Ocarina Slam: The first US Ocarina Gathering!
After several months of discussion, planning, and preparation, I am proud to officially announce the first ever Ocarina Gathering in the West! Here are the details:
What: Ocarina Slam
Where: Seattle, WA
When: August 6th and 7th, 2009
Start Time: 6:00pm
Price: FREE
Who’s Invited: EVERYONE!
Website: OcarinaFestival.net
What will be happening there? Performing, trading, learning, and most importantly, making new friends! There will be several opportunities for attendees to perform in public, so start practicing! We are also trying to arrange a raffle with several CD’s, ocarinas, and other awesome prizes! Some cool people in attendance will be Sandi and Richard Schmidt of Clayzeness Whistleworks, Nancy Rumbel of Tingstad and Rumbel, Cynthia Smith of North Country Workshop, Karl Ahrens of Mountain Ocarinas, and a few other special guests.
Although we will be having several events around this gathering, the main purpose of coming together this year is for the Slam’s organizers to begin planning for 2010 International Ocarina Festival. Most of the planning will take place apart from the main events, but there will be several opportunities for attendees to partake in the brainstorming for next year’s event.
As many of you know, this event was originally to be held in Colombia, MO, which we selected because of its central location in the US. However, because our friend and host in Missouri had a serious family emergency, he was unable to continue making arrangements in Colombia. It is hard enough organizing an event of this size over the internet, but without someone on the ground, it proved too difficult. So we decided on the next best thing…the US Ocarina Capital, Seattle WA! For more info on why we selected Seattle, Click Here.
We do ask that all those who will be attending to register for the event by visiting the festival website or clicking HERE. This is simply to help us prepare for all the attendees and make sure we have enough snacks and other items for all participants.
For more info on the event, please visit OcarinaFestival.net and if you’d like to help us out and volunteer, feel free to join the forums through the site. Thanks so much and hope to see you in Seattle!
P.S. – If you can’t make it this year, don’t worry. There will be plenty of pictures and videos to follow