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While attending a magic convention, I noticed that the dealer rooms opened immediately following the public shows. The problem was that the excited spectators that had just had a great experience in the magic shows were not allowed to enter the dealer rooms unless they were a registered member of the convention. The rationale was to not expose any secrets to the general public.
Read On . . .
At that point I realized that there could be a “general public” component to a convention, besides the public shows. I floated the idea to a few key people and they all thought it was a great idea. I immediately contacted the magic club that hosted the convention in the area and offered to coordinate the “general public” side of the convention. The club wasn’t interested in changing the format of their convention, so the Houdini Days Magic Festival was born. In six months, the first Festival was organized.
Jennifer Allyn of Appleton Downtown Inc and her staff were critical in making the Festival a reality. The Festival was to be held in downtown Appleton (Houdini Plaza), it was to be family-friendly (G-rated performances, no beer sales, etc), and it was to offer FREE performances. Sponsors and individual donations were raised to cover the costs. Being that the Festival is anon-profit event, numerous volunteers were enlisted. It was important to bring in outstanding talent if our goal of “generating an appreciation for the magical arts in the general public” was to be achieved.
The first Festival (2003) had the talent of Mark Wilson & Nani Darnell, Doc Eason, Sylvester the Jester, Stuart MacDonald, Goldfinger &Dove, David Seebach, Michael P. Lair, Michael Finney, Joshua Jay, Michael Ammar, Mark Bond, Rondini, Danny Magic, Glen Gerard, Jeff McMullen, Lou Lepore, Nate Nygren, Bruce Hetzler, Julie Sobanski, and The Comedy Magic of Mike & Chris. Our biggest mistake was underestimating the size of the crowd (approx…
Continue reading Chris Cochrane: The Genesis of Houdini Days
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