Fourth Of July Celebration Comments

[underpaid1]

hello

i had a positive experience. we got there at bout 2:30ish.

waited in the food line for an hour or so. first time there, but figured it was a stadium, outdoors and either very sunny or rainy so we brought an umbrella.

this was before the line splits, so enjoyed ribs, chicken, dogs, salad, mini burger. delicious.

at the drink vendor, bought some soda and asked about the water. was directed to the lemonade/ ice tea stand where i received free amounts of ice cold water.

stayed till 5:30, then had to leave cause my friend's tv show was on. music was great as well as the company. at around 4, some friends arrived to get food. saw them with food and drink at 5 or so.

everyone i saw seemed to be having a good time and i didnt see hardly anyone leave as we exited.

[tomahawk]

I did not go to Fourth of July because i no longer can drink beer or eat hot dogs so whats the point? However as a retired prison guard, I am somewhat conscious of security and cannot understand the mind of people who complain of the security measures. The US embassy was attacked int epast, and as someone else said, we are at war. And obviously US is target for terrorists. So common sense is to have security. I am sure that since England was also attacked by terrorists, there is security at publci events there too. But maybe not, if they have people from forum running the show.

Also, if you go to 4th of July celebration in US, there will also be hot sun and long lines. It is just part of the deal. I am not surprised British people here are complaining, if you stop to consider why Americans celebrate it in the first place. I mean, I probably would not be too happy about celebrating getting my ass kicked.

[BarnicaleBob]

I had a good time and here are some photos of some others having a great time.

[ricardofel]

"Most are miserable old creatures.....waiting to die"....this guy mestizo should be banned from the forum. Sounds like he's a very sick fellow.

Granted, most of the comments on this thread will invariably be negative. That is just the extremely unfortunate nature of the Chiang Mai TV forum. Most of the posters here are miserable old creatures that chose to spend their last remaining days complaining about everything under the sun as they await their day in the crematorium.

Hope your day comes soon.

Cheers,

-Mestizo

[Greenside]

Security OK - they didn't check ID but maybe that was just a deterrent and it certainly would have slowed things down. Went through my bag more efficiently than most airlines. We shouldn't have been surprised as this was announced and as there were no terrorist attacks so I guess it did what was required. Almost no wait at the beginning of the afternoon.

Entertainment for kids - my son (9) had a good time but a bigger bouncy castle would have been an asset. A lot of the CKA area was taken up by promotion of the CNXWood venture which was interesting but staffed by girls who didn't really have answers to many of the questions my Thai friend put to them. Still, it looks bold and ambitious and I wish them every success. Major missed opportunities: nothing was made of the tug-o-war, pie eating, watermelon eating contests which all took place with the briefest of announcements, and where were the sack race, three legged race, egg and spoon race and all the events that were so popular last year? They cost nothing to organise and the big area in front of the stage could have been utilised - instead the pie eating etc were seen only by a few people who happened to be over in the corner of the venue.

Food - Good quality and astonishing quantity although lines unacceptably long. Much has been made of the difficulties caused by the late arrival of the security people who had to sweep the venue but the main issue was the lack of serving stations and it looked to me as if that had been left out of the equation. Queue management is horribly complicated but I figure you'd need four or five stations serving the full choice to get the wait down to about 20 minutes at peak times (and of course someone would still complain about it). Why nobody got out their slide rule to calculate this I can't think. Dukes staff worked amazingly hard and must be frazzled today! Soda too expensive.

Music - Thai band would have been more appropriate at the Lizard Lounge in the Ramada Inn, Hicksville. How out of tune were they for the anthems? Aussie Joe was reliable as ever.

Toilets - Didn't try them out. Like a previous poster, attendance at major festivals and travelling in China taught me the art of patience in that department

All in all I thought most people enjoyed it (as we did) but it shows how much just one aspect can bring such negative feelings down on the whole affair. Hope they learn from it.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

A lot of the CKA area was taken up by promotion of the CNXWood venture which was interesting but staffed by girls who didn't really have answers to many of the questions my Thai friend put to them.

Nobody can answer those questions. They try this grandiose scheme every couple of years, then the nation's finest newsapers (get paid to) run another full page thing on it, and some people invest.

As for the complainers on this topic: July in Thailand and it's hot.. Who knew!?

I think all will be well if they pick a shadier spot next year, and work on the lines. Gymkhana club or something like it. No doubt people will still complain of course.

Edited July 5, 2010 by WinnieTheKhwai

[paulchiangmai]

Wife,daughter and self [a Brit] had a great time. All the security measures in place however inconvenient, sure beats a terrorist attack. So the food lines were a little long, did not allow that to ruin my day. My daughter found plenty to do. I got a beer in a very short time, in just a few minutes I had a small bottle of Singha for just 40 Baht, what's wrong with that. My three year old refused to use the toilets, we simply walked less than a hundred yards to some western style toilets, no big deal. I even won a prize, a 30 hour course in English would you believe, mind you plenty of people would insinuate that I should take it. Great work VFW staff, don't worry about the moaners, it's the spirit of the event that matters and at least you all got off your butts and did something.

[dru_01923]

wow its seems most you people just like to complain no matter what.. dam there were 2000+ people there, did u think the food line wasnt going to long? did you think an event this big there wasnt going to be some glitches? did u think it wasnt going to be hot in july? so u paid 40 baht plus for american soda/beer wow seems cheap since it was flown in from the states. i think the staff at The Dukes did a great job and the food was excellent. the guys at the VFW & The Dukes staff put in a lot of work for this event to happen and people want to complain and say negative stuff.. lets see u pull an event off like this.. there could have been 50 food stations, cheap beer, western toilets, and most of u would still complain.. get a life & be grateful that the VFW/The Dukes did an event like this.

[NancyL]

Where were the western-style toilets? There sure weren't any signs. I imagine there are some better toilets someplace in that complex, but I'm not familar with the venue. Some people were sitting around picnic tables near the toilets and they said that the two trailers were "it".

Come on guys, it's not realistic to expect everyone to "hold it", especially older people and children.

[paulchiangmai]

Where were the western-style toilets? There sure weren't any signs. I imagine there are some better toilets someplace in that complex, but I'm not familar with the venue. Some people were sitting around picnic tables near the toilets and they said that the two trailers were "it".

Come on guys, it's not realistic to expect everyone to "hold it", especially older people and children.

Their were Western style toilets right next to the tennis courts, not fifty yards from the entrance to the events. No problem at all going out and then coming back in. My wife simply asked a Thai man if he knew where there were other toilets and he directed us. They were well signposted.Took little more than ten minutes to walk from our table close to the grand stand and back. Ask and ye shall receive.

[twofortheroad]

wow its seems most you people just like to complain no matter what.. dam there were 2000+ people there, did u think the food line wasnt going to long? did you think an event this big there wasnt going to be some glitches? did u think it wasnt going to be hot in july? so u paid 40 baht plus for american soda/beer wow seems cheap since it was flown in from the states. i think the staff at The Dukes did a great job and the food was excellent. the guys at the VFW & The Dukes staff put in a lot of work for this event to happen and people want to complain and say negative stuff.. lets see u pull an event off like this.. there could have been 50 food stations, cheap beer, western toilets, and most of u would still complain.. get a life & be grateful that the VFW/The Dukes did an event like this.

Whilst it's nice to receive the positive comments, and I'm sure their were plenty , If I were involved in organising such a big event I'd be more interested in the negative ones. They're the ones that offer an opportunity to improve. 

[bkkjames]

wow its seems most you people just like to complain no matter what.. dam there were 2000+ people there, did u think the food line wasnt going to long? did you think an event this big there wasnt going to be some glitches? did u think it wasnt going to be hot in july? so u paid 40 baht plus for american soda/beer wow seems cheap since it was flown in from the states. i think the staff at The Dukes did a great job and the food was excellent. the guys at the VFW & The Dukes staff put in a lot of work for this event to happen and people want to complain and say negative stuff.. lets see u pull an event off like this.. there could have been 50 food stations, cheap beer, western toilets, and most of u would still complain.. get a life & be grateful that the VFW/The Dukes did an event like this.

Whilst it's nice to receive the positive comments, and I'm sure their were plenty , If I were involved in organising such a big event I'd be more interested in the negative ones. They're the ones that offer an opportunity to improve. 

Moving forward, perhaps a list of suggestions for improvements for next year would be in order?

[mesquite]

I showed up, paid my money and went in. I had a great time talking to old friends, then I saw the line for food. Well over a hundred people, maybe three hundred and it was not moving. No problems with the toilets as I didn't stay long enough to use them. I said goodbye to my friends and left the stadium to get something to eat at a restaurant. All in all a waste of 350 baht. Where do I get my refund?

[getgoin]

wow its seems most you people just like to complain no matter what.. dam there were 2000+ people there, did u think the food line wasnt going to long? did you think an event this big there wasnt going to be some glitches? did u think it wasnt going to be hot in july? so u paid 40 baht plus for american soda/beer wow seems cheap since it was flown in from the states. i think the staff at The Dukes did a great job and the food was excellent. the guys at the VFW & The Dukes staff put in a lot of work for this event to happen and people want to complain and say negative stuff.. lets see u pull an event off like this.. there could have been 50 food stations, cheap beer, western toilets, and most of u would still complain.. get a life & be grateful that the VFW/The Dukes did an event like this.

Whilst it's nice to receive the positive comments, and I'm sure their were plenty , If I were involved in organising such a big event I'd be more interested in the negative ones. They're the ones that offer an opportunity to improve.

Well I will start here. If you were not there you should...

Edited July 5, 2010 by getgoin

[bluweyze]

I went yesterday with my Thai wife and young son. The food organisation was shambolic and it did take up to 15 minutes to buy a beer whatever doubts are expressed by unbelieving posters.As early as Friday it could be estimated that at least 1500 would attend and there was not the food organisation to cope.

Having said that I enjoyed my Boston beer and was happy to pay 100 baht for the experience, also Singh bottled beer at 40 baht was an exceptionally good price.I though Creative design put in a good effort on the children's play area and every activity seemed manned by enthusiastic willing staff.My son is less than 2 years old so what he could do was limited but certainly not insufficient, he enjoyed the day.

Catering for high numbers is always tough but someone has to admit it, yesterday's food lines were unacceptable. The buffet may have worked for a wedding party but for these numbers it certainly didn't and many, many people were unhappy, covered in sweat and hungry.Credit to the organisers for trying and guys you know you got it wrong on the food which spoilt the party quite a bit. If there is to be a next year please, please focus on the food but from my 'limey' viewpoint everything else was along the right lines

[cardinalblue]

I showed up, paid my money and went in. I had a great time talking to old friends, then I saw the line for food. Well over a hundred people, maybe three hundred and it was not moving. No problems with the toilets as I didn't stay long enough to use them. I said goodbye to my friends and left the stadium to get something to eat at a restaurant. All in all a waste of 350 baht. Where do I get my refund?

View it as a great talk with friends for 350B. Good value than and not a waste. you got something out of it..And if you would have planned it, only 300B...

CB

[twofortheroad]

Whilst it's nice to receive the positive comments, and I'm sure their were plenty , If I were involved in organising such a big event I'd be more interested in the negative ones. They're the ones that offer an opportunity to improve.

Well I will start here. If you were not there you should...

..... have been?

[doppa]

I did not go to Fourth of July because i no longer can drink beer or eat hot dogs so whats the point? However as a retired prison guard, I am somewhat conscious of security and cannot understand the mind of people who complain of the security measures. The US embassy was attacked int epast, and as someone else said, we are at war. And obviously US is target for terrorists. So common sense is to have security. I am sure that since England was also attacked by terrorists, there is security at publci events there too. But maybe not, if they have people from forum running the show.

Also, if you go to 4th of July celebration in US, there will also be hot sun and long lines. It is just part of the deal. I am not surprised British people here are complaining, if you stop to consider why Americans celebrate it in the first place. I mean, I probably would not be too happy about celebrating getting my ass kicked.

actually i enjoy nipping up to vietnam to celebrate their ass kicking.

[getgoin]

Also, if you go to 4th of July celebration in US, there will also be hot sun and long lines. It is just part of the deal.

Pretty intelligent post. As I ponder the positive and the negative I wonder if it will be possible to get anyone to work the event if we do it next year as the immaturity level was running very high yesterday. Plenty of stories to tell on this side of the counter.

There was not suppose to be a line. There were separate food stations. Folks just happened to form a line and stay in it. Certainly not Thai style. Once the lines started, and they started early because the clearing of the venue took an hour longer than expected-making the place safe for the event, they never let up. Breaking the line into station lines happened too late and never had any chance of success because there were already too many folks queued up.

Some facts;

4500 pieces of ribs,

1800 pieces of chicken,

1500 hot dogs,

1550 sausages,

2200 burgers,

1500 tacos and quesadillas,

200 kilos of salads,

80 kilos of onion rings,

200 kilos of fruit.

If you did not get yours then you have no one to blame but your neighbor or yourself.

What do I think would be the first way to improve the event for next year? Raise the price. Less people mean shorter lines and more food for everyone.

I think the VFW should get a medal for the job they did and I think The Duke's staff did a wonderful job of serving the more than 1600 people that attended.

You're welcome.

[Greenside]

No quibble with the food and the dedication of the staff serving it - I certainly had my fill and think it was well worth the money. I can imagine that keeping a smile going when faced with hot and impatient customers must have been a tough job at times: they should all be congratulated.

So the fact that there was one line and not four to start with boils down to a signage and organisation issue. Would each line have been able to choose from the full selection? If not, that in itself would have posed a problem as it requires a walk to the front to see what there is before you can choose the line to stand in. This just needs careful planning and management at the time.

Well done to all at Dukes.

[getgoin]

No quibble with the food and the dedication of the staff serving it - I certainly had my fill and think it was well worth the money. I can imagine that keeping a smile going when faced with hot and impatient customers must have been a tough job at times: they should all be congratulated.

So the fact that there was one line and not four to start with boils down to a signage and organisation issue. Would each line have been able to choose from the full selection? If not, that in itself would have posed a problem as it requires a walk to the front to see what there is before you can choose the line to stand in. This just needs careful planning and management at the time.

Well done to all at Dukes.

I agree. I had thought that there would not be any lines and the food station was designed with this in mind. There were actually 2 tents in the front of the food that were there to keep the rain or the sun off of folks. Obviously not a big enough holding area.

A few days before the event, when we were looking at the potential number of attendees, we added another station as well as adding 75 kilos of dogs and sausages and 50 kilos each of chicken and ribs. After taking another look at it now we could have had another 2 stations and they should have been placed around the venue and not in one big tent. Last year there were somewhere around 900 adult attendees and many came and left. Few ate. This year almost everyone stayed around and enjoyed themselves.

The real issue that should be brought up here was with the huge amounts of food that were being taken and in many cases wasted by people. No one wanted to get back in line so they simply took more than any average human being can consume in one sitting. This contributed greatly to the slowness of the lines. I was appalled at the food left untouched at the tables and the huge amounts of trash not discarded. Many water bottles were opened and a sip drunk. Embarrassing behavior for the whole of humanity and in today's times. Sure I expected some waste but not of this magnitude.

[cm476]

Also, if you go to 4th of July celebration in US, there will also be hot sun and long lines. It is just part of the deal.

Pretty intelligent post. As I ponder the positive and the negative I wonder if it will be possible to get anyone to work the event if we do it next year as the immaturity level was running very high yesterday. Plenty of stories to tell on this side of the counter.

There was not suppose to be a line. There were separate food stations. Folks just happened to form a line and stay in it. Certainly not Thai style. Once the lines started, and they started early because the clearing of the venue took an hour longer than expected-making the place safe for the event, they never let up. Breaking the line into station lines happened too late and never had any chance of success because there were already too many folks queued up.

Some facts;

4500 pieces of ribs,

1800 pieces of chicken,

1500 hot dogs,

1550 sausages,

2200 burgers,

1500 tacos and quesadillas,

200 kilos of salads,

80 kilos of onion rings,

200 kilos of fruit.

If you did not get yours then you have no one to blame but your neighbor or yourself.

What do I think would be the first way to improve the event for next year? Raise the price. Less people mean shorter lines and more food for everyone.

I think the VFW should get a medal for the job they did and I think The Duke's staff did a wonderful job of serving the more than 1600 people that attended.

You're welcome.

I have read this forum often but never felt the need to contribute but after yesterdays disaster feel it is the only place to vent my frustration.

It is good of Dave to come on and respond but there is no hint of regret or apology in his post for the fiasco for which he was ultimately responsible. I am sure Dukes were paid very handsomely for providing the catering so stand up, admit it was wrong and apologize. If the intention was not to have lines why were the lines allowed to continue once they formed? As the man in charge Dave surely you should have been out there redirecting folk. There were plenty of VFW guys who could have helped but it was your responsibility to organize them and you went AWOL. Not good enough the buck stopped with you and you dodged it. It was always my fear that this would happen when the catering was all given to Dukes and other American food places in town were told that unlike in previous years their services were not required. If Bake n Bite, Miguels, Paradise, McDonalds, Butter is Better, Pun Pun and all the others were all there to share the load as in every previous year it would have been fine but no they were told we're giving it all to Dukes. Greed is reponsible for this and your post should have shown more humility and understanding for the hundreds of people who baked for over an hour to get something to eat.

I hope the organizers will take careful note that one restaurant cannot cope with 2,000 people and next year invite others to participate in sharing the catering on our day of national celebration

[NancyL]

The Duke's "food station" concept makes no sense unless each "food station" offered the complete menu. A big reason for all the wasted food was that every group/family split up, with one person in each line to get enough food for everyone in their party. They didn't know how many ribs or ears of corn everyone else wanted so they just loaded up. People who were by themselves or had a wife who had to stay at the table with the children were really screwed. (This is the strongest language I've ever used on TV!)

I think the "single food vendor" concept could work if they set up 5 or 6 identical buffet lines, not "food stations", none of which offered a complete meal.

[BookSanook]

In an earlier post I thanked the VFW and the organizers. But since that time my wife has asked me to post her two cents worth. (FWIW, she is Thai and really enjoyed the Fourth of July celebrations in the USA when she lived there.)

1. She was appalled by the woman's toilets, especially when she had two children to take care of with kids' frequent toilet trips. She was shocked that an event organized by Americans provided dirty, unsanitary (and smelly) facilities.

2. She said the chicken was almost inedible. Extremely salty and soaked. She does not eat beef or pork so she went hungry, but did not complain until I asked her to be honest in her appraisal.

We did enjoy the entertainment and the kids had a blast. Please, next year, get decent toilet facilities.

[Ulysses G.]

I overheard some of the VFW guys saying that last year under 1,000 people turned up and this year - including children - there was close to 3,000. I would imagine that this was part of the difficulty. 

As far as the Duke's doing all the food goes, I believe that the intent was to provide good quality food at close to cost with very little profit for the Duke's. He often does this sort of thing on holidays. 

It seems that many people had a good time and some people didn't, but whatever the problems were, I do not think that "greed" was any part of the equation. 

[getgoin]

The Duke's "food station" concept makes no sense unless each "food station" offered the complete menu. A big reason for all the wasted food was that every group/family split up, with one person in each line to get enough food for everyone in their party. They didn't know how many ribs or ears of corn everyone else wanted so they just loaded up. People who were by themselves or had a wife who had to stay at the table with the children were really screwed. (This is the strongest language I've ever used on TV!)

I think the "single food vendor" concept could work if they set up 5 or 6 identical buffet lines, not "food stations", none of which offered a complete meal.

This happened, people split up and got a couple of plates for a family or group. This was OK but the first group through the lines when it was a single line were filling up for themselves. This is what slowed up the lines. Once they got backed up there was no getting through it.

[anselpixel]

Quite simply the worst-planned, worst-executed event I've ever attended.

It wasn't a proud moment.

[julesdick]

I had my watch with me. Some people queued for over 90 minutes. I just headed to the small thai food stalls near the entrance.

And on a more general note, some of those water-mist fans dotted around the place would have gone down well.

[realthaideal]

First, everyone should remember hindsight is 20/20. More people than anticipated. Security backed everything up quite a long time. The heat was bearing down on the people as it was again today the 5th. There are many things i think all are considering and taking to heart for a better event next year.

I used to be a movie set caterer in Hollywood. Lunchtimes would usually run 60-90 mins. If we had a standard crew n cast of 100 or so, we set up 2-4 buffet lines. Two Long tables, usually with one line going down each side. In a restaurant stations make more sense, but for the masses, you need lines. Sometimes we shot at UCLA for crowd scenes (Nutty Professor, anyone ?) and had 300 plus to feed. This took alot more logistics. We're talking ten lines. And runners constantly restocking the lines as the extras filled up their plates. Then there were stadium scenes (The Fan, DeNiro... not his best work) with closer to 1,000 people. We ran 10-15 lines x 2 with 2-4 catering truck crews pumping out the food. It takes some major coordination and army-like effort to pull that off in a limited time frame. It's grueling and fun at the same time. But you have to go in with a plan and major coordination or things get ugly.... when people have to wait for their food. People always want their food NOW !

It's tough. I'm sure whatever happens next year, some of this year's learnings will go into future planning.

And having been on The Duke's side for many years,.... you have to imagine he felt everyone's pain. No restauranteur wants to let people down or blow a meal. People in the industry like to feed people and see them go away happy and bragging how good it was. Clearly some people were more than satisfied. Others weren't. I'm sure he hears you. With food, your reputation is on the line with every meal.

[jayjay0]

i turned up around 3pm to be confronted by an ID card check and an airport like security scanner and plastic trays in which to deposit my valuables in to be pawed over by some thai security guard,who were they expecting? Osama Bin Laden and a pickup full of taliban?......after negotiating the homeland security measures and then being told that the queue for the food meant a minimum one hour standing wait in the blistering sun i had a quick look around the field and decided that i had no intention of spending the afternoon here and made for the gate..being a khee nee o Brit i confronted the guy who had taken my money and told him i was extremly disappointed at what i had paid 700 baht for (2 people) and would like a refund.........he duly obliged and off we went to an airconditioned restaurant with a seat near the window and spent the 700 baht on a very nice meal...........if they plan on doing this event next year then a lot more thought and organisation needs to go into the planning,then maybe i will give it another try

Yes they tend to a lot of paranoia. Try taking a vacation there with your Thai wife. Also Canada is worse. I was out of the country and just flew in at about 5:00 I was sorry I couldn't make it but after reading some of the posts here I am glad I missed it.

I am a Yank with landed immigrant status and I would dearly love to take my wife back just to show her where I come from. But alas she does not own a business or house and my sponsoring her dosent seem to help.