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Welcome to the UCG Feast of Tabernacles Web site!

Hello to all, and welcome to the Feast of Tabernacles Web site. This site is to keep you informed on anything relating to the Feast of Tabernacles. Are you hearing rumors about a new site? Well, check here to confirm what is really happening.

This Web site will be routinely updated with announcements and answers to your questions and suggestions.

What to look for:

Questions: Send questions to USFestival@ucg.org. We will post your question and provide the answer. Ever wonder why a particular housing property is or is not removed from the official list? Here is the place to ask. Do you have a recommendation for a new site? Let us know!

New Sites: As we work on developing new sites or as changes take place, here is where to get the latest information.

Updates

Update May 15, 2009

At this time, the following U.S. sites are closed to further transfer requests:

Steamboat Springs, Colorado
Snowshoe, West Virginia
Panama City Beach, Florida

The Feast site in Portbail, France is closed to transfer requests.

Update May 6, 2009 - Snowshoe, West Virginia

View additional information about the Snowshoe Feast site.

Update February 17, 2009 - Greece Feast 2009

Unfortunately, a feast site in Greece will need to be postponed and there definitely will not be one in 2009.

There are a couple of reasons for this. First, we also tried to arrange a Mediterranean cruise. Most of the major cruise lines remove their ships to the Caribbean and the itineraries are limited. The schedule on a couple of the major cruise lines didn’t work well with the high days. For instance, it would be very disappointing to visit the popular island of Santorini on the Last Great Day when we would normally have two services.

We also looked at some itineraries of visiting Athens, Corinth and a couple of islands. The expense to do this was not favorable and one possible itinerary was distributed to some members interested in Greece, but they didn’t think it was worth it.

We are disappointed in this outcome and will continue to search for future possibilities.

Occasionally Asked Questions

Many years ago we enjoyed a couple of Feasts in Victoria, BC and would love to celebrate the Feast there again. Is there any possibility of that? There are so many beautiful places to see and enjoy there.

Victoria continues to be an attractive location and a very popular tourist destination. The UCG elder who lives in Victoria has pointed out that the costs there are currently very high both for lodging and food. Furthermore the cost of the ferry to get to Victoria is also quite high.  This would mean that the feast there could only be attended primarily by members who have the highest incomes.  The last mitigating factor is that UCG-Canada would have to cancel the Kelowna site if a Victoria site were to be established.  This would cause the members who usually go there to have to travel greater distances to attend a more affordable site elsewhere. We hope that eventually conditions will change in order to make it possible for the church to once again host a festival site in Victoria.

Instead of having the Feast in Lancaster and tell the members that Lancaster is only 2 hours from Washington D.C., why not just have the Feast in Washington D.C. itself?

To have a feast in Washington D.C. or nearby would be great with so much history and culture to enjoy.  Unfortunately, Washington D.C. is prohibitively expensive.  We have checked with the convention and visitors bureau, hotels and other venues within a 30 minute drive.  If you think you have a place, let us know.  A hotel with ample meeting space would cost easily or $130 per night for a hotel room.  The Church would still be expected to pay probably over $30,000 in meeting space, plus generate thousands of dollars in food and beverage.  To rent convention space is simply not affordable.

We keep looking and many sales people in the hospitality industry claim Washington D.C. can work, but they never find us anything feasible.

What about returning to Tucson for a Feast site?

Tucson is definitely in the top five most requested Feast sites. We have looked at it closely almost every year or every other year. Here are some of the problems. It has been hard to find the right meeting facility. The convention center that we used for so many years is too large although there are some other ballrooms within the convention center that might work. That means there might be some other large conventions on site which makes for potential annoying congestion and parking problems. It remains under consideration.

We have looked at some of the nice resorts that have meeting space. A problem with these facilities is that the room rates can be well beyond the affordability of the average member. The resort doesn't want to offer us very much meeting space without a corresponding substantial rooming block. Most members would need to stay off site. Plus if these resorts don't offer enough condos, members will want to stay elsewhere where they can stay in condos.

We hope to return to Tucson even if it is every other year or a couple of years.

Recently we have a number of inquiries about the possibility of Rapid City, SD.

Rapid City since the inception of UCG has consistently been a requested site. It was seriously considered in 2003, but it was decided to remain in Steamboat Springs. Rapid City is not near a large number of members and that is the main reason it was not pursued further. We have considered opening it up for one or two years as a "specialty site".

We realize it would definitely be a popular site, but that would mean expanding the number of sites and diluting our resources. Two weeks ago we sent an inquiry to the convention and visitors bureau of Rapid City asking them to check on available meeting space in 2011. Our contract with Steamboat Springs, CO expires in 2010.

What about returning to Orlando, Florida, for a Feast site?

We have had inquiries about Orlando over the years and a couple in recent weeks.

Below are the attendance statistics for Orlando. The site was closed for several reasons. First, there was declining attendance in Orlando, as well as a request by many for a beach site near Pensacola if possible. Also, Orlando was the most expensive Feast location sponsored by UCG, and yet the attendance was lower than a couple of other sites that were less than half the expense.

Since we left Orlando, the meeting facility that we used has closed down. Meeting space in Orlando is very expensive and any available space is a part of a large hotel/resort with expensive hotel room rates or the huge convention center. Most of the housing would not be condos, which members tell us they want when coming to Florida. If we sign with a resort, we could not use condos or other housing outside of the resort because they want rooms on their property utilized as part of the deal before they will give us the meeting space.

Orlando Attendance
1995 - 1,847
1996 - 1,504
1997 - 1,512
1998 - 1,187
1999 - 939

Panama City Beach Attendance
2000 - 1,714
2001 - 1,606
2002 - 1,834
2003 - 1,813
2004 - 1,980
2005 - 1,936
2006 - 1,420
2007 - 1,681

Only in 2006 did we drop below 1,500 in Panama City Beach, and we had turned some people down that year to make sure we had enough room.

I would be very pleased to see the Church add a Feast of Tabernacles site in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Myrtle Beach is probably in the top three or four requested locations for a Feast site. Myrtle Beach provides all the needs and wants we prefer. (1) It has plenty of meeting space venues (although we haven't checked specifics to our dates and size). (2) It has ample housing, including condominiums. (3) It has ample recreational activities.

Keep in mind, though, that the first priority in establishing a Feast site is geographical need. Myrtle Beach is too far south to accommodate our Northeast brethren, and it is fairly close to Jekyll Island, a site we have loyally supported for years and vice versa.

However, Myrtle Beach is not out of the question and will be closely reviewed for future years.

Do you have any women on your team helping you with Feast site and hotel selection?

First, let's look at hotel selection. Occasionally, the wives of the men handling the hotel price negotiation and selection accompany them on their trips. It is very beneficial to have the perspective of a woman in the decision of which properties to use and not use. It is the most advantageous to have a woman along when we are choosing hotels at a new site that has not been used before by the Church.

Remember, however, that every year at every U.S. Feast site we distribute housing surveys. Most likely about 50 percent are filled out by women, which provides an opportunity for everybody to help in the selection and give input about what housing properties to use.

As for Feast site selection, women are occasionally involved. My wife was involved in the selection of both Steamboat Springs and the theater we use in Lahaina, Maui. Her trip to Hawaii was not expensed to the Church, just in case someone might think I took her to Hawaii and had the Church pay for it. Actually, we came across the theater on Maui on a trip that was paid for by an association for meeting planners.

The wife of the Festival coordinator for Steamboat Springs was also on the initial trip to tour that city, so that makes two wives involved in that decision. The wife of the coordinator for Bend was a part of that decision. The same is true for Panama City Beach. A wife was involved in the selection of Gatlinburg, Louisville and Cincinnati. Many of the other U.S. sites are left over from our previous Church history.