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2nd Annual Lebowski Fest Recap The Quick and Dirty All in all, an estimated 1,400 people participated in the 2nd Annual Lebowski Fest held in Louisville, Kentucky from July 18th - 20th, 2003. -About 450 attended the midnight screening on Friday - several in costume. -Over 800 people attended Lebowski Fest on Saturday - about 75% from out of town. Over 30 US States, Canada, and Singapore were represented. -Farthest Traveled went to Makesh from Singapore with Anna Petroff taking runner-up for spending 5 days on a train from Homer, Alaska. Anna was dressed as the rug and luckily no one peed on her. -The next event will be Lebowski Fest West followed by another Louisville Lebowski Fest in summer 2004! -Stay tuned to the web site for all the news on the documentary status and future plans. -Thanks to all of the Achievers for making this Lebowski Fest unbelievably fun! Friday The Midnight screening was possibly the highlight of the weekend for both Scott and I. I was a sold out crowd and several people were in costume. A few dudes, a valkyrie, and the Jesus! I had a blast giving away the DVDs and shirts that Wild & Woolly provided. I could tell by the spirit of the crowd that we were in for a great weekend. When the film began to roll, the excitement was overwhelming. There was a "buzz" in the theater of everyone saying every line of dialogue - it sounded like when you see a concert and they play their favorite song and everyone sings along. Every once and a while, for a good Walter line, people would yell it at the screen. It was a blast! The best moment of the evening was when John Turturro first walks onto the screen as The Jesus and Michael Schneurle dressed as the Jesus walked in front of the screen and did the perfect pantomime of the scene. As the Jesus is walking back after bowling and pointing, Michael was walking up the aisle of the theater and pointing. The theater erupted with applause. It was beautiful! There was one true "Rocky Horror" moment that I would like to officially sanction as a standard during public viewing of The Big Lebowski. When Maude flies in over the dude painting her picture, as soon as she removes her robe and turns around - everyone yells "Nice Marmot!" The gentleman from Vermont (John Ives?) who's wife won the trivia contest the next night coined the phrase. Saturday I was a little concerned about the 'Renegade Motorcade Parade" since we had no permit (hence the 'renegade'). I was thinking we'd get a block down the road and then get pulled over. This was not the case. We met in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn and we were about 20 vehicles strong. The Dude and a couple other guys hopped onto the hood of the "Lebowski Mobile" taking special care not to damage the custom bowling hood ornament. We rolled out with Scott leading the way in his Volkswagen Squareback - aka "The Hot Rod." Scott had taped a bullhorn to the roof of the Hot Rod and was announcing Blues Brothers style for the entire procession. *Spoken in the deadpan voice of Dan Akroid* "Tonight Only.....Lebowski Fest......Free Parking.....That's a lot of entertainment....You two girls...tell your friends...." It was hilarious. We drove about three miles down the main drag honking and waving to a friendly but confused audience. As a finale to the parade we (all 20 vehicles) circled the Dairy Queen drive-thru - twice! After the parade it was time for the pool party. I could not attend but I assume that there were passed out nihilists, floating bottles of Jack and Bunny painting her toenails poolside. The forum "meet and greet" was cool and there was a performance of the scattering ashes scene on the stage. It was great to meet everyone, and I wish I'd had more time and energy to meet more people. Ringer Toss The "ringer toss" started around 7:00 and people began to line up for Lebowski Fest. It was busy at the admissions table but thanks to the help of Jason Clark, Benson, Angela, Katie, Amelia, Fawn, and Allen - everyone got their wristband in time for the 8:00 start time. The "ringer toss" was awesome and we even had a few people roll out of the card like Walter. The ringer was filled with white underwear purchased at a local thrift store. 2nd Annual Lebowski Fest Another highlight for me was when I walked onto the parking lot scene about 7:45 and saw the hordes of people in costume, the gutterballs bowling pin headdress, the ringer flying through the air, the "Dude-a-bago" (Winnebago) - for a moment it hit me - there it was - Lebowski Fest - and it was beautiful! Scott and I opened the doors and let everyone in. It was great seeing all of the fantastic costumes. Bowling began, the White Russians were poured and Lebowski Fest began! There was a "Jesus Stand-up" that Scott painted that the Achievers could put their face in and have their picture taken as The Jesus. We also had a Lebowski Conservatorium which included a toe, a folgers can, Mr Bubble, hairnet, Logjammin video tape, and other relics from the movie. There was a surprise guest appearance by the tumbleweed who sat in the bar for photo ops and autographs. Contests The round 1 trivia was admittedly too easy so we had to draw a random 10 from all of the people who scored 100% in round 1. We will make round 1 more challenging next time. Apologies to those who got them all right but didn't advance. The trivia winner was Carolyn Ives from Vermont - she really knew her stuff and was dressed as a nine-toed nihilist. Second and third went to Kyle and Sam. The costume contest was incredibly difficult to narrow down but ultimately Larry Brantley in his borrowed motorized wheel chair took first place dressed as The Big Lebowski. Michael Schneurle dressed as the Jesus - who was also the one who danced in front of the screen at the midnight screening - took home second place and Michael Hartmann, a very convincing Dude took home third. Lauren Pring and Big Steve dressed as Walter were very close to the top three but the audience had spoken. The contest was judged on crowd response. The ringer toss champion came within just inches of the bullseye was Jordon Foutz. The highest bowling score went to Brian "Geronimo" Kot with a whopping 244. Matt Grimm and Brain Ludolph scored a 243 and 232 respectively. The trophies were hand made by Scott and I using the bowling pins from the "Fellowship Lanes" which is the location of the 1st Annual Lebowski Fest. The bowling pins were affixed to a trophy base with a engraved plaque. The trophies were presented by our "trophy wife" who braved the crowd with her tiara and "Trophy Wife" sash. The Farthest Traveled contest was won by two people. Makesh traveled from Singapore to attend Lebowski Fest and Anna Petroff spent five days on a rain from Homer, Alaska to attend. Anna came dressed as the rug. A risky costume, but luckily no one peed on her. There were some other creative costumes - some of my favorites being Paul Shardein and his two buddies dressed as the Autobahn album cover, the man in black pajamas - a worthy fucking adversary, the Dude as a roadie for Metallica - speed of sound era, Kirsty Lingel dressed as Walter's ex Cynthia with Hawaiian lays and official AKC show dog papers, and of course post-coitus Maude. At midnight, we turned down the lights, lit up the disco balls and black lights and played some Snoop Dogg for "Disco Bowling." A good time was had by all. At 1:00 AM, one of my favorite singer/songwriters Paul K sang "Dead Flowers" to help close out the night. The bowling went on until about 2 AM and I even got to bowl a few frames with my special lady friend Katie. Special thanks to Katie for being so supportive and selling t-shirts. Her and Amelia were lifesavers that weekend! About 2:00 AM there was a 10 person pile up in the Lebowski Mobile to close out the festivities. After everyone had left and I was driving the car away, the parking lot was empty and dark. Rob Roman (the producer filming the documentary) was documenting the scene after the fest. In the midst of the calm, the doors of the Rose Bowl burst open and Big Rodney comes flying out waving his arms and yelling "You forgot your rug!!! You forgot your rug!!!" Rodney then threw his hands up and said screw it and went back inside. All the Dudes ever wanted was their rug back. Well, not really - the rug we set at the front entrance was Scott's and his dogs peed on it long ago. It is one stinky rug and we were glad to get rid of it. Sunday The next day was the recovery brunch at Lynn's which included Lingonberry Pancakes, Pigs in ze blanket, and White Russian French Toast. The Dude was there hanging out and signing autographs. I got to meet some more people which I thoroughly enjoyed. Before the Dude had to get to the airport, he wanted to ride some roller coasters at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. The Dude is an unstoppable force! This man knows how to live life to the fullest. Thanks to the Dude for coming out and hanging out. My favorite aspect of the entire event was the people who came out. The Achievers - and proud we are of all of them. You were all very sweet, humble, genuine people who were just happy to be a part of Lebowski Fest. I was truly touched by all of the friendly people I met and your spirit of gratitude for the weekend. You guys totally rock and Scott and I had an absolute blast putting it together. What's Next? We are planning a Lebowski Fest West next and then there will be another Lebowski Fest in Louisville in summer 2004. Thanks again to everyone who helped us put this together. Now we can die with a smile on our faces, without feeling like the good lord gypped us. -Will and Scott The Founding Dudes |
Lebowksi Fest is not affiliated with the creators of The Big Lebowski. We are just huge fans of this Coen Brothers masterpiece.
Last Updated 07-05-2008
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