Festival Plans Underway

The Festival date has been set! It will October 14, 2006 at Sun City around the Sales Center.

The Festival planning committee, a subcommittee of the Indian Land Action Council, will meet tonight, June 26 at Sun City to walk the grounds and map out the event. I'm reporting now because I won't have time to for several days.

Tentatively, we will have the following activity areas:

1. Children-with a petting zoo, pony rides, storytellers and magicians. We'd like to have craft tables set up, where kids can purchase materials and make items under the tutelage of the vendors. Perhaps the local churches would like to set up tables for this?

2. Food-of course

3. Teens-yes, we plan to have a teen area with a portable skateboard park and perhaps a climbing wall. We have not had something like this in Indian Land before, that anyone remembers, anyway. Their area will be outside a fence from the main part of the festival, but in full view of festival goers.

4. Artist's Colony-We'd like to see local artists come and set up booths displaying their craft or even demonstrating them. They could sell items, as well.

5. A "rest" area-with a DJ, hopefully a Sun City resident, who will spin easy listening music. It's a grassy area where people can spread out with a cup of coffee or ice cream cone and just rest and enjoy the atmosphere.

6. Business booths-These would probably be lining the walkways, not all clumped together in a section.

7. Central Control-an area immediately in front of the Sales Center will have booths for Sun City and The Carolina Gateway, who are sponsors, a central ticketing booth, The Friends of the Library, and the Indian Land Action Council. The Friends will give information about the new library and invite people to join. They will also take donations to the building project. This booth will probably be staffed by some Friends members from Lancaster, maybe some library board members, and maybe some Steering Committee members. The Action Council booth will have Indian Land apparel and other items for sale. Tentative plans are for eurostickers (those oval car stickers with the "city" on it...ours would probably be "IL") to given away free or for a small donation to the library project, t-shirts, bumper stickers, etc. The Action Council will need to get a group together to design a "city logo" and arrange for these materials to be manufactured.

At tonight's meeting we hope to divide the committee into groups that will take on areas to organize. Principally the artists, businesses, children's and food vendors. Rena Livengood is already working on the teen area and Brooke Moore from Sun City will handle the DJ area, security and insurance needs.

Rena has also asked Stacy Osborne, Assistant Branch Manager of the IL Founders Credit Union to act as our festival treasurer. Founders will assist us with the money handling.

Our "Executive Committee" will be Karen Paulson, Cindy Mace, Jane Alford, Brooke Moore, Jami Jamieson(Festival Secretary) and Richard Band or his representative. This group will make nitty gritty decisions as they arise and act as general facilitators for the event.

That's it for now! Send an email if you want to help. We are going to need dozens and dozens of people to help.