November 3, 2015: the Enduring Power of Holiday Windows, Nearly 500 Arrested at California Music Festivals, Do Big Festivals Belong in Public Parks?

1. THE ENDURING POWER OF HOLIDAY WINDOWS: The tradition of decorating holiday windows at department stores like Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, and Bergdorf Goodman continues to be a vital way to draw customers into stores, even in the age of online shopping. Adweek: "It is, at its best, experiential, and isn't that what we're all talking about?" asks Jean McLaren, president of marketing firm Marc USA in Chicago. "We're all trying to build an experience that reinforces the brand in some way and that builds that sense of loyalty. That's what [holiday] windows did years ago, they built up all this warm feeling about this brand and it became an experience to take your family to see." http://bit.ly/1P6PsdR

2. NEARLY 500 ARRESTED AT CALIFORNIA MUSIC FESTIVALS: Police arrested nearly 500 people who attended two Southern California music festivals this weekend—the the Halloween-theme HARD Day of the Dead festival produced by Live Nation and Insomniac’s Escape: Psycho Circus. Festival producers agreed to add safety and security measures this year following two deaths at a rave this summer in which two women died of what authorities believe were drug overdoses. Los Angeles Times: “Several emergency room physicians have said that raves threaten public health, overwhelming hospitals and emergency rooms with young rave-goers, and medical staffs having to cope with cases of seizures, comas or deaths from illicit drugs.  … Safety and security precautions for the [Live Nation] event included dozens of medical staff at two designated areas, three on-site emergency room physicians, 184 police officers and 24 free water distribution points. The music festival paid for all the costs for police, fire and medical personnel.” http://lat.ms/1GZmpGr

3. DO BIG FESTIVALS BELONG IN PUBLIC PARKS?: Two mega music festivals—one from Madison Square Garden and the other from AEG Live—want to take place in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, New York, a public park that has never been used for paid-admission events. The proposals are drawing scrutiny from local officials (as well as producers of the established music festival Governors Ball). New York Daily News: “These proposals to rent out precious public parkland to for-profit organizations for paid-admission events are therefore not acceptable at this time," Queens Borough President Melinda Katz said. "It has never been done before in Queens ... we should not start now.”

* LOCAL NEWS *

ATLANTA:  Hard Rock Hotel Atlanta is slated to open in spring 2018. The 220-room hotel will be located next to the upcoming Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Press release: http://prn.to/1NNm5tZ

AUSTIN:  The Italian-inspired 194-room Hotel Granduca will open in West Austin tomorrow. Austin Business Journal: http://bit.ly/1WuINZP

BOSTON:  The annual Boston Ski and Snowboard Show will be held November 12-15 at Seaport World Trade Center.

CHICAGO:  The 102nd annual Tree Lighting Ceremony will take place November 24 in Millennium Park.

DALLAS:  Omni Hotels & Resorts has promoted Ryan O’Byrne to corporate director of global sales.

LAS VEGAS:  Carbone Las Vegas restaurant opened at Aria Resort & Casino on October 29.

LOS ANGELES:  Classic Party Rentals Orange County will reveal the newly remodeled 9,000-square-foot expansion to its office, showroom, and client design space on Thursday.

Local event listings from the new Masterplanner: http://www.masterplanneronline.com/losangeles

MIAMI/SOUTH FLORIDA:  Talde Miami Beach, an offshoot of the Brooklyn Asian-American restaurant from chef Dale Talde, is set to open Friday inside the Thompson Miami Beach hotel. The dining room will seat 160, and terrace dining is also available.

NEW YORK:  Quartz's the Next Billion conference series will take place November 16 at the Conrad New York. Speakers include Evernote co-founder Phil Libin and World Bank economist Dilip Ratha.

The 29th annual Matzoball will take place December 24 at Capitale in Manhattan and Output in Brooklyn.

Local event listings from the new Masterplanner: http://www.masterplanneronline.com/newyork

ORLANDO/CENTRAL FLORIDA:  The World Food Championships opens today in Celebration. Through November 10, more than 350 teams from 40 states and 18 countries are competing in nine categories for more than $300,000 in cash and prizes.

SAN FRANCISCO:  The third annual Fog Design & Art fair, which benefits the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, will take place January 14-17 at Fort Mason Center Festival Pavilion. A preview gala is slated for January 13.

TORONTO:  More than 200 restaurants will participate in the 2016 Winterlicious culinary event series, taking place from January 29-February 11.

WASHINGTON, D.C.:  Adweek: "Emmy award-winning journalist Rob Hendin has joined The Atlantic’s event business AtlanticLive as executive producer. This is a new role at AtlanticLive.” http://bit.ly/1Q6wbs6

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 Jenny Berg in Chicago, Alesandra Dubin in Los Angeles, Mitra Sorrells in Orlando, and Beth Kormanik, Michele Laufik, Jill Menze, Anna Sekula, and Ian Zelaya in New York.

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