Just wondering if we are allowed to hand out complimentary candy in the pits at the competition?
any reply welcome…
Yes! Hope your attending the Chesapeake regional. I think there are a couple UK teams coming there. We will have a lot to give out as well.
Thanks alot…:]
All the events MARS has attended do not allow food to be passed out at the venue. Site rules for the Florida Regional state:
“Do not give out any free food products, such as candy, water, soft drinks, or fruit. You may trade team pins, however.”
I’d suggest checking on the site info/rules at events you’ll be attending here
I’m 99% sure every venue does not allow you to pass out anything edible. They don’t even really like any outside food being brought in period.
that’d be nice if we could give out candy, but i’ve only seen stuff like pins and keychains. which are very fun to collect, by the way:)
At javitz last year we ordered pizza to the venue and brought a crave case from White castle in. They had no problem with it.
Section 3 of the Manual bans food (giveaway or sell) that isn’t venue food. (However, rules may vary by venue.)
I know at the VCU Regional they don’t let you bring any type of food from the outside into the stadium. They wouldn’t even let us bring in Starbucks so they probably wouldn’t like candy.
ya at the wisconson regional last year there was no food and I am sure it is the same this year everywhere else
Nope, not everywhere. As was the case last year, the Javits Center is allowing outside food to be brought into the arena for the NYC regional.
Generally the venue won’t let you bring in food, but in the past we have recieved little packages from otherteams with food in it. If it is out of site of the people in charge it is out of their minds.
if you are handing food in the pits, check with the organizers. other places will allow you to bring outside food outside the building but nothing will be allowed inside the doors
standard things that are handed out at competitions are buttons/pins, pencils, sometimes pens, etc. at SVR last year, one of the hawaiian teams handed out leis to people
I really wish that some of the events would relax their restrictions on bringing in drinks, at least. I find it somewhat ironic that FIRST puts such an emphasis on safety, yet puts people in an environment conducive to sweating a lot and then bans bringing in drinks. I understand that often it is the venues that are doing the banning in order to boost their profit margins (overpriced stadium refreshments are your only option), but it just seems irresponsible to have such a policy in place. I know that I have gotten dehydrated enough at competition that it impaired my ability to concentrate, which is just an usually just an annoyance, but becomes dangerous when you are operating power tools. Honestly, I would just like to see a clause that provides exemptions for water, which isn’t a lot to ask for, in my opinion.
As I recall, bottled water is allowed in the pits, and there are usually drinking fountains.
I guess that depends on the event. I just double-checked the rules and they say nothing about bringing in drinks, just food; at VCU they search your bags to make sure you aren’t carrying food or drink into the building (or other some other things, like guns, I imagine). As I recall, they aren’t quite as uptight at the Championship, and they definitely weren’t at Palmetto (they actually gave the teams some bottled water at Palmetto). I guess you’re right about water fountains, but I have always been wary of them at FIRST competitions; I’m usually not a person that is uptight about keeping everything clean and germ-free (case-in-point: I make a point of avoiding anti-bacterial soap and other excessively powerful sanitizers), but after my brother mysteriously came down with mono right after a regional, not to mention the norovirus outbreak at VCU in 2004, I try to avoid them.
Well… if you know how to do it right, you can get past em… I generally wear huge cargo pants, and put all the food in my pants and a drink or two up my sleeve… then i just walk inside in the middle of my team, as long as you don’t have a bag and don’t look suspicious, they wont stop you, then i eat it in the stands and trow away the trash. We also hide drinks and food inside our tool cart and then hide it in the pit.
Usually, at GLR, it’s nice enough to eat outside. My dad will run and get fast food for me and the other drivers and stuff and we’ll just eat outside on the sidewalk.
Same at L.A. and S.D. Actually, at S.D., there are two or three fast-food places in the parking lot. The only issue with those is that they were sometimes full…
L.A.'s nearest place is a Subway across the street. If you know what a Subway is like…
One thing is don’t worry as there is always food nearby to most of the Regional Facilatys, some even sell their own food. Think of FIRST values about sneaking food in.