Annual held Saturday after Easter

January 5, 2021

Due to the stringent guidelines now being set forth by the LA Governor’s office and the Center for Disease Control, and following other organizations’ leads, we have regretfully decided to cancel the 2021 Stir the Pot which was scheduled for April 10, 2021 at Palmetto Island State Park. We did not make this decision lightly. The safety of all guests and volunteers is of the utmost importance.   

 Below are some of the mandates that guided us to make these decisions. 

• In order to be a Friends group affiliated with the park and to conduct events on state property we have a defining Cooperative Endeavor Agreement with LA Office of State Parks and a Facility Use Agreement for each event which spells out the many ‘hoops’ that a Friends group has to jump through. Top of the list in these agreements is that LA State Parks requires us to carry insurance. This year’s policy now states that we must be in compliance with all local and state health guidelines including those related to Covid 19 and has actually excluded all coverage in regard to the virus. 

Below you will find just a few of the guidelines that would apply to our events from the current LA Governor's Phase 2 mandate:

• Limit attendance of outdoor events to 150 people (cooks, volunteers, guests). Volunteers would have to count & screen attendees. So...if just the campground is full that alone accounts for 192 people. Would you want to be the volunteer telling a camper they can’t enter the event?
• Social Distancing and Mask wearing at public events applies to outdoors evens. The Govornor expects us to ‘Manage the Crowd’. Part of that requires there be 1 volunteer for every 50 people to enforce mask wearing, social distancing and manage attendee movement. Ground marks would have to be placed every 6 ft for guests to pick up portions of food, tickets, entrance, etc. Signage for masks and social distancing are required through out event. Would you want to be the volunteer approaching guests and cooks asking them to spread out and please put on a mask?
• Volunteers would be required to clean the restroom and wipe down all tables and touched surfaces regularly through out the event.
• Cooks or volunteers would have to portion out the food that you are planning to taste. No buffet type of lines or service. A food consumption area would have to be designated. A “Beer Garden” would have to be designated, all alcohol consumption would have to take place within that area.
• No Dancing would be permitted.
• Required to have handwashing stations every 75 ft. The estimated cost to comply with this portion is over $3,000 for this event.
• We considered the impacts of the season and whether based on his previous actions, if the LA Governor would make adjustments to the phase guidelines. We are led to believe that it’s not likely he would do so, allowing us to host the event without the above restrictions. 
• All other organizations are cancelling similar type events. 

Finally...If you look at the list above, you can see, that it’s not just about keeping you (our guests) safe. We have a responsibility to our organization and to the volunteers that make this events possible. After considering the open risk of liability to the organization, the additional burden of work and potential positions of confrontation for volunteers, along with the added cost to comply with the regulations, Friends feels strongly that we made the right decision for everyone. 

We invite you to visit “OpenSafely” at https://opensafely.la.gov and go over the mandated guidelines for yourself. Put your self in our position. If you were a volunteer, would you want to enforce these guidelines? Would you choose to spend considerable donated dollars on compliance that doesn’t really directly benefit the park or it’s visitors? We hope this helps you understand why as volunteers we made this decision and we thank you for your support. Stay safe. 

Friends of Palmetto Island State Park, Inc. Board of Directors