attendance below which the program would be in jeopardy.
Our first year of dancing there had a typical attendance of 80-100. In the late '80's and early '90's, attendance was as high as 220 for the
regular dances. The attendance at the last dance was 174.
This letter is the first reference to this point I've seen. If I had known it was an issue, I would have shared that with the dance community when known.
There are quite a number of advertising and promoting approaches that could be taken (the least of which would be advertising the dance in the local
Dearborn papers, which has been recommended over the years, but not effected by THF).
--Glen Morningstar Jr.
“There is always a way to do it better…find it!”
--Thomas Edison, Henry Ford’s mentor and inspiration for the creation of Greenfield Village
"If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will
have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability."
--Henry Ford
| The dance never gets listed in event compilations such as those published in the Detroit News
and Free Press for the weekends. Years ago (early 90's) it would appear in the Freep. Getting selected as the
best dance in Detroit, as the Freep did, is no small honor, and should be parlayed into
promotional material. (An early December Googling yielded interesting results; the dance is mentioned on a site of weekend stuff to do in Cleveland.)
You might find the February 6 dance listed in event calendars from the Hometown newspapers,
the Metro Times, the Freep's "Get Up and Go,"
and the local dailies. The content was submitted for those by yours truly via e-mail, and I live in Grand Rapids!
Editors are always begging for copy, and they will run event listings at no charge. So will calendars for local social groups. At times we've enjoyed the
company of various singles' groups. They usually all wear jeans and boots, having been told that it's "country line dancing." They're new at it, but they catch on
quickly, have a good time, and sometimes they return. How do they find out about it? It appears in their group newsletters.
For this "save Lovett Hall" effort, we've managed to compile e-mail lists in just a few weeks. THF could collect e-mail addresses from dancers, if not
dance committees, and send reminders. (These new-fangled things called computers make it pretty easy to get the word out.)
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| Another form letter, sent to virtually everyone who's written THF about the dance.
In late January this reply is being sent out over the signature of another person. We all get the same song & dance:
"our catering department had nothing to do with this decision."
Did the senior management team meet over Thanksgiving?
Is using the ballroom for its intended purpose (it was built for traditional dance) somehow out of line with the institution's core business?
Hey, fuel costs are going up, why keep driving antique cars around the village?
How do exhibitions like "Bond, James Bond" fit in with the museum's mission and purpose... besides making money?
So more than two decades of tradition and good-will are suddenly dropped, on four days' notice. Catering presently requires purchase of a
plated dinner in order to use Lovett Hall. The dance community can come up with a $600 rental fee, but it's a little tough to sell $4000.00 worth of food.
It will be interesting to see if Sunday afternoons and evenings become active for banquet rentals. My guess is: the dance endured so long because high-rolling
rentals (e.g. weddings) just don't occur on the first Sunday of the month. Considering the lackadaisical marketing capabilities exhibited on the dance
series--with more than 20 years to practice--re-positioning Lovett Hall for a full schedule of catered events doesn't seem likely.
Want a membership with that?
THF has never made any attempt to increase the dance revenue, sell us dancers more goods and services, or even invite us to visit the museum. In more
than 20 years I have never seen any HFM/GFV published materials out for us. All they provide is more dance flyers with the upcoming schedule, and name tags.
In December one of the door ladies said that the body count, from last year when they issued numbered tickets, was about 100 dancers. (That's how many people attended my very first organized event, New Year's Eve 1991, which was pulled together and publicized in less than six weeks by a greenhorn publicist.)
Lovett will comfortably dance 200-250.
Upselling is a basic principle of marketing. So is the notion that a customer in the hand is worth two that are still out on the highway...this is why ice cream
carts appear at street festivals, and balloon vendors work the curb lines at parades.
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Bring in a coffee service, and charge us more. Add treats, charge us more. (Sell refreshment tickets at the door, just like they do at art fairs.) Bring in
membership materials. How about stuff from the gift shop:
books about the museum and village? Reprints of The Good Morning Book? The Lovett Hall
needlepoint kit? "Don't you just Lovett" T-shirts? Mugs? Pens? Bumper stickers? Keychains?
Dances in other, smaller, less lovely places are charging $10 or more for a plain 'ol contra dance. With all due respect, the Pittsfield Grange is no Lovett Hall.
--KRM, who ran a mail order and special event gift business for 15 years
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