SactoMoFo- An Organizer's Viewpoint


As many know, last year I got to meet and get my picture taken with my Russell Crowe. I was beaming for a week and even now, when I feel down, I just have to look at that picture of us to cheer myself up.

That’s the kind of glow I have now after a super successful SactoMoFo. After nine months of planning, it went off superbly. And to think that as of late January, we hadn’t yet had our County permit meeting and I was stressing. Yes, we actually pulled it off in just three months.


SactoMoFo tweetup
Each of us had our strengths. Joshua had the vision and the political background. He also provided the graphic design. I handled fundraising, social media and the out of town trucks. Paul handled the local trucks, politics, and did a great job of keeping Joshua and I from killing each other. LOL. And Costa, he provided the background and much needed assistance in dealing with the permits and the agencies.



When you hold a first time event, especially one that revolves around a political issue, it’s a challenge to find sponsors. It was a real struggle and I don’t know anyone who likes to fundraise. After all, there’s a lot of rejection in fundraising. But I thank the skies above for Whole Foods willing to be the big sponsor and Roseville VW for seeing the possibilities. Without their sponsorships early on I would have been too depressed to continue asking. I have the satisfaction of knowing that next year, companies will be begging to sponsor us!



The best thing about SactoMoFo has been the fun. It was fun leading up to it and engaging everyone via Facebook and Twitter. I will miss that as things cool off significantly til the next one. Better yet, the event itself was wildly fun. Really, there’s been hardly any bitching. The lines were long and some people just said “forget it” and turned away, but even those people still wrote positive things about us. We got compliments on the organization, the atmosphere, and just our overall success.



People have all sorts of comments for the next one. A bigger location and more trucks is a given, we know. But I have to say, I’m glad we did it alcohol free and will probably do so again. When you think of it logically, the happy vibe from the day had a lot to do with the no alcohol. Imagine standing in line for two hours, empty stomach, in the sun, drinking. People would have gotten angry and rowdy and there probably would have been a fight or two. Without it families felt safe and everybody was social with their neighbors. The police said it was the best event they ever had to work.


I’m often asked, “What’s in it for you?” I’m always stumped by that question. None of us got anything in return for this except happiness. I'm constantly thinking of how I can take something like this that I'm passionate about and turn it into a business. Perhaps something will come of it.  But for now, I'm just happy I got to be a part of something so cool. It truly is one of the biggest accomplishments of my life.