Join us for our in-person monthly meeting at Green Acres Community Center on Saturday, September 4, 2021. This is our first in-person meeting at Green Acres since March 2020. It's hard to believe it's been so long.
Set-up will begin at 12:30 pm per usual, and the meeting will start at 1:00 pm. We will have an expanded lightning talk by Jacob Waters entitled "Shrimp Keeping: Down the rabbit hole." Anticipating that there will be a larger than normal demand for the mini-auction and to ease the club back into normal operations, we will not have a regular feature presentation with a guest speaker. All the normal mini-auction rules will apply with the exception that we will impose a limit of 200 items total. Sellers, please be considerate of others as you list your items in My Group Auctions so that everyone can have the opportunity to sell. We will not be offering hospitality (food or drinks) at the September meeting to minimize congregating.
MyGroupAuctions: The September mini-auction is set up in MGA. Sellers may go in and enter their items.
Health Measures: Due to surging COVID-19 cases in northern VA, as of August 9 Fairfax County is requiring the wearing of face masks in all county facilities regardless of vaccination status. A novel characteristic of the Delta variant is that viral loads in the nose are very high. It is mandatory that all face masks be worn over both the nose and mouth. I will bring a box of individually wrapped, high quality KF94 masks. Anyone who needs a mask with a tight seal can buy one from me for $1.
We will be spacing chairs 6 feet apart. People are encouraged to exercise judgment in approaching the table holding auction items. We'll ask that people go up, look, and then move away. Please don't congregate next to the table if you're not actively looking.
Can't wait to see everyone on Saturday.
I had so much fun giving the talk. Also I just put some really nice shrimp up on mygroupauctions for the all day auction in October.
Many thanks to Jacob for sharing his deep and ever expanding knowledge about shrimp breeding. Can't wait to revisit our ShrimpFest plans for 2022.
That was a great meeting! Let's not wait another 18 months to have the next one!
Thanks to the club's officers and directors for organizing the meeting and to Jacob Waters for a very cool presentation on shrimp. Thanks to David Snell for doing his usual great job as auctioneer, too.
SOME UPDATES & CLARIFICATIONS ON HEALTH & SAFETY
Eating and drinking: People will have to step outside when taking off their mask to eat and drink. The weather should be beautiful.
Speaker and auctioneer: We have received permission from Green Acres for speakers to remove their mask while they are using the microphone to address the entire room. This will be me while opening the meeting, Jacob while giving his talk, and David while auctioneering. No other exceptions folks! Many of our members have unvaccinated children at home. Many more have underlying health issues putting them at high risk. Let's watch out for each other.
Room occupancy limits: Green Acres has confirmed that currently there are no restricted occupancy limits specific to COVID-19, just the general occupancy limits that always apply. This doesn't affect our monthly meetings as we are never anywhere near the room limit, restricted or otherwise. However, it could impact the Fall All-Day Auction should the County decide to reimpose restricted occupancy limits. Michael is staying on top of it.
Fish bags: Assume that all fish bags are contaminated with hand sanitizer. Wash bags off before floating them in tanks when you get home with your hard-won booty to prevent sadness and tears.
I am so excited to give my first talk. Also I put some shrimp up for auction.
Wow, a real in-person meeting! How wonderful. Looking forward to seeing everyone there, with their masks!