Springfield MO Marketing

OK admit it – one of your favorite viewing pleasures during the Winter Olympics is always the Curling, right? With the background stories on all those clubs in Wisconsin where the understated backdrop is that like bowling, it’s best enjoyed with a few adult beverages.

So we already have one strike against us, to say nothing of the lost revenue since the Park District can’t sell adult beverages, but look at this story:

Nowhere in Brazil’s more than three million mostly tropical square miles is there a facility devoted to curling, the stone-and-broom sport played on ice that joined the Winter Olympics program in 1998.

The World Curling Federation allots two berths in the 12-team world championship to countries from the Americas, and in the 50 years of the event the lone representatives have been the United States and Canada. Only two other countries in the Americas belong to the federation: Brazil, which joined in 1998, and the United States Virgin Islands.

I say if Brazil can compete, so can Springfield. And there has to be available ice time at Mediacom Ice Park. I know of at least one downtown Barber Shop that’s prepared to field a team. Who’s with me?

Call 417-866-7444 and give them your opinion!

Update – the Wall Street Journal picked up on the article on February 3rd. They like the idea and added to it:

If you’ve forgotten your winter Olympics lingo, curling is the winter sport that’s sometimes called shuffleboard on ice or chess on ice, and thought to have started in Scotland in 1541. Last weekend Brazil, which doesn’t even have an ice rink, had its international curling debut in Bismarck, N.D. The four Brazilians only recently took up curling while studying at the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec. “According to their first coach, Judy Cassidy of the Lennoxville Curling Club in Sherbrooke, none of the four realized the heft of a granite curling stone (40 pounds) until they showed up to ask about lessons in the summer of 2007,” Pat Borzi writes in the New York Times.

The Brazilian four still have a ways to go. “They didn’t last long, losing all three matches in emphatic fashion, but kudos on their debut appearance nonetheless,” the Curling News reports on its blog.

A blog? What a great idea!

It was the Queen City Roller who shook me out of my holiday lethargy and sent me over to Casper’s for a chili fix just before the holidays. See, the crew at QCR took it upon themselves to sample and crown the best Chocolate Shake available in Springfield MO (or is it SpringVegas?). The winner? Casper’s! You can see I didn’t hold back on my visit, with a double cheeseburger and a large chili, WITH cheese and onions, on that visit.

Now it’s the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau who’s reaching out to the community, suggesting an effort to get Casper’s recognized by the Food Channel TV program, Diners Drive Ins and Dives

The most remarkable aspect to their effort? The CVB is using Twitter and their blog (inexplicably they are using Blogger rather then driving the traffic to their primary site, a lesson KY3 recently took to heart with the Political blog David Catanese has developed for them). Get out the vote folks!

From the ItsAllDowntown website

The new downtown College Station and Heer’s parking decks will offer free parking seven days a week for all downtown patrons effective immediately.

This creates more free weekend parking for visitors to all downtown businesses in addition to the validated parking that had already been offered by Hollywood Theaters. Under this full-time free parking, no validation will be needed at the theaters.

The City is able to offer the free parking at least until the additional build out of the College Station project is completed. The capacity in the parking decks and the two surface lots on the northeast and northwest corners of Campbell Avenue and Olive Street was designed to handle both the theater traffic and the eventual build out of College Station. A total of 975 spaces are available.

The current capacity of the parking decks and surface lots is proving to be sufficient to guarantee enough parking for theater patrons, so the City is able to add free parking on weekends as well as during the week.

For more information, contact: Louise Whall, Director of Public Information, 864-1010.

It’s nice of the City to offer this new model. While there’s some nice talk in the press release, if you pull back the curtain there are a few other considerations that have obviously played into the decision. I can personally attest to the high volume of traffic that approaches the College Station lot, sees the $5 cost posted (recently removed) and pulled a U-turn. I would guess that traffic at the Theatre’s is not meeting expectations either, despite Hollywood Theatre’s generosity in sponsoring not only the recent Xmas Parade but also the upcoming First Night celebration that had all City funding pulled. And don’t get me started on what I consider a “Wild West” attitude towards parking downtown.

My recommendation is that meters be installed in all surface lots, along all City streets from Springfield Brew Co East to Kimbrough and from 1st Baptist Church to Olive on the North. Missouri State also needs to make a commitment to getting their ever increasing student population off the streets by increasing the Bus lines serving downtown and establishing subsidized student parking in under-utilized lots such as the Garage on McDaniel across from Bank of America. Until that happens, retail establishments downtown will continue to face parking hurdles for their customers. It’s a downtown folks, let’s grow up and behave as such and quit trying to pretend that a laissez-faire approach will meet the needs of the constituents that are involved.

It’s always a treat to see the lengths that the fine citizens of Springfield will go to in ensuring their comfort and convenience. Here’s the latest example – the black SUV has a Tri Sig (as in Sigma Sigma Sigma) sticker on the back window and the young woman parked overnight in the newly closed (for no apparent reason) lot outside the College Station Car Park. The sign went up on Saturday April 26th but we know that Downtown is the Wild West of parking. I’ll bring some examples of local businesses taking on-street parking, to the detriment of their customers, among other examples in the weeks to come.

PRESS RELEASE.
Randy & Shannon Bacon are very proud and excited to announce the GRAND OPENING of their new art venture, FIGMENT Art Gallery & Culture House on Friday June 6th during First Friday Art Walk. Located next door to Randy Bacon Studio & Art Gallery in the Monarch Art Factory in Springfield’s art district, FIGMENT (at 3,300 square feet) is home to numerous working artists’ studios, a full-service art gallery and culture house.

FIGMENT Art Gallery & Culture House is open Tuesday, 10-4PM, Wednesday – Friday, 10-6PM and Saturday, 10 – 4PM. Any additional evening hours will be announced.

Randy Bacon states, “Shannon and I are so excited by the growth of the arts district in downtown Springfield. With FIGMENT Art Gallery and Culture House, we are adding something to the art scene that is fresh, unique, metropolitan AND fun! Our design is that Figment and the idea of the “culture house” will be a place bustling with positive art energy (and activity) that inspires creativity to take flight…and that gives glory to our Creator. FIGMENT will have numerous artists working on site and exhibiting their wide range of art talents in the gallery. We’ll have FREE Wi-Fi and coffee with lots of comfy sofas and chairs, so people can come and hang out in art, study, visit with friends, watch artists work and relax.

In conjunction with Randy Bacon Gallery, FIGMENT will have art classes scheduled throughout the year, as well as a multitude of other creative events, such as fundraisers, music shows, film work shops, film screenings, poetry readings, performing arts, dancing and on and on…we literally want FIGMENT and Randy Bacon Gallery to explode with creativity, energy, and joy. Art is such a blessing to Shannon and I and we want to spread this blessing as much as we can! ”

Drop into FIGMENT and be ready to be inspired as eight of the area’s top and emerging artists are producing a wide variety of incredible art work, with something for every art lover. Each artist has his own working space as well as a large gallery space to exhibit his work all year-round. The Randy Bacon Gallery and FIGMENT

For more information, call 417-868-8179 or visit to www.randybacon.com and www.gallerysounds.net.

According to the News-Leader, production begins Monday on a video promoting Springfield as a destination for conventions, meetings and other group events.

Movie star Brad Pitt’s brother Doug, also the Chairman of the Board for the Chamber of Commerce will talk about Springfield while driving a dark blue Jeep and narrator Jim Wunderle will ride along during the video showcasing the city’s meeting facilities, amenities and attractions.

The video is a cooperative marketing project among the Convention Visitors Bureau, University Plaza Hotel Convention Center, Oasis Hotel Convention Center and Clarion Hotel Convention Center.

For Springfield Missouri natives, Askinosie is a marker for the attorney and the chocolate factory. Now, readers of nationally recognized marketing guru Seth Godin will have the same marker.

Rob writes in from Australia, proposing that [dot] com is superfluous, just as www is. We don’t say, “Visit us at http://www.askinosie.com,” we just say, “askinosie.com.”

While you’re at it, take time to visit Human Picture Initiative, the organization responsible for the video work on the Askinosie Chocolate website. They too are a Springfield-based firm, focused on

Using visual communication to inspire hope, urge action and effect positive change in communities around the world

I see the new Chaifetz Arena at Saint Louis University has lined up their opening act: Barry Manilow

Stevie Nicks will follow on Friday, June 13 at 8 p.m. Singer / songwriter Stevie Nicks, a key member from the legendary group Fleetwood Mac, will perform at the brand-new Chaifetz Arena at Saint Louis University on Friday, June 13 at 8 p.m. Presale tickets are available by click ing here and enter the promo code “BILLIKEN” to purchase. Presale ends: Thursday, April 3, 10:00pm

What about JQH Arena on the Missouri State University campus? I’ve heard it’s The Eagles in November 2008.

A bit off the beaten track, but since I’m a blogger, in fact I’ve got four sites I maintain and another dozen I support, this story the Wall Street Journal caught my eye.

Frustrated Hoops Fan Faces First Amendment Flap
Bret Adams, a lawyer, represents George Karl (pictured), the coach of the Denver Nuggets, an NBA team with a fairly respectable 35-24 record. Andrew Feinstein, a frustrated fan, started a blog called www.firegeorgekarl.com. Adams sent the blogger an email which reads:

Is your life really this boring and meaningless that you would spend the hours necessary to create such a website?

As Coach Karl’s counsel I am putting you on notice that I will sue you into bankruptcy should you cross the boundaries of permissible speech.

Intrigued, the WSJ Law Blog reached out to Adams. Via e-mail, we received the following response:

Thanks for your email. While George Karl may be a public figure within the sports community, there are limits to what is fair comment under New York Times v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964). Many cases quote from the Restatement (Second) of Torts 59 that a statement is defamatory if it “tends to harm the reputation of another as to lower him in the estimation of the community or deter third persons form associating or dealing with him.” Sure, people are free to criticize Mr. Karl’s record, his coaching style, or both. But free speech has its limits. My role as Mr. Karl’s counsel is to see to it that the line between free speech and defamation is not crossed. I stand by my statement that people should have better and more important things to do than to create mean-spirited blogs and that, while I respect (and exercise) free speech rights, there are boundaries and consequences.

You can follow the comments here!

The Hollywood Theatre facility being built in Downtown Springfield MO is going up quickly. In the past week, the structure is now taller than it’s neighbors, other than the nearby College Station Car Park. Steel was put into place soon after the New Year began and as you can see from the picture (click on it to see a larger version) the framing is beginning. Still hard to see what the layout is going to be, I’ll get on top in the next couple of weeks and get a shot looking over the construction site. Maybe that will give us a better idea. I’ve heard Fall 2008 completion. Any guesses?