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Do you Hullabaloo?
The inaugural Flag fest aims to celebrate all things local
By Penelope Bass
Published on 07/08/2010
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[ view additional photos ]
A new twist on old-school: Hullabaloo headliners Sergio Mendoza Y La Orkesta will take the stage at 5 p.m. Photos by Mark Martinez.
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So, what exactly is a hullabaloo? A hubbub? A brouhaha? A
mêlée? A whole to-do? Will there be lots of lollygagging and dilly-
dallying and tomfoolery and ballyhoo? Before you know it, we’ll all
be living in a Lewis Carroll poem.
But for our purposes, the Hullabaloo is a celebration of all things
Flagstaff—complete with bikes, beer, costumes, games, live music
and, of course, giant puppets.
“‘All things Flagstaff’ is kind of an ambitious thing to go after,” says
Matt Ziegler, one of the six primary organizers of the first annual
Flagstaff Hullabaloo. Helping him to craft the event has been his
wife, Hadassah Ziegler, as well as Rand and Jennifer Jenkins and
Jason and Helen Costello. “We want all of Flagstaff to come, and
that’s how we can celebrate it.”
If the premise sounds similar to that of a certain New Belgium-
sponsored event, it’s not just a coincidence. “It was our inspiration—
something like Tour de Fat but with a more local flavor,” explains
Ziegler. “I feel two different ways about it; I don’t want to be seen as
these guys who just came in and wanted to just do Tour de Fat but
call it something else—I don’t want to be just a knockoff. But at the
same time, they really were a huge inspiration so there are going to
be a lot of similarities to Tour de Fat. I don’t feel like having a big
party in a park, drinking beer with bikes and music is something that
Tour de Fat invented. Drinking beer on the grass in the summertime
has been popular ever since there was beer. But it was a great
event, and we definitely take a lot of inspiration from them.”
The Tour de Fat was indeed a popular event. The Fort Collins,
Colo.,-based brewery New Belgium began taking their beer on the
road with a multi-city tour to celebrate bicycles and beer across the
West and benefit local advocacy groups along the way. Their first
event in Flagstaff was held in 2000. Although Flag was one of the
smallest cities on their route, we provided some of the largest, most
absurdly-costumed and bike-crazy crowds.
Our Tour de Fat turnouts
became legendary, and the masses came—many from the Valley.
Drunkeness got out of control, lines stretched around the block,
and a festival meant to advocate bicycling was being driven to from
hundreds of miles away. We loved it to death, and finally, three
years ago, the Flagstaff stop on the Tour de Fat was discontinued.
“I was really sad when they ended up pulling out, or whatever the
case was,” says Ziegler. “And a lot of people I know felt the same
way because it was one of the most fun events of the year.”
After the heartbreaking, but sadly necessary, departure of Tour de
Fat left a gaping hole in our cultural party boat, Ziegler and friends
began devising a way to create a similar celebration but on a local
level. It’s taken years of planning to even snag a date in Wheeler
Park, but finally the concept has been reborn in the form of the
Flagstaff Hullabaloo.
“I think we are going to get back to what Tour de Fat originally was
before it got out of hand, which is just a really great local festival,”
Ziegler says.
Local businesses are also excited to see an event of this nature up
and running again, and many have jumped on board to participate
or be sponsors. “Well-run, well-attended events at Wheeler Park
have a positive spillover effect into the shops and restaurants of
downtown,” explains John VanLandingham, owner of the Old Town
Shops. “This event seems like a great idea, and we wanted to be
involved on the ground level to support it and see it be successful.”
“We wanted to be supportive of bringing another event into
downtown with the belief that it will fill that void that was left by the
exit of Tour de Fat,” adds Paul Brinkmann, managing member of
Pay N’ Take, which is also sponsoring. “And it seems like an exciting
festival atmosphere that lends itself with the downtown scene.”
In keeping with the Tour de Fat tradition—and the passions of the
Flag community—Hullabaloo will be strongly focused around bicycle
advocacy and our local biking culture. The day kicks off with the
Pay N’ Take bike parade and continues with bike-related events
and contests, such as the wheelie contest and the long-ride
competition. The festival will also help benefit Flagstaff Biking
Organization with 25 percent of the alcohol proceeds going to
them.
“They do great programs like free or discounted helmets for kids,
they do a lot of trail maintenance, and just their bicycle advocacy
efforts are pretty great,” says Ziegler. “We just wanted to have a
strong biking element to the festival.”
“The bike-and-beer festival has always been popular with Flagstaff,”
says FBO board member Melissa Dunston. “I think it was a natural
match to help us promote awareness of our efforts.”
The festival will also include live music all day, with both local bands
and out-of-town headliners. Local favorites like Gravy, Sambátuque
and Muskellunge Bluegrass will be taking the stage along with the
always-outrageously attired Sedona cover band Yin Yang & Zen
Some. Tucson group Sergio Mendoza Y La Orkesta, which opened
locally for Calexico and played a few solo gigs following, will close
out the event.
“The guy—Sergio Mendoza—he plays with Calexico, so this is his
other main project. He’s so young, he’s like 25, but he’s created this
crazy ’20s/’30s-esque big band thing but they’re edgy,” Ziegler
gushes. “It’s really funky and jazzy and high-energy. It’s a pretty
amazing act.”
There will also be games and activities happening throughout the
day, as well as several non-profit organizations and vendors with
booths. “We’re working on getting a possible elected official and
definitely some local celebs in the dunk tank,” explains Ziegler.
“There’s this giant puppet troupe that does big festivals like
Telluride Bluegrass and they’re going to be here with the giant
puppets and stilt-walkers and clowns and face painting—they are
awesome! There will be Frisbee disc putting. And there will be a
bounce house, a giant slide and a 78-foot caterpillar as part of the
kids’ area.”
As would be expected at a Flagstaff event, costumes are strongly
encouraged. Andres Adauto, manager at Incahoots and local style
icon, will be one of the judges of the costume contest and offers
some predictions. “I think with it being summer and the overall
attitude, costumes will be as bright as possible—bright boas, tutus
are always fun because they’re like wearing a cloud, wings for the
motion of it—because at a certain point on a bike it does almost
feel like your floating or flying,” explains Adauto. “Just the fun
outrageous stuff.
“If you’re comparing clothes to food, costumes are definitely
dessert,” continues Adauto, attempting to explain our infatuation
with dressing up. “They’re brightly colored, sweet, it brings a smile to
your face even if you’re trying to fight it, and the more ridiculous the
better. It kind of puts you in a realm where if you’re dressed fun,
your mindset is already there. It doesn’t take imbibing lots of alcohol
—which is also fun—but once your already outwardly displaying fun,
it’s going to affect you from the inside out.”
So in the spirit of celebrating all things Flagstaff, Ziegler says he
hopes the Hullabaloo will help craft a new tradition on the local
festival scene. “We really want to have something for everyone.
We’re trying to make something that everyone would like to come to
and have a good time.”
The Flagstaff Hullabaloo will be held this Sat, July 10 in Wheeler
Park in downtown Flagstaff and runs from 11 a.m.–7 p.m. Entrance
is $5, but from 11 a.m. to noon admission is free to the first 500
people. Tickets to the VIP area, which will include complimentary
food, limited complimentary beer, couches and designated porta-
potties, are $25. The event is 21 and up except for kids
accompanied by parents. For all the details, or to purchase tickets
in advance, visit www.flaghullabaloo.com.
Schedule of Events
10:15 Bike Parade departs from City Hall
11:00-12:00 DJ Johnny Swoope
12:00-1:00 Muskellunge Bluegrass
1:15-2:30 Gravy
2:30-3:00 Hopi Dances
3:00-4:30 Yin Yang & Zen Some
4:45 Costume Contest Winners Announced
5:00-6:30 Sergio Mendoza Y La Orkesta
To see recent Flag Live cover story features, click here.
Additional photos for this story:
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