I talked to Karlin, the park supervisor for Olmsted County. We can use Root River overnight for a Star B-Que, but we are not allowed to camp there. I've never been to one of our Star B-Ques before, so I am not sure if this is a deal breaker for us. The dates are open, nobody has the park reserved. If we use the park, and once we decide the date, she will email me a letter that states that we have permission to be in the park all night. This way, if the sheriff shows up, we have documentation to show.
For those of you that have not been to Root River yet, here is a link to the park information:
https://www.co.olmsted.mn.us/pw/parks/rootriverpark/Pages/default.aspxThe park has dark skies, a porta-potty, picnic tables and some grills and is close to Rochester. It is pretty remote. There is a dirt road for less than a mile that leads to the park entrance that has some major potholes, so be careful!
Chester Woods is another candidate because it has camping, however, the camping location is pretty far from the observing area and I am not sure about campsite availability for those that want to camp. Camping was full last week.
If we agree that Root River is the place to hold it, I will start a poll to pick the date. I think that it is a great place to do it, I'm just not sure about the no-camping rule though.
Thoughts?
