Festivus Wrap

(click card for pics)
After a weekend of sleep and getting a break from Festivus plans, I guess it's time to wrap it up with a sincere thank you to everyone that came out in some pretty cold weather and the businesses and Lifetime Members For Life that could make donations.

I never imagined that when I started asking around for some donations that I would get such an outpouring from local and non-local businesses. Listed below are some of the friends of the FBC. Be sure to check out each of their websites and if they sell stuff, buy it.

• Knog - What can I say about these guys. From the great stuff they gave us when they came to ride in July to the bag of fun they left for this one, everything is above and beyond. Be sure to check out their latest catalog for the 2010 products (clickable link at the bottom of their page). There are some pictures from their visit earlier this year. I'm disappointed my picture wasn't in there but I have the need-for-attention chromosome. Just counting what they gave me for the Festivus Ride, I had over $120.00 in prizes.
  
• Chrome - Another great supporter of all things bicycle. You will find their link to the left like most of those mentioned here. I have carried a Chrome bag for a real long time and it has been through the wringer. Everything from snow to sand and mud to dust, this poor bag has kept it's end of the bargain and kept it's contents safe and dry. Unless you count that time I filled it with ice and beer. It performed that task admirably as well. Chrome sent me a box of goodies including their Hip Pouch that cost $40.00 and a couple of t-shirts and some really big stickers. Another group that sent me $120.00 in stuff. A great bunch of folks. Now if I could just get them to come off a pair of those knickers...
  
• Fresh Abundance - Most of you are familiar with the organic grocery store from our Fiascoween party there, but if you haven't been there yet you should go. They carry local and organic foods and they also deliver. Their prize to the FBC was a membership for a year. Giving the winner delivery for a year and one free box of fruit and vegetables. At $85.00 it would be a bargain at twice the price. Thanks to Jacque and BrightSpirit.
  
• N. Division Bicycles - These guys have always been good to me and the FBC. From a good price on a couple of awesome bikes to donations for the Festivus two years running. They are a bit out of town but it's worth the trip. If you are going by bike, I have a handy little route mapped so you don't have to mess around with Division. Thanks to everyone there, especially Brenda who was the one that rummaged around to get some items put together for me. I guess all the stuff they gave me was worth about $50.00.
  
• Water's End Massage - Lifetime Member For Life, Rick gave us this one. I really wanted to keep this one. A real massage would have been great after all the stress that went into putting this one together. However, it went to a LMFL that probably deserved it just as much. Thanks again Rick for this one. Rick, if this one has a website, email it to me.
  
• The Scoop - A repeat offender for the FBC. They constantly provide support in one way or another when it comes to the Fiasco. One month I lost our venue (because they are douches)at the last minute and Patrick came through with a call to his business partner down at Far West and got us set up there. I can't even mention the countless times I have been to The Scoop to moan about this or that and they listened attentively over several cups of coffee. Thanks Patrick and Elissa. Gift certificates and t-shirts for a total of about $70.00.
  
• Neato Burrito - And the Baby Bar. Someone else who goes above and beyond to help out the FBC. Tim and Patty are always there to lend a hand in the form of advertising, a venue for the smaller rides, a kick ass band and for the past two Festivus Rides, multiple 'Gift Cardboards'. About $50.00.
  
• Slick Rock - First time donation but no less important. Mark gave a pair of gift certificates, each one a free meal for two. It's the Slick Rock on the north side. About 50.00.
  
• Hank - This is a gift from a private donor. Hank decided that the FBC would get more use out of a $60.00 gift card than he would. How could I argue. Hank is the one that made the FBC video a while back. I'm going to do a bit of arm twisting to get him to come to more rides. We miss you Hank.
• Litz's - How could a bar be more accommodating to the FBC? Everything ran as smoothly as possible. Everyone was polite and served with a smile. There were even snacks set up, which I heard were delicious because I was a little too busy to get any before they disappeared. When I started calling out prizes, they show up with a stack of t-shirts and hats for me to give away. What a pleasant surprise. We will definitely be back during one of the warm months for some beach volleyball.
• MC Southworth - It seems as though Mike is always willing to play some loud music for us in any situation. I think this makes three or four times we have had him DJ for us and judging from the wall to wall smile on his face, I think he enjoys it somewhat. Thanks Mike.
  

Some other thank yous need to go out to some LMFL as well. Jacque was the one that took the reigns to get the venue set up. He'll tell you that it wasn't that much but one less thing for me to do is a big thing.
Lisa was the rock upon which I could smash my head. She handled the paperwork and organizing all the prizes. Also manning the Ring Toss station, she kept up with all the minutiae that I could not. She's the greatest that way. She was also able to recruit some help from Robin and Diane to get voting organized and some pictures taken during the award ceremony. There were very few businesses that gave me the run around, a cold no or no response at all and all of them are here in town. If you feel that it would effect your shopping habits, I can provide you with that information upon request.

This post is long enough already so I will spare you the details of the pre-ride, ride and post-ride and move right on to the next ride. THERE WILL BE NO NEW YEARS EVE RIDE. There are just too many amateurs out there in cars to get the FBC out there on bikes. I don't want to be responsible for your safety on a night like that. However, if you are planning on going out somewhere that night and you happen to be going on your bicycle, pass it along and maybe we can all end up at the same place at the same time. But it's not an FBC ride.

The next FBC Fiasco will be the first ride of 2010. Saturday, January 30th. Thank you to everyone that has made another year of Fiascoes successful. As always, you make this work so if you have any suggestions or gripes feel free to use any of the multiple ways of contact.

Riders: 100+; 19 degrees and cloudy.

Time For Festivus

I have been so wrapped up in school that I have forgotten to bombard you with reminders about the Festivus Ride.

If you are unfamiliar, the Festivus Ride is just like the Full Moon Fiasco in that we meet at The Swamp and ride to an undisclosed location only this month there will be many, many prizes.

Last year we were lucky enough to have it at Northern Lights and they set us up nicely outside and pretty much gave us free reign but I did not know that they were going to charge a gratuity on EVERYONES tab! That's right, if you bought one (1) drink, they charged a gratuity. You probably didn't know, so you tipped them as well. It was a dirty trick that will not happen again and I apologize for it happening then. Though that issue has been resolved, we are unable to have it there again this year due to prior bookings and blah, blah, blah; you don't care.

We also had to bump the date of the ride up to Friday the 4th instead of Saturday because of the Zags game. I was reminded of this by Jacque who has been a faithful Lifetime Member For Life and has gone above and beyond by tracking down an appropriate venue for our shenanigans.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN

Get there early for a spoke card. This will be your key to participate in the reindeer games. Please try to make a one dollar donation for the card. There will be a few opportunities to earn yourself a great prize as well as a giveaway later in the evening. To give you a hint as to what will be offered as prizes, I have over $300.00 in gift cards and merchandise to give away.

Some of the events include but are not limited to:

Bicycle Decorating Contest

• Best Overall
• Best Use of Lights
• Best Decorations

The Ring Toss Game

• First. Second. Third.

The Givaway

• Several Great Prizes

1. Decorate your bike.
   
   
2. Ride to The Swamp.
   (directions in sidebar on left)
   Friday December 4th, 8:00p.m.
   

Get there early for a spoke card and find me, they go fast. Any questions don't hesitate to send an email.

Festivus Begging

I have few breaks in my school schedule to allow me to work on Festivus planning so I have to start now to think that I can pull this off.

If you are not familiar with the FBC Festivus, it is a decorated bike ride that terminates at an event with bicycle themed games and prize giveaways. Last year was a overwhelming success with several businesses and individuals making donations. This year promises to be much larger and I am starting my annual begging for prize donations. Here is what I posted on Facebook:

With the Festivus Ride being so early in December (5th), I am working on donations for the event.

There are several events planned that include podium prizes (1st through 3rd). These events would include but not limited to the same ones from last year, such as the bike decorating contest with two categories and possibly an overall winner, the frame toss event and the very popular ring toss game. I would like to have others like maybe a slow race or some fixed gear stuff. Some of the 1st place prizes last year were pretty big, including wine from Caterina, a big gift certificate from Fresh Abundance, gear from North Division Bicycles, free stuff at The Scoop and Neato Burrito.

If you or someone you know would be able to donate something from your business or local bike shop, the FBC Spokane would certainly appreciate it. So much in fact that I would be able to post your logo or link on the blogspot, linking to any possible online information or a website and generally go on and on about how cool you are. Also, if you have a banner that you would like to display at the event you are welcome to do so, granted that you are responsible for bringing, hanging and removing.

Since all of this sounds like a good idea and you would like to participate, you are welcome to contact me here on facebook or the other FBC email address with what you would like to donate and information on how I can retrieve you donation:

fbcspokane(at)hotmail(dot)com

Thanks for being a fan. You make this whole thing work.

Like I mentioned in the post on Facebook, please contact me at the above email address and I can make arrangements to meet with you to collect whatever sort of donation you would like to make.

The Lifetime Members For Life really do make this whole thing work.

Super Secret Success

(click image for pics)
While eating my traditional post-fiasco breakfast of a bowl of croutons and lager, I could not get over how awesome the night was and that my head was pounding me with the force of a thousand Bing Crosbys.

This time our destination was Fresh Abundance. At first you may think that a bike trip to the grocery store is nothing out of the ordinary, but it was Fiascoween. Friend and Lifetime Member For Life, Bright Spirit runs the place and had this great idea of using some empty space behind the building to host a couple of bands, an outdoor beer garden, two fire pits, beer, wine and snacks. And do it all without charging a cover at the door. I'll have to say, she and her staff pulled it off magically. It was a great idea handled as smoothly as possible and I had nothing to do with it. Now that you know you can safely get there by bicycle, be sure to go by Fresh Abundance some time and buy some organic groceries.

Big thanks also to Quarter Monkey and B-Radicals for playing and even wearing costumes. I'll have to admit that one of the guitar players should have won the contest based solely on committing to shaving a bald spot on top of his head. That's dedication.

For the costume contest I just let the crowd decide and they narrowed the field first to about 15 participants then it was down to two. The Garden Gnome and Zombie Superman. Really, how do you pick? Again letting the crowd decide, there was overwhelming support for Zombie Superman who won a Sigg water bottle with the FBC logo on the side.

If you have pictures of Fiascoween you can link to them in the comments section or on the facebook site (link above, left).

I would also like to thank the weather for being extra awesome.

125+ riders; 45 degrees and clear

THE NEXT RIDE

The Fiasco on the horizon will be the Festivus Ride December 5th. For those of you that were able to participate last year, you know what a big deal this one is. I am in the process of contacting local and non-local businesses to get donations for prizes. There will be several events this year, all having podium prizes. I will also be looking to get volunteers to man these stations during the games. Don't worry, it shouldn't cut into your beer time or prevent you from participating in any of the events. So if you or a business you know of would be willing to help out the FBC this year, feel free to contact me. I am pretty busy with school this time around and could use all the help I can get. I will post more information as I get it. Any questions, email them.

Fiascoween III

Fiascoween is approaching rapidly and you still don't have a costume? Shame on you. Get into that box of crap that you never did unpack when you moved in two years ago, and find something to wear. If that doesn't help, or you have taken that box to donate, go buy it back from Classy Rack. For an extensive collection of Fiascoween gear, you can always go drop some coin at Value Village and get yourself a snazzy outfit.

I mentioned before that if you have some crazy, elaborate face decoration planned, be sure there is a way we can identify you so you can get in and enjoy all the adult beverage choices because this is a 21+ event.

Speaking of the event, we will be meeting at The Swamp, Saturday Oct 31st, at 7:00p.m. and having some fun there before getting saddled up for a ride to the Fiascoween III: Super Secret Party. There will be a band, wine by the glass, draft beer, snacks, an outdoor beer garden (as well as indoor, you pansies) and a costume contest. I don't know what sort of prize I will be able to give away for best costume, but I will come up with something.

The FBC received a mass mail out and got this about an event going on before Fiascoween, along with a flyer (I did not make it):

It is time to rock the November ballot with Spokane's first ever Trick or Vote!

The Washington Bus and Eastern Washington Progress are throwing the only Halloween rally in town. We will gather in our costumes at 3pm to do some training, and then go into Spokane neighborhoods to turn out votes (and get candy in the process)! We will offer people some info and will encourage Approving Ref. 71 and Rejecting 1033.

Here are the details:

What: A FREE Halloween canvass for equal rights and a better Washington! Youth and family friendly, all-ages event. Everyone is welcome to participate.
When: 3-7pm on Saturday, October 31st, 2009
Where: 17 W. Main Ave. in the Community Building Warehouse (Green building with ROW Adventure Center in the window. Right next door to Merlyn's.) Some free parking is available on E. Main across Division.

Doorbelling is one of the most effective ways to reach voters on important issues, AND it's fun! You get to explore a neighborhood, meet interesting people, and get more mileage out of your costume! Volunteers will go out in pairs, but larger groups are also possible if you want to Trick or Vote with your whole posse.

When people are done with canvassing (routes will be provided on clip boards) we will have a volunteer appreciation social after people get back to the warehouse. Then you'll be out the door with plenty of time to enjoy other holiday functions.

To RSVP:

1. Reply All to this email so our Volunteer Coordinator Suzy can put you on the list!
   
2. RSVP to Trick or Vote on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=149280051427
3. Sign up as a "Zombie Captain" to bring at least 5 of your friends. Send your team's email addresses to Suzy at shalberstadt@gmail.com.

So there you go. The important thing is that you make it to The Swamp Saturday Oct. 31st at 7:00p.m. to join in the fun. Get there early to get a spoke card and if you can, donate a dollar