I have been thinking that it might be an idea to have a Liberty Festival this summer. The sort of event that is fun as well as informative. Anyone else like the idea? More and more liberty lovers are either moving into NH, or coming out of the woodwork. Let's get together and celebrate Liberty! :)
Good idea! :D
Yes Alan, Good Idea!
Go ahead and arrange it, and, I'll show up 8)
There is of course a big one already planned -- PorcFest 2005!
There are already 87 people committed to attending, and its still early.
http://www.freestateproject.org/news/festival/
. . . and one of us who is committed who hasn't told any one yet, but will have the same tent site as last year.
Sounds good - I'll drive up to visit!
Brian Sullivan
Quote from: John on January 30, 2005, 12:45 AM NHFT
. . . and one of us who is committed who hasn't told any one yet, but will have the same tent site as last year.
I wondered why you always wore that white jacket! ;)
I really like the idea of a Liberty Festival. There are many people from Southern NH that for whatever reason can't make the PorcFest. Many more people could plan a few months in advance for a bug Saturday bash or how about 4th of July. Instead of just doing something in your town....how about one big Libery Festival on the 4th? :D
Quote from: FSPinNY on January 30, 2005, 12:57 AM NHFT
Sounds good - I'll drive up to visit!
Brian Sullivan
Visit Hell, We expect you up there for at least 4-5 days, Brian. ;D
Lloyd
When and where should we do this Alan?
I was imagining it would be somewhere in the southern part of the state, since porcfest is in the north. Also, at least a week separation between the two.
Porcfest, although it is open to the public, is more FSP centered. I feel there should be an open, NH-centric celebration, hopefully pulling in participation from lots of Liberty oriented groups, NHLA, GONH, LSF, etc.
Exactly.
I think if we plan far enough in advance and choose a central location, we can get a lot more people than Porcfest can attract.
Greeley Park in Nashua is a very big park that is very nice. It has a stage on one side of the street, and more on the other side. The street gets lots of traffic, for exposure.
Quote from: Lloyd Danforth on January 30, 2005, 08:05 AM NHFT
Quote from: FSPinNY on January 30, 2005, 12:57 AM NHFT
Sounds good - I'll drive up to visit!
Brian Sullivan
Visit Hell, We expect you up there for at least 4-5 days, Brian. ;D
Lloyd
One day I will do that, Lloyd! My personal suggestion is that you leave a month, and preferably more time between the Porcfest and any new fest in Keene (and please have it in Keene, the new libertarian Mecca). I, and many others, are planning to travel to the Porrcfest and are already planning to take time off from work for a 7-10 days to do that. If the new 'festival' were a week or so away from that, we wouldn't be able to make it - or, I should say that I wouldn't be able to. What about September?
Brian
The second week in September wouldn't be a bad choice, or the last week in June could probably work. Are there any suitable parks in the Keene area? How about the one used for the UN flag burning?
We have a couple of good parks here. I would prefer to have the event in the middle of the state,... but if I end up planning the event, I will end up doing it in Keene because I can make things happen more easily in my own town. :)
To me it doesn't matter when we do this...if we decide a date in the next week, then we will have plenty of time to get things organized and let people plan for it. :)
How about we plan one for early summer.....we could always want a second one later this year. ;D
If we did it in Keene, I would probably look at Wheelock Park. No matter how big the party got we would have room there. :) Room for volleyball, softball etc. also
Brian makes a good point about Keene being Porc Mecca. You already have a good base of support, and it is growing all the time. I will definitely make myself available to help. Definitely think we should have booths for people to sell their wares and promote their businesses, as well as informational booths.
Entertainment- any one know of some bands or folk singers? We could perhaps have a sing-along of Liberty songs. I could prepare a comic monologue or two.
Should I steal your idea and plan a "Liberty Festival" here in Keene?
;D Um,.... well.... sure... if you want. ;)
The parallels between the Red Sox winning the World Series in St. Louis, and having a Liberty Festival in Keene are overwhelming me right now, LOL, but I'm all about it. :)
There's a campground in the north part of the city, easy to find, right on a main Rd (and right near you and Kat, Russ! :)), that I think may be a place to check, as well. :) We almost did something like this last year and I remember that that place worked. :)
And I've ALWAYS wanted to have an event on June 2nd, for the anniversary of the NH Constitution. No one here does ANYTHING with that day... It's a ready-made, unused holiday, up for grabs! :) NH Constitution Day. :)
JM
So Alan did you want to make this festival happen? I don't want to just steal the idea or anything. I was just warning people that if I plan it we will hold it in Keene. :)
Russell, by all means, go ahead.
So when you mean a "festival" what were you thinking?
Quote from: russellkanning on January 30, 2005, 03:45 PM NHFT
So when you mean a "festival" what were you thinking?
Have you ever been to a Rennaisance Festival? Well, everything is themed around the Rennaisance. So I was thinking of a Liberty themed event. Entertainments, food, fun, music, booths for selling things, booths for informational things. There could be a series of skits with liberty themes. Have some people dressed, say, in colonial costume so they are known to be "actors", acting out scenes where someone is attempting to take their liberties away. Of course the hero, (JP?) saves the day.
Another thing that could be done is to print up some antique looking Broadsides about an anti-liberty event, calling liberty lovers "to arms" in protection of liberty.
Also, if we could find a singer/guitarist to strole around singing folk tunes with a Freedom/Liberty flavor, perhaps inviting people to join in on the chorus. Perhaps we could have some people in Militia garb, doing some drilling, or making camp.
Perhaps a dunking booth, with the victim being labeled a "statist", or something similar.
Maybe baked goods for sale such as Liberty Bread, Freedom Cookies, or whatever.
This is the sort of thing I had in mind. Colonial garb might help get the sense across that we are about fighting oppresion, supporting individual freedoms.
Alan
Another idea. Sell recipe books with Freedom/Liberty recipes. Free Speech Pie, anyone? Militia Bread? Constitution Corn-Cake?
Lloyd's NH cookies :)
How about Lloyd's Leg of Lamb. Aged to perfection. Free of any oppression. Guaranteed to Liberate your innards.
I like all of your idea Alan, but that kind of planning is beyond my abilities...maybe we could help you make something like that happen. :)
Quote from: russellkanning on January 30, 2005, 04:44 PM NHFT
I like all of your idea Alan, but that kind of planning is beyond my abilities...maybe we could help you make something like that happen. :)
Let's do it together. Why don't we plan on it to be in Keene. If you can arrange for the park, take care of booth spaces, i.e. renting them out, and if we could find someone for publicity, that would be great. I could handle the skits. We could all work on the Recipe book. It would be great to find a strolling musician. If anyone knows of one that would be great. I knew one with the NESF, from Conn., but he had a lot of strange things happen in his life and he seems to have disappeared. I'll try to locate him. The dunking booth may be a bit much to tackle for the first festival, but we could have a bean bag toss, or something like that, at targets that are labeled as Foes of Liberty.
What say you? Are you game?
It is a possibility. I will have to plan with Jim what park and what we have to do to reserve the space. :)
How about we do this after the porcfest. Dawn Lincoln has wanted to do a Fall event for showing outsiders our leaves. :)
Leaf-Peeping Liberty Festival
Quote from: katdillon on January 31, 2005, 10:45 AM NHFT
Leaf-Peeping Liberty Festival
Cryptic yet descriptive. :P
Fine with me. I have a great idea for a recipe book! ;) It's a secret, though.
Don't tell me about them! I can't keep secrets :)
So, anymore discussion on the "Liberty Festival"?
too big of an event for me to plan...but maybe someday by someone else :)
Quote from: russellkanning on March 03, 2005, 08:36 AM NHFT
too big of an event for me to plan...but maybe someday by someone else :)
I agree. Maybe after we get more porces here, and more in-staters join in with us.
Agree that Alan's idea is wonderful but really big and a bit overwhelming to think about planning.
Russell, if you're willing to plan something, why not cut it down to something manageable and let it grow over the years? I could see starting with something as simple as a big cookout with fun and games, etc. at Wheelock Park in Keene. Maybe have a few extras, but keep it simple enough to plan without going nuts. I know that Wheelock has a pavillion area that can be rented that has grills and a covered area too.
I like the ideas of either 7/4 or 6/2. Since 6/2 is a Thursday, could be shifted to Saturday 6/4. Plus there's less competition for an event on 6/4 than on 7/4 (could be other 4th of July stuff going on that day).
I kind of like the idea of a set date like 4th of July that is a vacation day. But if we want this to grow to something big, then you are right we need to pick an easier day.
I really like the idea of starting a tradition....even if it is just a cookout. How about we have food from different parts of the country where people move from? Different styles of BBQ, chili etc....whatever people like to do best.
Do we want this for just NH residents ....or do we want to attract porcupines from around the country.....if so maybe it should be in the Fall so it is at a whole different time than Porcfest.
hhhhmmmmm
For the 4th of July we could have our own party each year in this area.....but for the Festival....it needs its own special time 8)
If any of you are just *itchin* to plan a big event, but don't have enough help... do it the other way around! Porc Fest is gonna be huge and we still need a few people to help plan it.
And, though it's put on by the FSP, it's not as FSP-Centric as you might imagine. CNHT and the LP have speakers confirmed on Saturday, the RLC has a seminar on Friday, and the NHLA has both a seminar on Friday and the Liberty Dinner on Saturday evening.
E-me if you're interested in helping ;) varrin@freestateproject.org
V-
Wasn't there talk of a fall/winter conference-in-a-hotel style event that was being batted around after the last Porc Fest?
Isn't it vswearingen@freestateproject.org?
Cruel, but, direct!
Quote from: FTL_Ian on March 16, 2005, 01:46 AM NHFT
Wasn't there talk of a fall/winter conference-in-a-hotel style event that was being batted around after the last Porc Fest?
Yea I like the idea. We could have one at a convention center and get more of the fly in fly out crowd.
Maybe we could plan AlanM style fun at Porcfest2006.
If you are going to be there this year Alan ...maybe you could have a short version of your class and we could put on a small play.
Quote from: russellkanning on March 18, 2005, 06:48 AM NHFT
Maybe we could plan AlanM style fun at Porcfest2006.
If you are going to be there this year Alan ...maybe you could have a short version of your class and we could put on a small play.
I won't be there for the whole festival. Probably just Saturday.
It's not possible to give a short version. Too much information necessary for it to work with effect.
:'(
I can't wait till the LTLC and other Learning Centers get into operation. I'd love to give the course on Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Maybe acting classes for people who understand that acting is supposed to be entertaining. :)