Tsunami on the Square 2010...

The Little Wave That Could...

And Did!

Well, the big Tsunami has hit The Square of Prescott Arizona at about 12:30 and receded for another year in the early morning hours of Sunday...And let me say that it was an amazing festival this year indeed.  There was a lot more local talent put on the stages and they didn't disappoint...everyone brought their big smiles and their hard work paid off...

We had a beautiful breezy day for it and the crowds ebbed and flowed all day long.

Kids Cove was positively packed during the day with lots of little happy faces, clapping, singing, and laughing...the children enjoyed special animal visitors from Out of Africa, The Supersiliest Band, and many other performers throughout the day.

One of my favorite groups to visit Tsunami again and again is Clan Tynker.  In fact, at one point, I noticed I'd missed a call from my Executive Directors wife (and may I stop to say at this point that thank goodness for cell phones.  It was so easy to keep in touch with each other all day via text or calls?!) She asked me where I was...I then had to admit that I was at The Kids Cove leaning against a tree after being sucked in by Clan Tynker.

They tend to do that to you.

Clan Tynker is a family performing group from New Mexico, who incorporate a lot of old and traditional magic, juggling, Diabolos, bubbles, you name it...and throw comedy in there and you have a recipe for total enjoyment no matter what your age.  I have been enjoying watching this family participate in Tsunami for the past 12 years and they have literally grown up in front of my eyes.

 Not to mention, I got to enjoy a bit of Tapas under the stars with them at dinner last night.  They truly embody the personalities of the performers that we have at Tsunami.  They are friendly and nice and enjoy getting to know you...Being a part of Tsunami is like being a part of a big family full of a whole lot of people with a whole lot of different talents...and no matter what your talents are, you have a place at the table.

This sweet girl (that would be me) arrived at The Square at 7am sharp to help set up...ran off The Square to meet my models at Snap Snap at 10am so we could be a moveable fashion show in the Tsunami Parade...marched in the parade and across The Stage, then I ran off The Square to change into my Tsunami Festival Outfit (including my white top hat) and ran back to Tsunami to help out all day long...and didn't walk off The Square to home until about 1:30am Sunday morning after clean-up and tear-down...

Since Snap! Snap! was a Parade Sponsor this year...I designed costumes for DaNece and I as kind of a conceptual Bird-Cage skirt...

Rich kindly let me lift this photo from his site because I didn't take any pictures of myself in this outfit...It was hard enough walking at a decent pace.  Behind me is our Executive Directors dog Zelda...she is wearing a fez I made her to match Andrew's fez.  She is also wearing a Hawaiian Shirt...because that's how they roll in this family.

For most of the day, I was running here and there helping as much as I could...at The Info Booth, The Sound Booth, Back Stage...at a couple of points you could find me ON stage with a collection bucket  and the bucket brigade and then running into the crowd for donations from our audience...Tsunami is a non-profit community supported event and we look for donations from the crowds that turn out to help cover our costs of running this festival.  We had a lovely crowd this Tsunami who were all smiles as they reached into their pockets and purses to help.  After all...they did get stickers (and glowing necklaces at one point)

In fact, I was mostly so busy that all I had time for were these handful of pictures...even though I wore my camera around my neck all day.  If you were lucky, you could snatch a few sentences of conversation from me here and there...The view of Troupe Salamat above was shot from where I stood to view most of the performances I got a chance to catch a few minutes of viewing time.  Our Tsunami team doesn't stand around idle a whole lot, but I did enjoy the view from here indeed in the sound booth.

It is staggering how much work goes into putting on a festival like this...both before and during.  I loved every minute of it and want to thank the exceptional people who came down to volunteer their time...some of them early in the morning climbing the scaffolding and then all day long and late into the night they worked shoulder to shoulder with the rest of us.  They did what was needed, no questions asked...and smiled at everyone to boot!

There were a million tiny moments I haven't even begun to process yet, stolen bits of time in which to have deep 10 minute conversations, people grabbing me as I walked by to tell me what a great job we were doing, smiles, big thank you's, people seeking me out to hand me money for the donation buckets, total amazement while watching everyone perform, finding inspiration and magic everywhere, watching both the adult and children audiences and their faces reflecting pure delight, smiles, yelling, and clapping...And finally a choking back a tear or two when The Tsunami Whale was led off the stage by Andrew flanked by Tiki-Torch Wielding escorts at the very end of the festival...until we see her again next year.

I am left with the feeling of awe and gratitude and a huge push to run off to join the circus...or at least learn how to hula-hoop...

We did it Prescott!

Thank you for all of your support...

And the wave rolls on.