extensive description of ballyhoo greater goals

The concept of holding a city-wide event focused on participation and general merriment stemmed from a late night discussion with my housemate. We were new to Portland, and wanted to find a way to meet and connect with this diverse, multifaceted community. Who were our neighbors? We want to start conversations and discussions about the things that are important to them, in order to build a network of supportive community members. However, we didn’t know how to breach the gap between our respective lives. The ‘First Quarterly Moon Castle Ballyhoo (A Modern Day Hullabaloo)’ was the solution we came up with (the Ballyhoo for short).
The Ballyhoo is a four-day event of free fun. It’s emphasizes community and requires participation. The activities are all relatively absurd and hilarious, as I believe this will encourage a diverse and multifaceted group of people to come out and be a part of project. This public display of amusement and participation will foster heaps upon heaps of community. My goal is for the new bonds formed through the Ballyhoo to jumpstart collaboration and provide the opportunity to build more community-based projects.
Each day has a different theme. The four themes are family fun, crafts/art, bicycles, and Dadaist competitions. Throughout the day there will be participation heavy events including: fort building, blindfolded face painting, bike decorating, wacky haircuts and head shaving, and a unique twist upon the strongman competition (involving screwing in light bulbs and whipping up crepe batter). There will also be daily parades and movie showings. Each day we will provide a venue for a different community meal, whether that is donut holes, crepes, or BYOBBQ. I like the idea of uniting individuals that would otherwise remain strangers, and food is an excellent catalyst for conversation and collaboration.
The Ballyhoo is scheduled for May 31st-June 3rd. I chose these dates with the intention for this event to be a perfect ‘summer kickoff’. I’m encouraging people to bring word of their projects; this will be a venue for people to hear about all the other amazing community based projects happening this summer. This will act as inspiration and encouragement for summer projects.
Almost all of the activities on the schedule will be held at local parks. My intention is to encourage our community to take advantage of the amazing quantity of public spaces available to us. To remind Portlanders that these spaces are their own places, and invite them to also take advantage of that fact. Whether their manifestations are in the form of a picnic with friends, or a public event such as the Ballyhoo.
I deliberately chose to plan each day in a different area of Portland. This will make the event available to a larger sample of people, and thus help accomplish the goal of including and uniting a wide spectrum of people.
Another important aspect of this project is to draw attention to and promote sustainability. This will be accomplished through several different means. First, we are going to have a day focused on the use of bicycles. Localized events will also encourage bike travel. Many of the activities require participants to bring something they already own from home. I have tried to design each day in order to focus on using the resources already available to us. I really want to show people that reuse and recycling can make a huge difference and impact upon our lives. Through donations and local support, I hope to foster a small ‘gift economy’. I believe that this will show people the power of sharing and how that concept can function in a community such as Portland.
Something that I’ve already mentioned, but would like to highlight, is the emphasis upon participation. The Ballyhoo is an event that dissuades people from being spectators. There are too many activities in the world already that allow to people to watch from the sidelines, and this is certainly not one of them. I want the community to come in and get its hands dirty. I’ve tried to come up with activities that almost anyone could be a part of. I hope the Ballyhoo will be an opportunity for people to rub elbows with other people in their city they wouldn’t ordinarily talk to in their daily routines. I want to break down socially accepted barriers through pure fun, something few people can deny.