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Oklahoma State Fair 2017

The Oklahoma State Fair is about to open on September 14th, with all kinds of new and exciting things. There is a lot of stuff to do here for the ten dollar admission costs. This is an interview with Scott Munz , Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations about all the new and great things at this years event. Listening to this for a few minutes will give you a great overview of the fair and all the fancy new fair foods they have. Come hungry and come rested and be prepared to have a great time.!!! Oklahoma State Fair - Frequently Asked Questions!    

By |2019-03-14T23:39:11+00:00September 7th, 2017|State Fair, Bull Rider, Bulls, Fair Food, Food, Gary Allan, Josh Turner, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State Fair, Podcast|0 Comments
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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
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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
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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
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Competitive Eater Crazy Legs Conti

Major League Eating sponsors competitive eating contests around the world. In the following interview we talk about them. They run about 80 contests a year. This is primarily an interview with Crazy Legs Conti a competitive eater and several time champion.   Crazy Legs Conti uses Zen to prepare for contests. Zen is "a Japanese school of Mahayana Buddhism emphasizing the value of meditation and intuition."    

By |2019-03-24T20:39:32+00:00June 27th, 2014|Hot Dog Eating Contest, 4th July, Coney Island, Corn, Hot Dogs, New York, State Fair|0 Comments
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Fireworks and Safety for the 4th of July

Fireworks are part of the July 4th celebrations. They are synonymous to the nation’s birthday as backyard barbecues, parades down the main street, and apple pie. They are relatively safe if only people use their common sense. There are also some easy to follow rules that make handling fireworks in County fairgrounds safer. But even with the rules, it seems like people ignore the rules. Each year people are brought to the emergency room due to fireworks-related injuries around the July 4th celebrations. People should remember that fireworks are dangerous and can cause serious burns. If you are tasked to set up fireworks at the county fairgrounds, there are some things that you must do first. One of the first things you need to do is to make sure you have already appointed a firing team. It should be composed of no more than three people with one person serving as the leader of the group. Members of the firing team must have experience of lighting fireworks and have knowledge of safety regulations.   Organizing the Fireworks Display You must ensure that the firing site can accommodate all the fireworks you intend to fire. There must be ample spacing in order to avoid accidental firing of fireworks. Don’t forget to read the instructions on all the fireworks. Each item behaves differently and might be required to be set up and installed in several ways. Make sure that the right side is facing the audience, especially the fan style cakes. There are some types that are required to be buried in soft earth or attached to wooden stakes buried in the ground. These are candles, fountains, and cakes. If they are attached to wooden stakes, they should be attached with strong cloth tape to ensure that the firework stays behind the stake and doesn’t fall over or face the crowd. The fireworks must be angled away from the crowd. If the weather is not too nice, you can use plastic bags to keep fireworks dry. Some fountains have a cone shape and make them hard to be attached to anything. You can place the fountain on a flat surface and avoid placing it on the grass that could make the firework unstable and tip over. Rockets should be launched from tubes. You can make a DIY project using plumbing pipe. Just make sure that the stick of the rocket can freely liftoff form the pipe. It must not get stuck in the pipe. If the rocket has a [...]

By |2019-03-24T20:59:45+00:00June 12th, 2014|4th July, County Fairgrounds, Countyfairgrounds, Fireworks, Holidays|0 Comments
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