First, of course, to Thaddeus for not only hosting the event on his land (and everything that goes along with land ownership, like stream management and organizing set-up), but for all the hard work he did promoting the event and getting all of us on the same page and working together. It was no small task and the whole event went much more smoothly because of your efforts.
To Bounce, for making the festive pennants and banners that brought so much light and color to the grounds. He was one of the first people to say "I'll help! What can I do?" and to me that deserves special recognition.
To Tess, who came up with a fantastic alternative to the seeming "necessary evil" that hunts have become. Rather than just say, "Nah, let's not do that," she offered, "Let's do this instead." And so, she suggested a bargain cart sale, which excited merchants and gave us and shoppers both something to really enjoy. She also spent the night before the festival's opening putting out flowers in planters and boxes.
To Colette, who transformed the central park into a veritable fairgrounds. People just didn't stop raving about how wonderful the park looked! She also made the (free to copy!) red and pink floral arches seen in all the shop doorways. And, she made and offered several prizes in the Balloon Game.
To our DJs, who kept our guests' toes tapping: PJ Zessinthal and Hoppy Easterling were both a big hit. Symmetry Munro regrets not being able to make her set, due to unforeseen RL circumstances, but promises to make it up to us on another occasion. Meanwhile, I offer her my best wishes. An extra shout-out goes to PJ for the last-second use of her stream for the fireworks show, when Mistletoe's own was malfunctioning.
To every one of the merchants who rented carts, and advertisers who rented ad space on the wagon, I sincerely thank you.
And to everybody else whom I was too foolish and absent-minded to remember, the fault is my own for not doing so.
Thank you all, and I look forward to the next event!
--Clover
