ok lil update...
Thrilling the world: Downtown event a success
JOHN D. WALLER, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 10/27/2008 10:54:18 AM EDT
var requestedWidth = 0; Click photo to enlarge
'Zombies' participate in a record breaking attempt on Saturday afternoon to have the largest... if(requestedWidth > 0){ document.getElementById('articleViewerGroup').style.width = requestedWidth + "px"; document.getElementById('articleViewerGroup').style.margin = "0px 0px 10px 10px"; }
Monday, October 27
BENNINGTON — Most area residents didn't need a meteorologist to tell them it was going to rain on Saturday.
All they needed to know was that it was the day of the Great Pumpkin Challenge and they could figure out the rest for themselves (the same local intuition exists for the Bennington Car Show, according to locals on Main Street).
However, this year the event's organizers planned for the worst; they weren't going to get fooled a third time. They planned indoor events, such as a dance at the Elks Lodge and a pumpkin bake-off. And they brought "Thrill the World" to Bennington, which got 111 zombie-clad locals dancing to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" in the Bennington Firehouse.
First time in Bennington
The large choreographed dance was part of an annual effort to break the Guinness World Record for largest simultaneous dance. And even though the event, in its third year (first in Bennington), didn't quite match the magnitude of 197,000 Canadian school children doing the hokey pokey in 2002 (the current record), it still drew 4,000 zombies worldwide at 65 sites in nine countries.
Bennington tied with Minehead and Somerset, England, for having the ninth most participants at any given site. "It certainly lived up to my expectations — if not more," said Lin Bootle, the event's organizer who taught people the dance over the past two months. Austin, Texas, led with 880 participants.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada had one.
The local dance troupe consisted of mostly mothers and daughters. However, that didn't stop Dennis Fitzhugh from putting on a retro lime green tuxedo and getting down. "My wife made me do it," he said. "She said it would be fun."
Fitzhuth's wife, Marisa, and their daughter, Kara, a third-grader at Shaftsbury Elementary School, also took part. Many girls, including Jocelynn Neville, 8, who came up from North Adams, Mass., said their zombie dresses were going to be worn as their trick-or-treating costumes, but Kara is going to change things up. "I'm going as Hannah Montana," she said.
There were many mother-daughter combinations in the crew. Tiffany Morse and her daughter, Amber, a sixth grader at Mount Anthony Union Middle School dressed as a zombie bride, did their best Michael Jackson impressions, as did Maureen Stadnik and her 12-year-old daughter, Emily. "It was a fun thing to do as mother-daughter," Stadnik said sporting a black Motley Crue wig. "We don't get many opportunities to do things like this."
The dancers also took part in the Great Pumpkin Challenge parade, which featured a Volkswagen Beetle decorated as a jack-o'-lantern, a train pulling toddlers dressed as a power ranger and Jeff Gordon, a headless person and a metal sculpture that played different tones when a torch was moved around underneath it.
Main Street was also lined with pumpkins from Four Corners to the library. Some pumpkins got political, supporting either presidential candidate Sens. Barack Obama or John McCain. Others depicted the Bennington Battle Monument, spelled out slogans like, "Vermont, A Special Place," or had the classic jack-o'-lantern face. One was in the likeness of state senate candidate Ruth Harvie, complete with a yin-yang bandana. John Shannahan, executive director of Better Bennington Corp., which puts on the event, called the day a "success." He said Bennington is unique in that it's able to put on numerous events each year, unlike other towns that maybe have one. "Bennington is known statewide for its events," he said. "I credit our success to local organizations, the town and merchants working together, residents willing to volunteer and a close-knit community."
http://www.benningtonbanner.com/ci_10827661?source=most_viewed
Fancifull Gift Baskets aims to unwrap growth
Email Picture
Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times
Wally and Terry August own Fancifull Gift Baskets. Revenue has fallen at the Los Angeles store, whose clients include Michael Jackson and the sultan of Brunei.
[COLOR=#333333! important]A small-business consultant advises owners of the Los Angeles firm to focus on marketing, expand the product line and boost Fancifull's presence on the Web.[/color]
[COLOR=#999999! important]By Cyndia Zwahlen [/color]
[COLOR=#999999! important]October 27, 2008 [/color]
The back wall at the Melrose Avenue shop Fancifull Gift Baskets is dominated by a giant organizational chart detailing who does what in dozens of jobs across seven divisions and 21 departments.
The diagram, created by owners Wally and Terry August, steers employees to the right person for help as they create and deliver as many as 18,000 gifts and gift baskets each year. That includes the $4,000 gift-filled trunks ordered every Christmas by the sultan of Brunei for President Bush, Nancy Reagan, Bill Clinton and others.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-bizmakeover27-2008oct27,0,2512297.story
Seems Michael took this particular day off as there are no "Today in Michael Jackson History" :lol:
