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Vance Brand Auditorium at Skyline High School will be large enough to allow attendance by all who registered
LONGMONT, Colo. – After the overwhelming, unprecedented, and unexpected demand for tickets to the Library’s program, “An Evening with Dr. Temple Grandin,” Library staff have located an alternate venue for the program that can accommodate seating for all who attempted to register for the program on Monday, August 7. Over one thousand people registered online, in person at the Library, and through voicemail messages during 32-minutes Monday morning before staff closed registrations and declared the event sold out. Interest in the program was so intense that those trying to register online crashed the City of Longmont’s website for several minutes.
The event was originally planned to be held at the Stewart Auditorium in the Longmont Museum and Cultural Center, and staff quickly arranged for an additional “overflow” room there in which attendees could watch the program live streamed from the neighboring auditorium. However, as registration counting continued, staff realized that even with using the two rooms at the Museum, hundreds of people who believed they’d registered prior to the sold out announcement would have to be turned away and disappointed.
Not satisfied with that outcome, Library Director Judith Anderson began working to find possible alternatives around town that would be able to house all the registrants. The Vance Brand Auditorium was her first and best choice due to its capacity of 1,350 people. Working with St. Vrain Valley School District officials, she managed to secure the site for the Temple Grandin program, and the Library officially changed the venue.
The venue change also necessitated some other changes to the program’s logistics. At this time, the following updates have been made to the program, “An Evening with Dr. Temple Grandin”:
- The venue has changed. “An Evening with Dr. Temple Grandin” will now be held in the Vance Brand Auditorium at Skyline High School in Longmont, located at 600 E. Mountain View Avenue. This change was made to allow as many as 1,350 people to attend a program originally scheduled for 250 attendees.
- No additional tickets will be made available. Based on the high demand for tickets received during the 32-minute window in which registration was open on Monday, August 7, all seats in the new venue are spoken for.
- There will be no assigned seating. Once you are checked-in for the program, seating in the auditorium will be first-come, first-served.
- The entire party must be present to check-in for the program and be seated. No exceptions will be made, so attendees are advised to gather their party together before checking-in for the program.
- Doors will open at 6 pm. Please arrive early for the program. Due to staffing constraints and the size of the crowd, library staff anticipates that it will take some time to check-in all attendees.
- Staff will stop checking people in when the program begins at 7 pm. Out of respect for Dr. Grandin and those attending her program, library staff will not continue seating during the program.
- Books by Dr. Grandin will be sold at the event, and Dr. Grandin will be available for book signings both before (6 to 6:45 pm) and after the event.
- No stand-by reservations will distributed. As school will be in session the day of the program, and library staff want to avoid any disruption of learning, there will not be first-come, first-served standbys as there usually are at Library programs.
- Attendees are encouraged to allow adequate time to find parking. The Skyline High School parking lot cannot accommodate parking for the entire auditorium, so some attendees will need to find on-street parking nearby.
- The program will be recorded and posted to the Library’s website shortly after the program date.
Those with confirmed reservations to the program will receive the above information in an email.
Library staff are working to determine if the program can still be live streamed from the new venue. Those interested in watching it live are encouraged to visit the Library’s website, Facebook page, or Twitter feed for future announcements and more information.
Library staff have reiterated their delight in community interest in this important program and their appreciation of everyone’s patience as they sort through the details.
This program is part of the Longmont Public Library’s “Authors We Love” series. For more information and to learn about more upcoming author talks, visit: http://bit.ly/AuthorsWeLove.
This is a press released from the Longmont Public Library to the Longmont Observer and is published as a public service.
