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You are receiving this newsletter as a MFEA MEMBER BENEFIT
Please feel free to share this e-publication with your staff, volunteers, and board. If you believe this publication would be beneficial for an organization that is not an MFEA member, then please encourage that organization to become a member. Feel free to send inquiries to Sabrina at [email protected] or call the office at (989) 845-2080.
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Dear Friends,
MFEA is kicking off 2016 with flying colors. We are excited to announce our new addition of the MLive Media Group Spring Tabloid. You will be hearing from both MLive and michigan.com on advertising opportunities to be featurted in their printed publications. We advise you to take full advantage of these opportunities and select the best fit for your target markets.
Coming in March you will be receiving a 2016 Membership Packet from MFEA.
- 2016 Festivals, Fairs, Events and Main Attractions Brochure
- 2016 Buyers' Guide- Support your MFEA Vendors!
- Michigan Council of Arts and Cultural Affairs Grant Writing Workshop Dates
- Join our Parade Brochure-share the story of MFEA and our benefits
- MFEA Silent Auction Signature Fundraiser donation forms and invitation letter
- Please donate today to support MFEA
- Bid, bid, bid once the auction opens April 14th
Thank you for all of your participation, support and involvement.
Party On ~ MI Friends!
Sue Bila, CFEE
President/CEO
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Words of Wisdom
Larry Nielsen, Manager
Village of Paw Paw
Festivals are like falling in love and weddings. Love is the easy part; planning the wedding is the 'yikes.'
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Become a Member
Please SHARE!
Below are the groups who can become a member of the Michigan Festivals & Events Association. Each listing will take you to a list of benefits - Why should you join? We encourage you to share with your friends and colleagues who would be the perfect fit for MFEA!
MI Main Attractions by MFEA Invitation Only
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Featured Festival:
Tulip Time
Holland, May 7-14, 2016
Tulip Time is held in Holland from May 7 through 14 featuring 4.5 million tulips, Dutch heritage and culture events, trolley rides, arts & craft fair, a performance by Bill Engvall and MORE. Tulip Time is not only being featured in the MFEA February newsletter but also on television!
P. Allen Smith, one of America's most recognized, award-winning garden and design experts, shared ideas and inspiration for all gardening enthusiasts during Tulip Time 2015. But what many don't know is that while he was here in Holland, his production crew was busy experiencing Tulip Time as well. The crew immersed themselves in all of the festival happenings in order to create exciting episodes that are now being featured on P. Allen Smith's Garden Home and his syndicated 30-minute show, P. Allen Smith Garden Style.
The episodes include segments on The City of Holland and its involvement in America In Bloom, Tulip Time festivities including everything from street scrubbing to sampling Dutch foods at Marktplaats, and a grain-to-glass story about Coppercraft Distilleries featuring Windmill Island Gardens and DeZwaan.
"It was so much fun hosting Allen's crew during the festival," stated Gwen Auwerda, executive director of Tulip Time. "It gave all of us a chance to share our best with the crew, and now, nationwide with the viewers of these great programs."
P. Allen Smith's Garden Style "Double Dutch" segment can now be viewed on
YouTube.
P. Allen Smith's Garden Home episode 1506 "It's Tulip Time," which includes additional footage of Allen's visit, is scheduled to run on WGVU TV on Saturday, April 30th and will repeat on WGVU and Life during the week of May 1.
For any questions regarding the television features or Tulip Time, feel free to contact Susan Zalnis.
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Complimentary...Attend a Grant Workshop Near You!
MFEA partners with MCACA
Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA) is hosting six grant workshops across the lower and upper peninsulas in April. MFEA will also be presenting as part of the grant workshop programs.
We would love to see you learn to write a successful grant proposal and proudly represent your organization and MFEA.
MCACA Executive Director, John Bracey, believes these grant workshops will help organizations be successful in the grant review process and therefore receiving funding. Which in turn "ensures families have have opportunities to do things together, to learn about their heritage, to express themselves and think critically and just have some fun. Simply put, they make Michigan better."
- April 11, 10am at Flint Institute of Arts (Flint, MI)
- April 12, 10am at Artworks (Big Rapids, MI)
- April 13, 10am at MEDC (Lansing, MI)
- April 26, 10am at William Bonifas Fine Arts Center (Escanaba, MI)
- April 28, 10am at Copper Country Community Arts Center (Hancock, MI)
- April 29, 10am at Cheboygan Area Public Library (Cheboygan, MI)
Funding available for operations, projects, professional development, capital improvements, and mini-grants through your regional re-granting organization. Check out full schedule and details here.
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Who's Talking Now?
Vickie & Dennis Bragg of
The Donut Diner
You may remember the sweet smell and delightful taste of the mini donuts each morning at the registration table at
the
23rd Annual Convention
. Well look no further, Vickie and Dennis Bragg tell their story of
The Donut Diner
:
We were owner/operators at Wandering Wheels Campground in Munising, MI for 10 yrs. After selling our business in '01, we were searching for the perfect opportunity.
On a trip to Florida, we enjoyed the mini donuts at one of the local flea markets and the idea was formed. We started thinking about building a concession trailer.
The Donut Diner was established in 2003 with a brand new custom designed trailer, and began working at fairs and festivals throughout Michigan. The Donut Diner is on wheels, so it comes to your event to sell hot, fresh treats.
We remember receiving the phone call from MFEA to offer our mini donuts to all convention goers many years ago, and we were glad to do it! Our membership has provided a great connection for helping to understand the events from all angles. Whether it is the requirements of the festival or our requirements (hookups, etc. for our trailer) it helps to work together to provide the very best for all festival attendees.
Donut Diner provides more than those tasty mini-donuts! You can find their full menu on their
website
, which includes pretzel fillers, slusheez, jumbo pretzels, Pepsi products, coffee and cappuccino, and of course varieties of mini donuts, and dippin' donuts. Contact Vickie and Dennis Bragg to book
The Donut Diner for your next event!
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Party @ MI Place Podcast
Sue Bila, CFEE, President/CEO of the Michigan Festivals and Events Association reviews festivals and events from all around Michigan, looks ahead to events people should know about around the state, and then highlights people in the festivals and events industry who are making a difference in the economy of the state. Below is a list of the February features, click on the link to listen to the podcast:
You can listen to the podcast 12:00 PM every Wednesday
Replay: 6:00 PM, 12:00 AM and 6:00 AM.
Please email Cindy if you are interested in being featured on the Party @ MI Place Podcast.
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Free Promotional Opportunity
MFEA social media program
We are looking to promote and showcase each of our members using social media. Please email your information or any other ideas to
[email protected]
Performance of the Week
Featuring our Acts and Entertainers
Please share a video, brief description, upcoming performance dates, times and locations, contact information including booking information, website, Facebook page and anything else you would like to include.
Vendor of the Week
Please share any images, videos or posts you would MFEA to feature about your businesses, services, specials or offerings. Include your contact information.
Festival, Fair and Events Feature
Please share any pictures, videos, articles, news releases, stories that you would like posted.
MI Main Attractions
We welcome any fun or exciting information regarding these destinations!
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Featured Vendor:
Greg Lester's Puppet Adventures
We would like to give
Greg Lester's Puppet Adventures
a warm MFEA welcome! Greg Lester's Puppet Adventures resides in Oxford, Michigan and is a new vendor member of the association.
Greg Lester's Puppet Adventures is now on tour! Bringing fantastic fairy tale stories to life with world-class puppetry! Fully engaging entertainment for audiences young, and the young at heart. An ensemble of hand-crafted puppets, scene changes, lighting and special effects. With over 35,000 hours into the creation of the company and twenty years of refinement, it's a show to remember!
Check out a recent
video
and booking information
online
!
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Member Invitation!
Participate in 655,000 printed promotional materials
MFEA is growing as an association and is presenting a new avenue and MEMBER BENEFIT! We are partnering with MLive Media Group and michigan.com to bring you a cost-effective advertising opportunity to reach new audiences across Michigan! The partnership has allowed for special MFEA prices for full color publications to unique demographics.
MLive Media Group and
michigan.com will be contacting you regarding these opportunities.
Check out the details
here. You should also be receiving this same information from MFEA via mail.
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Budget - Travel!
2016 MFEA Convention: Kalamazoo, November 3-6, 2016
Now that you have an annual budget - at least we hope so! Consider including monetary expenses to attend the 24th Annual MFEA Convention in Kalamazoo from November 3 through November 6.
Let's start with travel. How many miles is Kalamazoo from your town?
- Grand Rapids > Kalamazoo: 50 miles
- Traverse City > Kalamazoo: 190 miles
- Marquette > Kalamazoo: 450 miles
- Niles > Kalamazoo: 58 miles
- Detroit > Kalamazoo: 155 miles
- Lansing > Kalamazoo: 75 miles
Now let's do some math, using $1.80 as the price of gas per gallon and 25 average miles per gallon:
Cost of Travel =
(Round-Trip Miles x Price of Gas per Gallon)
- Grand Rapids: $7.20
- Traverse City: $27.36
- Marquette: $64.80
- Niles: $8.36
- Detroit: $22.32
- Lansing: $10.80
Now imagine if you carpooled with two or more volunteers, organizers, or board members of your organization! The amount of quality education and networking earned at Convention significantly surpasses the minimal cost of traveling to Convention.
Successful organizations have budgets-be successful!
Questions regarding budgets, feel free to contact the
MFEA office
.
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Free Collage Maker: BeFunky
Collage your photos
Have you ever wanted to collage photos from a memorable event for a Facebook post, poster, or promotional piece but didn't want to spend the money on a collage software or upload all the photos to your phone? BeFunky Collage Maker has come to the rescue!
BeFunky is extremely easy to use and creates a visual masterpiece.
- FREE
- Over 50 striking photo templates
- Hundreds of photo enhancement options
- Customize colors and backgrounds to match your brand
- Four easy steps
- Save your collage to your computer, Facebook, Google Drive, and more!
Please share your BeFunky collage with MFEA via email or tag MFEA on Facebook! Good luck and have fun collage-ing.
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| Danish Festival 2016 Poster Submission
Deadline: March 25, 2016
The Danish Festival is a three day event held August 18-21 in Greenville, Michigan.
The
Danish Festival is seeking artists to submit an original poster to celebrate the 52nd annual festival theme of "The Flea and the Professor."
First published in 1874 The Flea and the Professor is a short story by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen.
Original designs in any medium are acceptable for the contest. The artwork should represent the Hans Christian Andersen story of "The Flea and the Professor" in a creative but realistic interpretation. The artwork must not have been previously reproduced. There is no limit on the number of entries. Each entry must include the artist's name, address and phone number displayed on the back. The finished artworks should be on paper and no smaller than 12"x 16"'.
All entries must be received by March 25, 2016. The winning artist will receive a $250 cash prize along with having their artwork displayed as the cover of the 2016 Danish Festival booklet.
For further information, please visit our website at danishfestival.org or call the Danish Festival office at 616-754-6369.
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February overview
The acts and entertainment below provided MFEA with a video, brief description, times and locations, contact information including booking information, website, and Facebook page, to be featured as the "Performance of the Week" on the MFEA social media sites.
Check your fellow acts and entertainment vendors featured in February, click on the link to view a video of each group!
Email
Sabrina to be included in a future Performance of the Week!
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New Members
Vendors
Festivals and Events
Main Attractions
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Our Mission
To Support and promote festivals, fairs, events, attractions, suppliers and tourism through education, marketing and networking for the success of our members.
Ideas Shared...Visions Formed...A New Level!
Michigan Festivals and Events Association
P.O. Box 22
Chesaning, MI 48616
(989) 845-2080
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