I am glad I went with charging the extra $2 for e punch sticks. I did the rough numbers yesterday, and after maps, permit, insurance and snacks, Night O was only very, very slightly positive, which means it was really negative once you give some contribution to the map fund.
We only had 31 starts versus I think 36 last year. I'm not sure what I/The Club am/are doing wrong.
A couple people expressed dismay at the punch fee; not sure if this was largely because they didn't expect it as several of us did not bother to collect this fall. If anyone thought $7 or $12 wasn't good value for the event, then that would be a bit disappointing because if I lined the main Badlands hill route with reflectors and called it a "four mile sand run under the stars", I could've charged
$50 and no one would've batted an eye.
I'm wondering about next year - with the second set of equipment, I could do 3 x 1-1.5 hour events once a month if there was sufficient interest, or I could do the single night O again. I also think it would be fun to experiment with a point-to-point format for an evening.
I wonder if Maybury at night would be good - should be few horses, the confusing trail network would be really great, and it's no hunt so perfect for this time of year.
Also, next year I will look for something with working outlets, or see about if my truck+inverter can power the water heater for hot chocolate. I had everything I needed except juice.