IMPORTANT: Feedback Needed for Uni Watch 25th-Uni-versary Party

Hello! Back on Uni Watch’s 24th uni-versary, I floated an idea that I want to revisit a bit more seriously today: a big party for Uni Watch’s 25th uni-versary next year.

Here’s the deal: Uni Watch will turn 25 years old on May 26, 2024. That’s the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, less than eight months from now. The silver uni-versary is a major milestone we should all be proud of! Realistically, it’s also the last Uni Watch milestone I’ll be around for (by the time of Uni Watch’s 30th birthday, in 2029, I’ll be 65 years old and will probably have stopped writing about uniforms). So I want to do a big blowout shindig to mark the big two-five — not just a gathering at a bar, but something more substantial.

Over the past few months, I’ve been making inquiries and laying some groundwork. Here’s what I’m thinking:

• Again, the date will be Sunday, May 26 (exactly 25 years after the publication of the very first Uni Watch column). The party will take place in the afternoon, from 2-6pm.
• The party will take place at Littlefield, an excellent performance space in Brooklyn. They have a stage, a great sound system, a full bar, and more. Two caveats: They do not serve food, and they’re strictly 21+. (Also, their website has a purple theme, but some things can’t be helped.)
• The great hockey-rock band the Zambonis will play.
• In between Zambonis sets, we will have a celebrity roast in which I will get roasted by some of the uni-verse’s brightest luminaries.
• We will have some sort of contest for the attendees wearing the best uniform or uni-related outfits. Maybe we can have an on-site “Five Plus One”!
• Uni Watch membership card designer Scott M.X. Turner will take card orders on-site and design them on the spot, with his laptop cable-connected to a TV monitor so people can watch his design work in real time.
• We’ll have a table or two with Uni Watch merch, including some items available exclusively at the party. If anyone wants me to autograph their merch purch, I’ll happily do it.
• Depending on who attends, I’d like to have a segment where I introduce some of our more notable readers, commenters, and contributors onstage. “Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Mr. Kary Klismet!” (or something like that).
• Ideally, we’ll have some other activities that I haven’t thought of yet. (If you have ideas, I’m all ears.)

I don’t need to make money on this event, but I also don’t want to take a bath on it. Renting Littlefield for the day will cost $750, plus there’s a $2,000 bar minimum (i.e., if we end up spending less than $2,000 at the bar, I have to make up the difference). In addition, hiring the Zambonis will cost $2,000; producing posters, banners, and so on will likely run several hundred dollars; and there are probably some other incidental costs I haven’t yet thought of.

So here’s what I’m thinking: There’d be a $20 cover charge. If 150 to 200 people attend and we sell some merch, I’d probably break even, or at least come close to it.

So the question then becomes: Would at least 150 people come? Or to put it another way, would you come to NYC next Memorial Day weekend? Because I don’t want to book the space and the band if only 38 people are going to show up. Aside from the financial implications, that would just be depressing for everyone.

I’m not asking you to buy a ticket or book a flight today, but I do want to get a sense of how realistic this plan is. So if you would seriously consider attending such an event, please let me know via email ASAP, and indicate how many tickets you think you’d be buying. (If you already sent me a note about this a few months ago, when I first broached the idea, please do so again. Thanks.) Please don’t just post a comment on this post saying, “Sure, I’d come!” — please send an email as well. Thanks!

Also: If enough people are interested, I could try to arrange a group discount for a block of rooms at a hotel near the party venue. (But since it’s on a holiday weekend, they might require a two- or three-night stay in order to get the discount.)

Also-also: As of now, the entire planning committee for this event consists of me. Going forward, I wouldn’t mind having someone to act as a coordinator/planner, just so I don’t have to handle all of that myself. Ideally, this person would have some event-planning experience. If that sounds like you and you’d like to volunteer, please get in touch.

I think that’s it, at least for now. Thanks in advance for your feedback!