One of the groups has to be the bigger person and go first with a small step or gesture. All Clark can do is say no.
Thank you for that. Yes, we'd love an opportunity to share information about the planetarium with visitors to SPOC. However, if your event for the Big Scope (which is impressive!)is tonight, that's not enough notice for us to pull together a table, literature and a volunteer to man it. When would be the next opportunity? We'd also like to give information about SLAS and other area astronomy clubs to everyone who buys a telescope from us. Last year we sold close to 200 telescopes, mostly 6, 8 & 10" Dobsonians, to first-time telescope owners. We also host "try before you buy" programs here at the planetarium on clear weekend evenings for telescope sales, but by doing it from downtown we are obviously limited in what we can show people. Nonetheless, even from downtown a view of the Moon or Saturn from a decent telescope is sufficiently impressive to seal a person's interest in owning a telescope. We are always eager to help people make smart telescope-buying choices. BTW, we DO have star parties - just not as regularly as SLAS does. Our Mars-Party last September (the August date was clouded-out) in West Jordan drew over a thousand people. We had a dozen telescopes, each with long lines of waiting viewers. Our AstroVan outreach program hosts star parties at schools frequently. So... I'd like to propose that we provide information about local astronomy clubs to our telescope customers. I'm hearing a SLAS member express interest in having us distribute information about the planetarium at SLAS star parties. We also have staff members (myself included) who own some fairly nice telescopes and we'd love a chance to set them up and participate in the star party. It may be that this is the extent of our organizations' connection for a while, but it seems to me to be a logical and straightforward way for us to be mutually supportive towards our common goal of encouraging public appreciation for astronomy. If an officer of SLAS would like to consider this and get back to me about it, I'd appreciate it. Best Regards, Seth Jarvis