Bad Idea #3 - Under The Rainbow Fest

[featherynscale]

I like to read LiveJournal first thing in the morning, before I'm really functionally awake. In part, this is so I can muzzily blow past posts about things I'm not interested in, and not feel too bad about it, but in larger part, this is so that I can be inspired by the weird stuff you guys post before my internal bad-idea detection module has booted up. This way, I can generate a lot of support for a bad idea before the brain's censor shuts it down.

So anyway, today I was looking at jackbabalon_23's pictures of the Inman Park Parade in Atlanta. You know how I love a parade. And this one somehow, miraculously, features people in fetishwear, giant bunnies, people carrying signs reading "God Bless Our Crackhouse", and what looks like middle school marching bands. So I was thinking, "My gods, what kind of organization puts this thing on? How do they talk all of these different people into being in the parade together?". I don't know the answer, but my brain took that line of reasoning, attempted to adapt it to my own city, and came up with something a little different.

So here's the thing. You think "Kansas City", and you think "Ah, yes, barbecue, the Chiefs, the Royals, jazz and blues, and a lot of cornfed whitebread types who are ten years behind the rest of the country." Or at least I did, when I moved here. I thought, well, I'll have a job, but I'll be bored shitless most of the time, good thing I have the internet.

Of course, in Real Life, Kansas City is a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. Now that I've lived here 7 years, I've discovered that we have a thriving pagan community, a Buddhist temple, a gay rodeo, 4 roller derby teams, at least a dozen community theater companies, at least two burlesque troupes (and one burlesque school), an organic food circle, scads of good local bands, enough rockabillies to support a radio program and a hair salon, at least two BDSM societies, a chapter of Friends of Jung, a tribe of burners, car clubs, chess clubs, a house rabbit society, an OTO oasis, a swingers' club, a science fiction writers' group, two or three tribal dance studios, a club for people who convert gas cars to electric motors... and so on and so forth. In short, there's a lot of stuff to do here, but a lot of it is sort of under the radar. You have to look for it. You have to know where to go.

So I was thinking it would be cool to put together a weekend festival, say in Theis Park, that would answer the question "What is there to do in Kansas City besides eat barbecue and watch the Royals lose?". We'd get all of those organizations mentioned above to come out and have a table, talk to people about what they do and how people could come and do it with them. Anybody who had an activity to promote could come, provided that the activity was participatory, wasn't already massively sponsored and promoted, and didn't involve violence against people who didn't consent to violence against them (because I want the BDSM'ers and the roller derby!). Anybody who had a club, a society, a class, or suchlike would be welcome. I'm thinking even if your activity was "come hang out at my house and play Rock Band" or "join the Pirate v. Ninja Olympics", that would be okay. Selling stuff from your space would be okay, but primarily it would be to promote things that you do. Volunteer-based organizations could come and promote their volunteer opportunities, because that's something to do, right?

What do you think?

Comments

[kissmythistle.livejournal.com]

The parade is excellent and is in the alternative/geek/freak/whatever area of town...an area that has been historically weird for many years. (I was supposed to be in said parade with my HP fan group, but I missed it for the third year in a row...)

That being said, I hope you can get something similar going on in KC. :)

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

That's fantastic. We don't really have a historically weird area here (I don't think. I mean, we have some commercially weird areas, but I think that's not the same), so we'd have to build up some cultural backing before we could have such a parade. Probably.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

Not a bad idea. But what the heck is a "tribe of burners?"

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

People who go to Burning Man and similar events. The Midwest event is called Interfuse (http://www.midwestburners.com/interfuse/eventdetails.html).

EDIT: Having visited the Interfuse website, I now really want to go. Maybe next year.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

OK. I was picturing bunch of Mad Max-style, armor-clad pyromaniac bikers.

[leiandra.livejournal.com]

Glad it wasn't just me....

[next-bold-move.livejournal.com]

I think this is a great idea. I grew up in KC, and I only knew of a few of these things!

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there are eleventy billion other fantastic things to do out there that I don't know about, too. Part of this process would inevitably be trying to get input on other people to invite to the event.

[jtigermoon.livejournal.com]

This sounds awesome! I'm so glad I live in St. Louis, I'd be tempted to help you organize this. =)

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Heh. You are welcome to organize something similar in your town...
(tempt, tempt, tempt)
*grin*

[auraseer.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a great idea!

And it makes me think I should be looking harder around where I live. (KC can't be that much more interesting than St. Louis, can it?)

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

According to what I hear, St. Louis is infinitely more interesting than Kansas City. Or at least the people there get paid better, and the government is less oppressive, and the pagans get along, and all the people are cooler, and so on. It's a veritable Golden and Radiant City in the imaginations of Kansas Citians. :)

[auraseer.livejournal.com]

and the pagans get along

Hee! People really think such things? That is so silly, it's almost cute. =b^)

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Hey, that's what I hear. I also hear you guys fart rainbows. :)

[liquidfun.livejournal.com]

You guys have City Museum ... we have nothing so cool as that ...

[zylch.livejournal.com]

Ahem. We have a fine selection of museums of many sorts.

[auraseer.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but do any of your museums have a five-story slide? Or a 30'-tall monkey-bar maze containing (among other bits) a fire engine, a castle turret, and the fuselages of two fighter aircraft?

The City Museum is.. unusual.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I've never been to City Museum, but I seriously want to go.

[leiandra.livejournal.com]

That would be freaking awesome.

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

I'd be vaguely amazed if someone isn't doing this already. But that would only make it easier to accomplish, right?

[matchgirl42.livejournal.com]

I fully support this.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

As in "I'd go to this if it were happening", or as in "I'd work to make this happen"?

[matchgirl42.livejournal.com]

As in both, in whatever capacity I am able to do so. Being a recent newcomer, this would be so useful....

[jackbabalon23.livejournal.com]

Glad you liked the photos:)

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Just what I needed, more inspiration. :-P

[gr8wolf.livejournal.com]

Its a great idea!!!!! I only knew of a few of the groups....course I dont get much time anymore because of the LBF but I would do my darmdest to attend