I thought that I'd chime in for a bit of a report on the Pirate Fest from last weekend. I don't have any pics but it was a beautiful weekend for a faire/festival.
The MPF is run by Greg Schmidt (www.festint.com) who also runs DSM, Amana, Lincolnshire, and of course NRF. He's made a deal with a local landowner (Bellevue Berry Farm) to become a permanent site. They have many acres of shaded land and the landowner is going all out in creating booths, ships, stages, etc. It is becoming a terrific location/venue.
About half of the vendors according to Greg were committed to the rain date for DSM so it was smaller than planned, but it was still a blast.
I usually man the gate so I didn't catch many of the shows, but the patrons were all smiling (or crying and refusing to leave) as they walked or were carried off the property usually several hours later ;p Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of this one as my photographer was home with the flu :( I did see a semi-pro/pro that I know with his equipment so I will post a link to his site if he has any posted in the next week or so.
I was surprised by the number of children that came - it seemed to me that the ratio of younger kids was higher than had showed up at NRF in May.
From talking to Greg he's planning both shows again in 2009.
I think we need a Pirate Smiley ... Arrrr ;p
....jeff aka Black Ordun
It sounds like MPF was a fun weekend. I was one of the vendors who would have been there, but ended up in Des Moines at our permanent shop instead.
I am looking forward to 2009.
Aaarrrgggghhhh!!
I have moved to the Omaha area and am interested in finding out more about helping when these events are scheduled. If there is anything I could do, please let me know. You may contact me through this site.
Hope to hear more!
:)