The fences in front of Cafe au Play are down and we have a beautiful new sidewalk available for all Tabor residents to enjoy! Big sigh from Cafe au Play that we have our parking lot and sidewalk back!
It has been a very challenging summer for us but we are meeting our challenges head on. When we informed you that we needed support a couple months ago, we had many supporters step up to donate – thank you all so much for donating to Cafe au Play! We were able to raise about $4000 to help us get through June and July. The outpouring of support from patrons, family and friends gave us the boost we needed to meet our expenses in June and July. However, we still need to raise more money to be on stable footing through the fall.
To raise additional funds, we reached a board decision to organize an annual fundraiser that will help us meet expenses each summer when we no longer have proceeds remaining from our annual Tree Sale. This event is our First Annual Harvest Sunday Supper!
On September 16, 2012, Café au Play will celebrate the changing of the seasons and our second anniversary with a festive community supper that warms the soul and supports Café au Play. An elegant and distinctive dinner will be prepared by award-winning Chef Cory Schreiber, founder of Wildwood Restaurant & Chef Instructor/The Art Institute of Portland. This special event will also include live music by Bird Flying South, local beer & wine, and a silent auction.
In order to organize this event, we had to make a difficult decision to put less time and resources into Tabor Market. Tabor Market’s last official market this season is this Saturday, July 28th. This was a difficult decision to make because the Cafe au Play board of directors has truly enjoyed meeting and getting to know Cafe au Play patrons. We have seen informal community developing amongst families and neighbors and kids building and playing and socializing with each other!
We have talked about changing Tabor Market next summer into a Community/Family Activity Day once or twice a month with handful of vendors that are trying out a new product or art form that they would like to sell. We would become an incubator for vendors that are trying out the market experience for the first time so they can experiment with their product before committing to a bigger market. At this time, we realize we do not have the capacity to draw in the substantial crowds that established vendors need to make it worth their time and effort.
This summer Tabor Market may continue in smaller fashion – Tabor Market may become a vendor-organized Market – some of Tabor Market’s vendors may continue to sell their produce or artwork on Saturday (no vendor fee required) so stay tuned on facebook for posts regarding this development. However, we don’t have the resources to staff kid-friendly activities. If you would like to volunteer to help organize and staff these activities or play music on Saturday during the month of August, please email Kristin Heying at kheying@gmail.com.
Or if you would like to help us plan the Harvest Sunday Supper or your business would like to donate an auction item or sponsor the event, please contact Kristin Heying!
Thank you for your continued support of Cafe au Play! We will be sending out the link to purchase tickets soon so please support us by attending our First Annual Harvest Sunday Supper on September 16th – 4:30 to 8pm!
Sincerely,
Kristin Heying
Cafe au Play Director
