Festivals

The Bubble Tower:A Unique Attraction at the Unicorn Festival

Unicorn Festival June 2023, Littleton - Colorado. These images show kids chasing and loving the bubbles. The solar powered Bubble Tower can be found at BubbleTower.com and find information about the Unicorn Festival on their website. CoolKay has interviewed the Unicorn Festival before - you can listen to it here - our interview from June 2022 it is a yearly Festival in Littleton, Colorado held in June. Bubble Tower on a Facebook page It has also has a Facebook page and there are a lot of images and information on the page.

By |2024-01-15T10:47:14+00:00June 14th, 2023|Unicorn Festival, Bubble Tower, Children, Littleton|0 Comments

The Unicorn Festival 2022

This is an interview with Dana Cain, producer of the Unicorn Festival in Littleton, Colorado (at Clement Park). Its a great event for children and their parents. This year the festival is June 10-11th, 2023 - Check out their website. Come see the unicorns! Craft Vendors and food at the Unicorn Festival! - They also have stage entertainment too. JUNE 10-11, 2023 IN CLEMENT PARK, LITTLETON! Spend a beautiful weekend in a magical world! Ongoing entertainment and activities all day long Hours Sat. & Sun.: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm Multiple Unicorn Corrals for photo opps! More Unicorns than ever before! NEW: Fairyland! Meet sooo many fairies! 66-ft Dragon Slide Obstacle Course! NEW: Meet April Showers, founder of Afro Unicorn! Castle Obstacle course and 20-ft slide! Mermaid Lagoon full of mermaids! Storytime Cottage with Authors and fun stories! - ALL INCLUDED WITH ADMISSION TICKET! GET TICKETS AT THE GATE! ​$25 Admission  - All Weekend! FREE - Kids 2 and younger $79 - Family 4-Pack $15 - Military /1st Responders (Police, Fire, Paramedics) Tickets are good for any time, both days! LISTEN to the podcast... with Dana Cain , that was done on June 2022

By |2023-09-29T17:45:41+00:00June 10th, 2019|Littleton, Unicorn Festival|0 Comments

7 Rock & Roll Festivals that Changed History (For Better or Worse)

7 Rock & Roll Festivals, - or Hooligans causing a ruckus. That’s modern music in a nutshell, right? Don’t be so quick to judge! After all, you may have been one of those hooligans. Today we are reviewing 7 Rock & Roll festivals that altered public perception figuratively and literally. But first, we need to look at Rock’s roots. Beatles or Stones notwithstanding, Rock & Roll has a uniquely American flavor. March 21st, 1952: The Moondog Coronation Ball Where: Cleveland, Ohio What went right: Walk down a music store aisle 65 years earlier and you’d notice records sorted by ethnicity. One man decided music was colorblind. Sportscaster Sportscaster Alan Freed liked this Rhythm & Blues thing. And, despite being marketed towards African-Americans, young Americans did too. Record store owner, Leo Mintz, exclaimed to Freed, “Kids are rockin’ and rollin’ in the aisles to these records, but they won’t buy them!” Freed would bring R&B to the masses. Freed changed gears and became “King of Moondoggers” for WJW radio. His late-night program broadcast artists of all backgrounds to all Americans. Having cornered the market, Freed’s next move would be to host “the most terrible ball of them all.”  The Moondog Coronation Ball at 3717 Euclid Avenue is America’s first Rock & Roll concert. Though pre-Civil Rights Movement, Freed’s audience was multi-racial. African-American patrons were elated to discover that their champion was white. What went wrong: Moondog’s Coronation Ball promised an eclectic lineup. It never made it past the first song. No one could have anticipated the turnout. 20,000 attendees spilled in to the 10,000 capacity Cleveland Arena. Unbeknownst to ticket holders, Freed arranged follow-up dates. A printing error omitted this detail. Counterfeiting contributed to the exaggerated attendance. Irate attendees broke the central glass panel. A riot erupted and law officials broke up the concert. July 25th, 1965: Newport Folk Festival Where: Newport, Rhode Island What went right: Bob Dylan owes his career to the Newport Folk Festival. It was the first venue he achieved national recognition. His second performance marked a public transition from acoustic to electric. What went wrong: It’s understandable that Dylan’s audience felt they held stake in his career and image. The organizer, according to roadie Jonathon Taplin, discouraged electric sound. Dylan opened with electric version of Maggie’s Farm. Boos immediately erupted from the crowd. Dylan and company left the stage after the booing made their sound inaudible. He would not play at the festival for 37 years. [...]

By |2023-07-26T20:31:33+00:00June 30th, 2016|Festivals, Music, Rock|0 Comments

9 Steps to the PERFECT Music Festival

32 million people attend music festivals each year.  Are you interested in hosting the PERFECT Music Festival? Is yours on their radar? Hosting the perfect music festival is not easy. Talent aside, there are monetary, zoning, and scheduling considerations. County Fair USA breaks down what makes the best festivals tick. Follow each step for an event that can't be beat! Step 1) Fund your music festival Firefly Music Festival in Delaware is nothing less than an underdog success story. Their festival raised $1 million within 24 hours of launch. Yes, 24 hours plus 5 years of planning. You've got an idea, but what's your pitch? A music festival is a pipe dream without money. A sad fact is that profit is the only reason suits would take a shot on an eager upstart. Bootstrapping will be your primary option until the festival inevitably scales up (Am I being presumptuous? Of course!). Firefly built expertise hosting smaller, niche events. Investors won't take a shot on festivals that aim too high. If you're more an 'ideas kind of guy/gal', hire someone that has been down this road. Crowdfunding websites like Kickstarter and GoFundMe let amateurs test the waters. Hell, even experienced planners use crowdfunding to quickly build capital. The premise is simple: Pitch your festival online. People from all over the world can back your project. If there is demand, it will reach appropriate funding before a deadline. Combine crowdfunding with social media for maximum exposure. Facebook Pages are mandatory! Younger attendees prefer to keep friends in the loop on Facebook and Twitter. Proposition other event managers in your niche. Most local establishments are keen to help entrepreneurs because this opens a cross-promotional avenue. Don't be discouraged if your project fails to garner adequate backing. Even festivals boasting world-famous headliners flop. Rock band 'My Bloody Valentine' agreed to headline Hop Farm Music Festival in Kent, England. A hostile economic climate killed its momentum. There could be a number of reasons for an initial failure. Pinpoint costs down to the last toilet paper roll and be prepared to recalculate your budget several times. Don't be surprised to break even your first time 'round. Potential backers desire some semblance of structure. Work through the remaining steps on our list before making your pitch. Step 2) Insure your music festival You name it, someone's insured it. So why not music festivals? Festivals are a profit-making enterprise like any brick-and-mortar business. City/town officials will regard it as such. Suppose an errant cigarette burns [...]

By |2024-01-12T14:12:37+00:00May 9th, 2016|Festivals, Food, Music, Rock|0 Comments

Cinco de Mayo, means freedom

Cinco de Mayo,  Grito de Dolores honors Mexican independence. Cinco de Mayo proves she deserves it. Yet Mexico’s future was uncertain concurrent the American Civil War. In 1861, France peered across the Atlantic and saw a distraction. Hitherto, Mexico owed several backers large interest sums. France would make her pay by force! But there was an ulterior motive. A Tale of Two Presidents President Lincoln understood that a Mexican alliance was pivotal to Union victory. Mexico’s President Benito Juarez was happy to oblige – European puppet governments were legitimate concerns. United States policy discouraged European nations from intervening. Conversely, France’s Emperor Napoleon III would profit from Confederate victory. Union occupation halted French trade. Without Union policy holding them back, France was free to engage Mexico. A True Underdog Story And it did, despite standing policy. Lincoln’s Union was pre-occupied and could not intervene. French military covered Mexico like a plague. There were two French soldiers for every one Mexican! Mexico City was destined to fall, but not before one of the biggest upsets in military history. On May 5th, under General Zaragoza’s command, Mexico’s army repelled France at ‘Puebla’. Word travelled internationally. The improbable victory emboldened Mexican’s home and abroad. The Fight for Freedom Continued resistance made France’s endeavour fruitless. America, eventually reunited, pressured France into relinquishing control. Napoleon III’s puppet emperor was executed and President Juarez returned to power. Cinco de Mayo (“Five of May”) remembers Mexico’s struggle and acknowledges her spirit. Celebrating at the Turn of the Century Cinco de Mayo enjoyed renewed American interest following the 1960’s. Today, Cinco de Mayo ceremonies are held in every state. In fact, General Zaragoza’s birthplace, Goliad, Texas, is the official celebration location. Puebla, however, still boasts being Cinco de Mayo’s largest celebratory location. Participants re-enact the conflict between Mexican and French soldiers. (We hate to ruin a surprise, but Mexico always wins.) Food, song, and dance proceed. Color floats and piñatas adorn Puebla’s streets. Adult and child alike scarf down plate after plate of Mole Poblano. Ingredients like chili pepper and chocolate make a unique juxtaposition for your palate. Tequila is, naturally, imbibed liberally. In recent years, focus has been placed on international music plus traditional Mexican artists. United we Stand Benito Juarez remarked that Mexico would be wise to imitate her neighbour’s democratic principles. Lincoln and Juarez had mutual affection, despite never meeting. Cinco de Mayo reminds all nations that freedom is worth striving for.

By |2019-03-15T02:28:57+00:00April 29th, 2016|Festivals, Cinco de Mayo, Holidays|0 Comments

Food Vending at an Event, Pima County – AZ

Okay, Here I go again. Some of you know that I make a wonderful food product. I make Peanut Brittle and Agava Peanut Brittle. Last year I had a state of Colorado wholesale food license to sell it in the state of Colorado. With this license, I could sell in stores and do most of the craft events in the state. Some of the events had specific county rules, however. Now I want to do the 4th Avenue Street Fair in Tucson this December and the Green Valley Farmers Market, in Green Valley, Arizona. Now for those of you in the know, you know that this is a big undertaking. You have to have the booth, make sure it is weather secure, the tables, the signage, the product, and all the supplies. But, what is the worst of this whole experience is getting the licensing!!!!! There is an audio interview from the 4th Avenue Merchants Association from last year about selling food at the Fourth Avenue Street Fairs. The interview kinda makes it seem as if the process is fairly easy for food vending. Somehow I "think" not. I kinda get the feeling that Pima County and Tucson don't want any more food vendors and that will do anything they can do to prevent me from selling my Peanut Brittle. So here we go again, this is "exactly" why I have done this before. I have a wonderful product. So first they tell me online I need a Temporary Food Establishment License BUT first I need a Business License before I can get the Temporary Food Establishment license. Of course, they are not telling me - or even suggesting WHERE I get the Business License from. WATCH for my next post - and if you know something about this stuff - leave a comment. I am thinking that if I can get through the maze - maybe we will tackle another city and state next. That is if it doesn't kill me. More: Food vending

I’m in love with Watermelon

Is watermelon good for you? - you bet It is rich in lycopene, and B vitamins, magnesium, potassium, vitamin C, and vitamin A.  It is a fruit for every occasion and very popular in this country. We all know kids consume too much sugar. How about freezing watermelon slices and different types of berries in popsicle trays instead of the sugar "other stuff"? I bet the kids would not even notice the difference.   Some of the other things to be made with watermelon include pie, cupcakes, coconut cake, watermelon salsa, BBQ sauces, kabobs, drinks and smoothies, and sorbet. Love with Watermelon Creations for Kids and Adults! One of my fondest memories is summer at my uncle's house and the ice-cold fresh love with watermelon he would always serve. The watermelon and his bonfires made my Uncle Vic extremely popular among us kids. Hey adults, You can also take a watermelon and bore a hole in it and put in hard liquor - let's get ice cold - what adult would not love that on a hot summer's day? What else can you do with watermelon?  Well - believe it or not you can grill it. One recipe I am dying to try is Grilled Spicy Watermelon. Look for it on Watermelon.org - along with a whole bunch of other unusual recipes to try.   If you want to see some truly amazing carved watermelons try this link on http://www.watermelon.org

By |2024-02-29T11:44:20+00:00June 23rd, 2012|Children, Festivals, Food, Watermelon|0 Comments

Would you like to be a food vendor at festivals?

Have you ever had the idea that maybe it would be a good thing to try to be a food vendor at a festival or event? It is hard to get started and the rules are all but overwhelming. In this interview I talk to Kurt of the 4th Avenue Merchants Association in Tucson and Mia Hansen of Tucson Meet Yourself. We talk about how to get into a big festival if you are a new food vendor. They say that you should contact the person running the festival who should be able to help you through the maze of regulations. Listen Here!

By |2024-02-26T10:29:44+00:00August 31st, 2011|Arizona, Concessions, Festivals, Food, Vendors|0 Comments
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