Krampus recap

From what I remember, the Krampus event was a huge success. At least that’s what people tell me. And everyone looks giddy in the photos that I’ve seen. My memories, though, are a little foggy. I thought, when I woke up the next morning, and started trying to fit the pieces together in my thoroughly dehydrated mind, that maybe I’d had too much to drink. And that was the hypothesis for a good part of the day, until I got the text message about the disco ball. My friend Chris wrote to ask if I was alright. It seems that, at some point, he dropped an enormous, 25-pound disco ball on my head, knocking me to the ground… which kind of makes sense, given that I woke up with a giant lump on my head, and a broken horn. So, while I’m sure that the beer contributed to it, I think I may have had a concussion too. In spite of it, though, I had a wonderful time, as evidenced by the photos of me smiling uncharacteristically… Speaking of photos, the event was pretty heavily documented. I can’t recall where the shots I’ve used in this post came from, as I’ve copied them from a few different places, but they likely came from either Sam Abuelsamid, Mike Giannouris, Kassandra Frost, Leighton Mann or Ryan Groendyk, all of whom have posted things to Facebook and/or Flickr. There’s also a little bit of video footage floating around, thanks to Thomas Kula. Here it is, for those of you who are interested:

[How lucky were we that the sonic mayhem didn’t send the walls of the Thompson Block tumbling over on us as we passed?]

Anyway, I’d like to thank everyone who contributed toward making it such a magical evening, from the volunteers who helped spray-paint the garbage garland gold, to the members of the Detroit Party Marching Band, who led the parade across the railroad tracks to where the drag queens of Elbowdeep were waiting for us. It was a truly unique Ypsi event, that could have only happened here, and it really couldn’t have happened without everyone’s active participation. Thank you, Ypsilanti.

Oh, speaking photos, if you haven’t seen it yet, the folks at AnnArbor.com have a pretty good gallery up on their site. Unfortunately, their photographer had to leave before the shit got crazy, but she did get a few nice shots, including a really lovely one of Linette, whose head was covered in pom poms and moss.

Again, thank you to everyone who got dressed up and came out… Thanks for your enthusiasm, your creativity, and, above all, your sense of humor and love of community.

It’s probably a little premature, but the non-lactating members of the Michigan Design Militia had a meeting tonight and agreed that, barring some unforeseen incident, like nuclear war or cannibal holocaust, we’d do it all again next year. (We’re already trying to figure out a way to incorporate hot tubs and fire.)

One last thing – those of you who weren’t able to get a copy of the incredible poster that we made for the event, just let me know, and we’ll try to work something out. We’ve got a few left over, and I’d be happy to leave one for you somewhere if you can come up with $10… They make wonderful Christmas gifts, by the way.

Special thanks to the Corner Brewery, Woodruff’s, VG Kids, Dreamland Theater, WCBN, the Dirty Brothers, DJ Soul Percussion, Elbowdeep, the Shadow Art Fair volunteers, the Michigan Design Militia, Mike Perini, Ryan Groendyk, Logan Schaedig, and the folks behind DIYpsi and Toys for Tats, who did such a great job of getting the day started for us. It’s amazing what can happen in a little town like Ypsi when everyone comes together and contributes.