Post #378034 by Kenike on Sun, May 4, 2008 6:08 PM

On 2008-05-04 09:18, JanetMermaid wrote:
Can we do something more central sometime? Dallas is a LONG drive, and gas is so expensive.

Hulacat and I talked at length about this very subject at our gathering. Not only possible venues for future events, but about the Texas tiki scene in general.

First, no matter where our gatherings are located, some travel is going to be necessary for some people. I'm not sure that there are any particular areas in TX good for hosting an event that you could consider centrally located. Last night people traveled from Austin, San Antonio & Oklahoma to be here and paid out a lot of money for hotels. That’s a dedicated group for sure, but obviously not everyone is in a position to be able to travel those kinds of distances. I consider myself almost spoiled because I live in the Dallas area where there is a Trader Vic's, but once a year I travel to Ft. Lauderdale for the Hukilau.

Which leads me to my next point, and that is that when an event or party is held it’s usually based around a particular tiki location where people can have a memorable experience (like the Hukilau & the Mai Kai). At the moment the only real “tiki” place in TX is Trader Vic’s in Dallas. Now, you could “make” an event happen almost anywhere, but that’s going to involve a major investment from the people who organize it. For example, if you want to make an event at a place like El Tropicano in San Antonio, there are going to be deposits involved, decorations, extra bartenders, booking entertainment, etc. It’s easy in Dallas because Trader Vic’s is already there, and the only thing out-of-towners need to worry about is their hotel. That doesn’t mean making an event somewhere else is impossible, but I can’t see doing it without selling tickets, and it probably won’t appeal much to people who are travelling long distances or are outside of TX because there are no tiki locations for them to see and visit. Don’t get me wrong, I’m ALL for events happening other places in TX besides Dallas, but without a draw, it’s going to be hard to get enough people to come to make it worthwhile.

Which leads me to my third and final point, and that is the overall tiki scene in Texas. I really thought that when Trader Vic’s opened it would energize the tiki scene here, but that hasn’t happened. I corresponded with many, many people in Dallas and elsewhere in TX before we had a Trader Vic’s and the excitement statewide was really building. Unfortunately, the majority of these people completely dropped off the map. They don’t post on TC anymore and my emails go unanswered. It appears we have a very small but very loyal group and that’s certainly better than no group at all. It’s just a pity we’ll never come close to the west coast scene. Actually, I shouldn’t say never…there are still rumblings about possible new Trader Vic’s locations in Houston and Austin…and if they all do well more tiki bars will undoubtedly spring up all over.

Anyway, last night we had an absolute blast, and HUGE mahalos again to everyone who came. I have pics to post (as do other folks) and I’ll get to it once my hangover goes away in a couple of days.