DFWI Big Winners at TFEA Awards Event

15 Jul 2005

by: David Doremus

Excellence of promotional materials is recognized in seven categories of judging

FORT WORTH, Texas, July 15, 2005 – MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival and its sister event, the Parade of Lights, combined to take home marketing awards in seven different categories from the Texas Festivals and Events Association’s Annual Conference, staged July 15-17 at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine, Texas.

“The tremendous success enjoyed by MAIN ST. and Parade of Lights this past year was due in no small part to the quality of the marketing materials,” said John C. “Jay” Downie, CFEE, who produces both events for Downtown Fort Worth Initiatives. “The creativity and craftsmanship that went into them mirrored the quality of the events themselves.”

Seven of the awards went to MAIN ST., which was competing against other festivals and events with annual budgets of $500,000 and up:

• Best Pin (designed and produced by Pressman Printing)
• Best Hat (logo design by Pinkerton Design, hat designed and produced by Pressman Printing)
• Best T-Shirt (designed and produced by Pressman Printing)
• Best Promotional Poster (designed by Witherspoon)
• Best Cover Design (designed by Witherspoon, produced by the Star-Telegram)
• Best Sponsorship Solicitation Package
• Best

Photo (photo taken by Amitava Sarkar for Downtown Fort Worth, Inc.)

An eighth marketing award, for “Best Brochure” in the category for events with budgets of $75,000 and under, went to the Parade of Lights for its 2004 parade entry form. The brochure was designed by Pinkerton Design.

“When you see this marketing collateral you really get a sense of the energy and excitement you’ll find in downtown Fort Worth almost any day of the year, but especially when these two events are under way,” said Carlos De La Torre, the newly named chairman of the Festivals and Events Committee of Downtown Fort Worth Initiatives.

“MAIN ST. and the Parade of Lights set the standard for other events of their type in a lot of different ways,” said Penny Reeh, executive director of the Texas Festivals & Events Association (TFEA). “Everybody in our region benefits from the leadership Fort Worth provides.”

The TFEA is the official state chapter for Texas and New Mexico of the International Festivals and Events Association (IFEA). Founded in 1982, TFEA is a privately funded, non-profit organization that serves the unique needs of festival and special-event organizers and suppliers throughout Texas and New Mexico.

About the Fort Worth Parade of Lights

The 23rd annual 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 of Lights “Street Seats” program are now being accepted. For more information about the Sundance Square Parade of Lights, 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, presented by Coors and 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.