FIRST Community Social Events?

[Noah]

One of my favorite things about the FIRST competition is that, above all, competition is not a word that carries anger or resentment, but the love of a game and the spirit of gracious profesionalism. I think that one of the greatest effects of this spirit is that FIRSTers, as a group, are people who carry many of the traits that people look for in friends.

To me, there is one big problem in the FIRST community - I only am in contact with most of it during about eight weeks of the year! During the rest of the year I'll haunt these forums, and talk to members of my team, but my contact with members of other teams has been fairly limited.

What I would like to propose is that during the off season, perhaps as often as once every month or two, there be a "FIRST Celebration" held in sites all around the country. These don't have to occur in tandem with each other, each can be an isolated event for that region, but the idea is that we find a large area like a public park or beach, someone sets up a grill, and everyone is invited to come and meet your fellow FIRSTers.

I think that this would be a great way to open additional channels of communication, especially between teams located near each other geographically. It's a way to build comraderie and friendship. It's a community event, and if any community looks after it's own, it would have to be the FIRST community.

It's only a small risk; a few dollars to cover your food, the ride there, and the willingness to strike up a conversation with a stranger. Of course, you already have plenty of conversation fodder: "Hi, I'm John Doe, team 123... "

My question, then, is this: If such an event was taking place near you, would you attend it? Would anyone be willing to coordinate events in your respective regions? Would your team be willing to take a few hours out of a saturday to attend?