1. WARNER BROS. CRACKS DOWN ON HARRY POTTER FAN FESTIVALS: Warner Bros. has started to crack down on unauthorized, local Harry Potter fan events across the U.S. Associated Press: “Fans, however, liken the move to Dementors sucking the joy out of homegrown fun, while festival directors say they’ll transfigure the events into generic celebrations of magic. ‘It’s almost as if Warner Bros. has been taken over by Voldemort, trying to use dark magic to destroy the light of a little town,’ said Sarah Jo Tucker, a 21-year-old junior at Chestnut Hill College, which hosts a Quidditch tournament that coincides with the annual suburban Philadelphia festival. Philip Dawson, Chestnut Hill’s business district director, said Warner Bros. reached out to his group in May, letting them know new guidelines prohibit festivals’ use of any names, places or objects from the series. That ruled out everything from meet-and-greet with Dumbledore and Harry to Defense Against the Dark Arts classes. ‘It was very quickly apparent (we) weren’t going to be able to hold festivals like years past,’ he said. The late October festival drew about 45,000 fans last year to the historic neighborhood’s cobblestone streets. This year, they will instead have a ‘wands and wizards’ family night and pub crawl and other magic-themed events—and people can still dress as their favorite characters. Chestnut Hill isn’t the only community to receive cease-and-desist letters from the entertainment company. Festival directors around the country, including in Aurora, Illinois, and Ithaca, New York, were also told the new guidelines would prohibit much of the Potter-themed activities, which are typically free events.” https://bit.ly/2JX2I5g
2. WEDDING CATERING IS BECOMING MORE VISUAL: While all couples want food at their wedding to taste good, more couples are seeking out catering companies that serve food in innovative, visually striking ways. The New York Times: “Expectations for wedding meals have been rising for years. Couples raised on food television have a palpable disdain for the old formula of fish, chicken or beef accompanied by a vegetable and a starch. And it’s not uncommon for a bride and groom to ask how and where the components of their meal were grown, raised or slaughtered. But big-city wedding planners and designers say a new criterion is coming into play: The food has to have a distinctive, if not downright startling, look. It has to grab the eye as much as the palate, and should be displayed on something more exciting than standard banquet tableware. If there’s a performance element to the presentation, as with the traveling chocolate bark, so much the better. … Carla Ruben founded Creative Edge Parties 30 years ago, in Manhattan, with the slogan ‘Not just another chicken dinner,’ which now applies to style as well as content. Ms. Ruben, who last year catered the November wedding of the tennis champion Serena Williams and the Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian in New Orleans, likes to mix the familiar with the unexpected, so short ribs come to the table inside a one-piece latticed pastry dome that seems to defy gravity. What the food sits on is just as important. ‘There isn’t an hors d’oeuvre that gets created without a tray to match,’ said TJ Girard, who owns Pinch Food Design with the chef Bob Spiegel (who was a founding partner of Creative Edge). Ms. Girard has designed 3D-printed trays with spikes that hold small bites, and a wall hanging of science-lab pipettes, each one filled with just enough wine to accompany a cheese and charcuterie display. The company’s signature appetizer plate is grooved on one side to hold a fork, and its bottom fits snugly over the top of a cocktail glass, so guests can keep a hand free without spilling.” https://nyti.ms/2t7VXHb
3. LIVE EVENTS GET A NEW EMMY CATEGORY: Live events on TV such as award shows have normally been placed in the same category as pre-recorded specials at the Emmys. But for the upcoming ceremony in September, the TV Academy has split the category into variety special (live) and variety special (pre-recorded). Variety: "'[Now] it’s a more apples-to-apples competition, with live-to-air variety specials in one category and live-to-tape variety specials in another,' says John Leverence, senior vice president of awards at the Television Academy. With 'special class' a loose term, prior years saw a mélange of diverse special events crowded together and competing against each other. But producers who have worked on both types of special programs maintain that nothing rivals the high-stakes of live shows. 'The energy, the spontaneity, when you capture that moment—that translates to viewers at home,' says Bart Stephens, executive producer of 'DirecTV Now Super Saturday Night: Jennifer Lopez,' which aired live on AT&T Audience Network. Her pre-Super Bowl concert could have been taped, Stephens acknowledges, but 'we feel it is a better presentation live.' The first new category honors the specialized art form of live television, which includes split-second decision-making by producers and the need to be flexible as the unexpected occurs." https://bit.ly/2K0mM9Z
* LOCAL NEWS *
CHICAGO: Renaissance Chicago Downtown Hotel has appointed Russell Shearer executive chef, overseeing the hotel’s culinary program that includes the urban rooftop bar Raised. Shearer previously worked at JW Marriott Chicago.
LOS ANGELES: The inaugural All My Friends music festival will take place August 18-19 at Row DTLA. Headliners include Gucci Mane, Jhene Aiko, and RL Grime.
Festival planners Wanderlust will launch the first-ever Wellspring Festival October 26-28. Held at the Palm Springs Convention Center, the event will be a mashup of a yoga festival and an ideas conference, and feature headliners including Alicia Silverstone, Glennon Doyle, and Marianne Williamson.
For information on upcoming events in Los Angeles, visit Masterplanner: http://www.masterplanneronline.com/losangeles
MIAMI/SOUTH FLORIDA: Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County has opened the area’s first L.G.B.T.+ Visitor Center. It is located in Wilton Manors, Broward County’s gay-centric district. The visitor center is a result of a partnership between the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Greater Fort Lauderdale L.G.B.T. Chamber of Commerce.
NEW YORK: Mercado Little Spain, a Spanish food hall from José Andrés’s ThinkFoodGroup, will debut spring 2019. The all-day dining and market destination will be located at the base of 10 Hudson Yards, and will be developed by Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group.
Briggs, a New York event and destination management company, has appointed Greg Byrnes account executive. Byrnes is an active member with Society for Incentive Travel Excellence and will be responsible for maintaining and growing business with existing Briggs clients.
Lincoln Center’s ninth annual White Light Festival will take place October 16-November 18 in six venues across the city. The annual festival, which features performances that range in art forms, will focus on cross-cultural themes and the power of art in communal lives.
For information on upcoming events in New York, visit Masterplanner: http://www.masterplanneronline.com/newyork
TORONTO: The 32nd TD Toronto Jazz Festival will take place June 22-July 1. The festival will be based at venues in Bloor-Yorkville and feature more than 150 free concerts.
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Major League Baseball’s Geico All-Star FanFest will take place July 13-17 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. The interactive baseball theme park offers more than 50 attractions for fans of all ages, and has a lineup of current and former players who will sign autographs and pose for photos with fans.
YOUR NEWS: What are you doing? Tell us: [email protected].
JOB BOARD: Post a job or find a job: http://jobs.bizbash.com
With contributions from Claire Hoffman in Los Angeles and Beth Kormanik, Michele Laufik, Ian Zelaya, and Kristine Liao in New York.
BizBash Daily is the must-read digest of event industry news from BizBash.com.
Feed the Sheet: [email protected]
Subscribe: www.bizbash.com/bizbashdaily
Advertise with BizBash: [email protected]
More in Social Events
Most Popular
