Events

Hey, so I kind of mentioned this in an older forum thread regarding an Illinois meet-up, but I think using Amtrak to host a multi-city Illinois meetup could be pretty cool. Starting say in Springfield, then taking the Lincoln Service to Chicago. Covering a good amount of the state and making it more accessible to those who wish to participate.

It's also not that expensive. If you book in advance regular coach seats would cost roughly $45 for a round trip, meaning the commute to and from each leg of the meet-up would be some-what inexpensive.

Obviously, there would still need to be a lot of planning for a meet like this, but I wanted to at least properly introduce the concept and see if anyone would be interested.

I agree that we should try to nail something concrete down. However, I think we should be open to meet up locations that aren't Chicago; people who live outside of the cities that have Amtrak stations might prefer a more central location like Bloomington-Normal for something labeled a pan-Illinois meet-up. People who live in Chicago have better access to public transit to get to Union Station, while people who live in smaller towns or cities without stations like Peoria can drive to the location, since they'd need to either drive to Chicago or a station anyway.

We should also discuss the venue. A restaurant is an obvious choice, but I think there are merits to a meet up in a park, with people bringing snacks and food, so attendees aren't also signing up to pay for a meal out if that's not what they want. Something like a park would also let people bring card/party games if that's their style.

I think the best way to plan this would be to make a Google survey.

Well the idea is to plan a series of meet-ups which use Amtrak to increase attendance, not to bring people to Chicago using it, hence why I mentioned Springfield.

Normal is accessible via Amtrak, meaning it's easy to have a multi-day meet which includes a stop in Normal, making it convenient for people in that area, and more accessible for people outside of that area.

For example, using the Lincoln service, we could have a meet-up which spans Chicago, Normal, and Springfield. Giving options for people in both directions and across the state.

Ahh, I misunderstood. That does make more sense.