On Thursday night, nearly 500 women stopped by the central square of Seminole Paradise, the dining and shopping plaza at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood, to take a gander at the shirtless firefighters parading around on a temporary stage. The South Florida Firefighters unveiled their 2010 calendar with a hippie-inspired show as part of the Hard Rock’s three-day 40th anniversary of Woodstock event last week.
"We had our entire Woodstock event going on, and so to keep [the calendar unveiling] in sync with that week, we asked the firefighters if they would be interested in doing [the Woodstock] theme, and they thought it would be fun," said Ryan Rogers, public relations manager for the Hard Rock. The Woodstock celebration included Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin lookalikes wandering throughout the casino lobby, $69 room rates—in honor of the first festival in 1969—and hotel staffers dressed in garb meant to evoke the era.
This was the third year the calendar unveiling took place at the Hard Rock, and calendar founder and C.E.O. Lieutenant Luis Espinosa plans to return next year. "We do events in malls and nightclubs, but the one thing I’ve learned about business is that people go [to the Hard Rock] to spend money so it works out well for us," said Espinosa. "[The staff is] a dream to work with and we’ll do it here as long as they’ll have us."
CBS 4 anchor Jade Alexander announced each of the 17 firefighters—fourteen in the calendar and three M.V.P.s—as they danced their way across the stage to music from DJ Boogie Man George. Each of the men had various theme-appropriate symbols like peace signs and colorful flowers, as well as their fire station numbers and flames, painted on their chests and backs. The crowd got louder and larger throughout the nearly hour-long show as shoppers in the area stopped to watch and cheer.
The firefighters signed copies of the calendar for fans after the show, before heading to Passion nightclub for the official after-party. The men also made appearances at other venues—like Round Up Country Western Nightclub and Restaurant and Macy’s at Aventura Mall—throughout the weekend to promote the new calendar.
