Restaurant News, Action Requested

[Samuel Rutledge]

Hi Village and Booth Coordinators!

Writing with some news for you about our Restaurant situation and a few requests in bold. The bottom line is that we are, sadly, again going to be without a restaurant this year. We do have a plan for the space, and we're going to need your help. 

The plan for the space is to use it for workshops and demos. That means a few things. 

1. The Village will have an additional workshop space - one that's near the path and great for workshops and demos that folks can be drawn into as they pass by. Please start thinking about what your group or booth might be interested in offering in this space - this is an exciting opportunity to engage the public in a high-traffic area. Contact Beth Mottweiler, communityvil...@gmail.com, or fill out a Workshop Form (available on our website at https://communityvillageocf.org/forms/). This needs to be in Beth's hands by May 11, 2025.
2. The Village will need to decorate and beautify the space. We did this in a pretty last-minute way last year because we thought there might be a restaurant interested in using the space as a one-year-only option right until crunch time. We have more time this year. Anyone interested in a civic beautification committee, please contact me!
3. We're going to need stuff to beautify the booth. If you have spare tapestries or other ideas for decorative objects that you could bring to fair to loan to this project, and take home at the end (even if you aren't interested in being part of a committee), please contact me!

I know it's a disappointment for many of us to go another year without a restaurant. The good news is, we have strong reasons to be hopeful that next year we can have a more normal restaurant selection process.

Love,

Sam

P.S.

For those interested, because I know some will ask, here's the rundown on how we got to this point. 

In January we received word that Cafe Mundo will not be returning as the Village Restaurant. At that point we began communicating with the OCF Food Committee about the process for selecting a new restaurant.

In February we got confirmation from the OCF Food Committee that they would not be putting out a general call for new food vendors in 2025. This limited the options for Village to existing OCF food vendors who were interested in moving. Food Committee put out a call, focused on food carts who were interested in trying a booth space for one year only. 

Initially, there were no food vendors interested in moving. Then, in early March we learned of one food vendor that might be interested. We met that person and had a conversation about Community Village and who we are, and what it means to be part of the Village. We also asked questions about the menu and learned that while the booth was all vegetarian, they did not offer coffee or deserts and did not know about whether they would be able to add those items for 2025. 

Nobody committed to anything at that meeting, we all walked away thinking we'd think it over and see. We had hoped the restaurant person would come to the April Village meeting and that we could get an easy consensus on accepting them on a one-year trial basis given they were our only option. They did not come to the meeting, which was why we did not have an update in April as planned.

Today, we got confirmation that the restaurant is not interested in the space - they don't feel they would be a great fit in the Village.

The good news is that the OCF Food Committee is definitely holding a general call for new food vendors in 2026. This means that we will be able to have a restaurant selection process much like those we've done in prior years for 2026 and, hopefully, will be able to select a restaurant who will be excited to be part of Village for many years to come.