Post #48239 by tweedtone on Mon, Aug 18, 2003 9:37 AM

I'm hoping to pick the collective tiki brain but first, a little background.

I live in Dunedin, Florida, on the west coast, in the Tampa Bay area, on the Gulf of Mexico. Dunedin is, for Florida anyhow, a pretty cool arts-supporting community with its own microbrewery, two nice martini bars plus lots of restaurants and neat-o shops 'n' boutiques. Did I mention we're on the Gulf of Mexico? No surf to speak of but some very nice beaches. I Belli Di Waiki played here as part of their Hukilau-releated mini tour and went over very well.

Several times a year, the powers that be in Dunedin put on themed street festivals where the whole of downtown is blocked to vehicular traffic, vendors set up to hawks their wares/food, there's live music and thousands of people milling about, having a grand old time. The biggest of these events is a Mardi Gras bacchanalia complete with floats and a parade and the aforementioned live music. Yeah, I know - a Mardi Gras celebration in a Florida city with the old Celtic name for Edinburgh is a helluva cultural juxtaposition but cut us some slack, we're Floridians - pretty much everything's from somewhere else (except me, I'm a native.)

For the past couple of years, they've done some lame-ass disco themed BS. Ho, hum, snore. But this year one of the primary organizers has come to me, asking for my ideas and help in coming up with a theme ... and they wanna go tiki! My surf/lounge band The Vodkanauts will perform along with several others.

So I come to y'all, seeking ideas. I'm stuck with the date, early March, but other than that ...

1. Name - gotta have a cool name for it. Puns are a beautiful thing, in my book.

2. Carvers, tiki artisans & vendors - would some of y'all from around Florida or points beyond be interesting in traveling this a-way to display, sell, put on a demo? I can certainly give y'all intros to the various galleries and boutiques in town for post-event selling purposes as well.

3. How many Florida tikiphiles would be interested in coming for such an event?

4. Any other ideas I can pitch to the organizers? They're very cool, hip, artsy types so don't be bashful.

Carpe tiki!