I think in Maine most people would like a lobster and corn cookout, that would take a lot smaller fire to cook on.
I think that any facilities for food prep at AC should be flexible. I would imagine that caterers (for larger events) will have their own equipment/etc.
Also we now limit how many people can go to an events. I understand the town was worried about parked cars on Cross Road and on Rt 218. That's why we have tickets now.
The new parking lot was added at the request of the town to specifically address this. Tickets are still needed for certain events to help control capacity. For Victorian Christmas 2019 we had
20,000 interested in tickets. (Yes, 20,000; that is not a typo.) VC train capacity caps out at 900-1000, so tickets are a necessity for popular events that could exceed capacity.
Also we don't have enough people to help with parking and crowd control, both at Sheepscot and Alna Center.
We can always use more help with crowd control - especially for the evening concerts and dates when two trains are meeting at AC. It would also be great to have an extra brakeman (or car host) on the evening concert trains - as it is a bit much for a single Conductor and Brakeman to manage a full, four-car train with 100+ passengers.
Thanks to the new lot, parking is not as much of an issue, as long as able-bodied volunteers park in the 218/Cross Road field on dates when there large crowds and volunteers expected (such as Fall Work Weekend when Pumpkin Picking trains are also running.)
I'm looking forward to the various events planned for AC in 2020 and beyond. Next year we're planning on hosting four "Music on the Railway" concerts, two evening talks, and at least one high-valued joint fundraiser with Maine Narrow Gauge. This is in addition to the regular Easter Eggspress, Ice Cream Socials, Fall Festival, and Victorian Christmas events - all that use Alna Center. Finally, the event pavilion will allow us to properly host other events, such as weddings, reunions, etc., which could prove to very lucrative to our organization.