If you made it to Olmsted's Flurrious! festival this past Saturday, chances are that you saw some sights that you will never forget. For me, I thought that the quidditch brigade that led from Ring Road to the playing field was out of sight. The players were dressed in uniform colors, waving flags, chanting, parading, high-fiving and carrying on like nobody's business. By the time they reached the field, it looked like some sort of European village had been plunked down on top of a snowy meadow with rivals duking it out in a high intensity game of soccer or rugby. The only difference was that each player was outfitted with a broom, and before long the play turned into an all-out ruckus.
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While the quidditch players were mixing it up, the kickball and softball fields were alive with swinging bats and flying balls, as contestants, some of whom were wearing shorts and/or t-shirts screamed and shouted for their teammates to kick harder, run faster... to bring home the Flurrious! trophies for all to see.
The Parkside Lodge was bustling with kids' activities, while the Brews and Stews tent hosted an awesome array of musicians who revved up the audience for twelve hours straight.
Unfortunately the ice hockey exhibition only made it to noon - that's when the combination of sun and hockey players fractured the ice, stopping play. In true Flurrious! spirit, the ice was turned over to the peewee skaters who were ecstatic with their good fortune.
The fun run and the bike brigade went off without a hitch, and to everyone's surprise there was enough snow for x-country skiing and horse-drawn sleigh rides. The snow 'beach' tennis was the icing on the cake.
If you missed the festival, I've put together a slide show - just to get you in the mood for next year's event.
Lead photos taken by photographer Alex Fisher:
1st picture: Member of Rochester Thestrals playing quidditch
2nd Picture: kickball finals
3rd Picture: Quidditch, Rochester Institute of Technology vs. WEQL Griffins
Here's the slide show - photos by Queenseyes:
Thanks again to Alex Fisher for the photos below:
From the looks of things, I guess we missed out on everything. It looked like most activity was during the early morning and afternoon. I read the event was until 10pm. We heading down there about 6:30pm (after a bite on Hertel) thinking to ice skate a bit, maybe take a horse drawn carriage ride or even a moonlight snow shoe walk in Delaware Park, end it with a few beers. All that was there was the tent with a band and no Blue Light. I'm not a big fan of micro brews. I just thought maybe this was something more - good luck and for next year maybe think of keeping activities running right up till the ending time of the event.
NeverHome, you're right - the activities started early in the AM and ran until dusk. Weather prevented the skating rink from staying open, and without Olmsted's Winter Nights and Lights Event there was not enough light to carry on with events once the sun went down. We were amazed at how many kegs of Blue Light were kicked. Next year we'll add a couple barrels to the inventory. I posted all of the event times last week (on BRO, FB, etc.) in hopes that visitors would plan accordingly... the morning and day were packed with events, and we designed the evening to chill out with live music and drinks. Thanks for passing along the suggestions - we will keep them in mind for next year!