| rev:text
| - For the past year, I've been a member of Local First Arizona, which technically means I'm a Localist. The sad part is that I haven't had the opportunity to attend any events though I've received regular e-mails about the great events in our community where we can support local businesses and organizations. I made a point to go to the Arizona Fall Festival and to arrive early to make the most of my experience.
The Arizona Fall Festival is an annual event that took place for six hours this past Saturday (10-4) at the Margaret T. Hance Park in Phoenix. It was a "free and family-friendly celebration of everything local to Arizona" according to its website (https://localfirstaz.com/fall-festival). The event included booths featuring local restaurants, shopping merchants, entertainment, a beer and wine garden, and so much more. Even prior to the festival itself, there has been an auction with a variety of great items going for good prices; the proceeds went to Local First Arizona. Parking was nearby for free on the streets if you arrived early enough. Otherwise, there was metered parking nearby or special deals from VIP Taxi and of course, the light rail close by.
Lines started around 9:30 AM since the first 500 families received a FREE gift bag filled with goodies and marketing materials from several dozen local businesses. There were over 200 vendors present, and while many offered free small tastes, there were actual samples of food and drinks for one or two tickets ($1 per ticket). There was a survey company that spent a few minutes offering a survey in exchange for $20 in tickets. At the end of the day, leftover tickets were collected as raffle tickets for some huge prizes of gift cards and more. There was also a passport program where you can get around 14 punches to your card from specific vendors, and completed passports were collected for another drawing for an experience at the Tovea Castle. Phoenix sporting teams were present at the Arizona Sports Zone, and there was also a Kid Zone for the families.
All in all, I arrived early enough to get free parking right next to the festival entrance, received a gift bag of goodies, enjoyed some samples of foods/drinks and products, received $20 in tickets (through the survey company), entered some drawings, and enjoyed the entertainment...all without spending any money. To make myself feel better about having such a great time without spending money, I did donate to Local First Arizona and bid on a few items in the auction, too. An amazing local event put on by a great organization! I look forward to going to future events and perhaps even volunteering in the future.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)