Downtown Fort Worth Events Win Marketing Awards from International Festivals and Events Association

17 Sep 2005

by: Laura Squires

Promotional materials cited for excellence in 13 categories of judging

FORT WORTH, Texas (September 19, 2005) – The MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival and the Sundance Square Parade of Lights teamed up to win Pinnacle Awards in 13 separate categories at the 50th Annual Reunion Convention & Expo of the International Festivals and Events Association (IFEA), which took place Sept. 12-16 at the Marriott San Antonio Rivercenter in San Antonio, Texas.

MAIN ST. was a gold-award winner in the judging for “Best Sponsor Follow-Up Report” and “Best Pin/Button.” In the competition for the Grand Pinnacle Award, given each year to the event with the best overall marketing campaign, MAIN ST. took a bronze award among the 50 entries received from around the world. The presentations were made Wednesday, Sept. 14, during a special ceremony at the IFEA convention.

“This was a tremendous showing for MAIN ST. and the Parade of Lights, which earned the right to being mentioned in the same breath with other 2005 winners like the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Kentucky Derby Festival,” said Carlos de la Torre, chair of Downtown Fort Worth, Inc.’s Festivals and Events Committee. “We salute the members of our Festivals and Events Committee, and especially the volunteers on our hard-working Event Management Team, for staging two events of the quality we saw captured in the award-winning marketing materials.”

Twelve of this year’s Haas & Wilkinson/Pinnacle Awards, including three silvers and seven bronzes in addition to the two golds, went to MAIN ST., which was competing against more than 100 other festivals and events with annual budgets ranging between $500,000 and $1.5 million. The 13th award, a silver for “Best Brochure” in the category for events with budgets of $250,000 and under, went to the Parade of Lights for its 2004 parade entry form.

“These awards from the IFEA confirm that MAIN ST. and the Parade of Lights are securing a place among the best loved and attended public gatherings not only in this country, but throughout the world,” said John C. “Jay” Downie, CFEE, producer of the events for DFWI. “This has been due in no small part to the momentum created by the marketing materials.”

Each year the IFEA’s Haas & Wilkinson/Pinnacle Awards recognize outstanding examples of quality and creativity in the promotional programs and materials produced by its member festivals and events around the world. Some 1,500 entries were received for this year’s awards.

About the Sundance Square Parade of Lights

The Sundance Square Parade of Lights, presented by Chase, is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 25, in downtown Fort Worth. Featuring more than 100 highly illuminated entries, it will be the centerpiece of a downtown celebration of warmth and family tradition. From Belknap Street to Commerce Street, around 6th Street to Houston Street and up to Weatherford, the parade will wrap downtown in its own “Holiday Storytime” theme. Applications for parade entries and for the parade’s “Street Seats” program are being accepted through Oct. 24. For more information, visit the event’s Web site at www.fortworthparadeoflights.org .

About MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival

The 21st annual MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival, the biggest and best attended arts-and-entertainment festival in the Southwest, is scheduled for April 20-23, 2006. The event is produced by Downtown Fort Worth Initiatives, and presented by Coors Light. Art Fair SourceBook and The Harris List, the two authoritative reference works on the nation’s art-festival scene, both rank MAIN ST. #8 among the hundreds of events they review each year. The Harris List also rates MAIN ST. as the best festival in Texas. The annual four-day celebration includes a juried fine art-and-craft fair, live concerts, performance artists and street performers, all arrayed along a nearly mile-long stretch of historic Main Street in downtown Fort Worth. For more information about MAIN ST., visit the festival’s Web site at www.mainstreetartsfest.org.