Hello fellow Land Clearers,
In assessing things to acquire a reunion location for us in 2023, I was presented with offers from prospective hotel venues in Huntsville, AL, Nashville, TN, and Omaha, NE, which were our three given choices arrived at by our board of directors at our 2021 event. Well, after looking them all over, I was disappointed to find that all of them had raised their room rates and were unwilling to provide us with more attractive group rates. Plus, in Huntsville it was found that the hotels didn’t have event space large enough to accommodate our projected count of attendees, while we would have had to rent an off-site event center for three days minimum, to serve as our meeting room and banquet hall. In Nashville, the hotels with the lowest rates were found to be 20 miles away from the city’s entertainment areas, and their ratings were noted to be not all that good. So, as your president, I had to make a judgement call on this, and decided to disregard all three of the proposed locations, while considering a return to Branson instead. Our 2021 site there, the Lodge of the Ozarks had offered to give us the same room rates at $89 a night, along with the same event space fees that we had. It will keep affordability for all clearly in the picture again, while most everything we need during our stay will all be there for us, as we won’t need to go off site, except to dine and see some shows. So, I just thought it made so much more sense to simply go back to that same location again, where they truly appreciate us as veterans.
After holding our event there twice already, everyone I spoke with had given it positive reviews, while many even wondered why we would want to consider going elsewhere. For those who were there in 2021, this should give them a chance to see and do some of what hasn’t been experienced there yet, as there is still so much for everyone to take in.
In the next few months, I will be mailing out informational flyers to all of our members, detailing all that everyone will need to know, with a sign-up form included. So, I truly hope this may entice those who otherwise might not be able to afford to attend our reunion, to possibly consider coming out and joining with us in celebrating the legacy of Land Clearing in South Vietnam. The dates of this event have been set for May 9th, 10th, and 11th of 2023. More information will be forthcoming as you receive your flyer in the mail. I will also post that flyer on this website, for further reference.
So, I hope to see you all there on those dates, at the same friendly and familiar place.
My best to all,
Terry T. Brown
President / Secretary
Vietnam Land Clearers Assn.
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