Flake Out Unwashed
January 25th, 2010 | 
Author: 
You sometimes need kids around to remind you not to get too caught up in crotchety adult points of view. At this year’s new location, the Flake Out festival was still a good time despite the rather gloomy feel of the location and the weather combined. After almost not happening at all this year, the Flake Out Festival went on through the weekend despite the rain at its new location near Buffalo Phil’s Pizza and Grille in Wisconsin Dells.
Our first impression of the new location was not all that positive. A combination traffic, dirty snow, and the poor aesthetics of the area was something we had to overcome in order to really enjoy the day. Although the new location did offer more room, it’s location near Buffalo Phil’s, Knuckleheads, and the Tanger mall placed the event in a sort of urban sprawl ground zero. The snow around the event was mostly brown where plows ripped at the ground in preparing the location and the only trees to be seen were lying cut up on the ground for the evenings bon fire. For an outdoor event, outdoor lovers would not find the location appealing.
That said, the event itself was a good time. We spent much of Saturday afternoon at the Flake Out and despite the drizzle there was a good sized crowd. Kids were zipping down the dirty brown tubing hill and having the time of their lives while sculptors battled the rain and warm weather to keep their creations in one piece. A beautiful Bald eagle standing some 10-12 feet tall lost a wing to the weather.
Carleen Wild of “Main Street Wisdom”
Inside the big tent people played bingo and enjoyed some warm food & drinks while Carleen Wild of Madison’s NBC 15 news, and her band “Main Street Wisdom” cranked out the music. I have to take a moment here to tell you Carleen’s voice is pretty spectacular. Not a fan of country music, I was still pretty impressed. The down side was that the volume inside the tent was such that our 8 year old choose to stand outside to eat rather than sit down inside the tent.
Again the kids tell you a lot. While we may have been put off by the brown tubing hill, the kids weren’t, they loved it. On the other hand they were even more enraptured by a big pile of snow pushed up in a corner that cost nothing but their energy and imagination. The ice maze left our child disappointed. He said you just walk through the ice and there were lots of commercials.. (ads on the walls) We didn’t go in ourselves.
How you view an event like the Flake Out is very dependent on your personality of course. As outdoorsy types we found the location to leave much to be delivered. The Flake Out would have benefited from being located just a couple more miles in almost any direction take advantage of Wisconsin’s wonderful winter atmosphere. That said, the child’s point of view is that we should go back next year, and for an event looking to draw in some winter tourism dollars, that is probably a win.
Click here for our 2010 Flake Out Festival Gallery.
Did you attend? What was your impression? Did you like the location? Did you have fun?
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One Response to “Flake Out Unwashed”
From my understanding Flake Out Festival was dropped by the town & Buffalo Phil’s didn’t want Wisconsin Dells to lose such a great event. Was the old location next to the railroad tracks behind city hall in downtown more appealing to outdoorsy types? I’m sure the event could have been held in many locations, but obviously no one else was willing to spend the amount of money to run a festival of that nature. I can’t imagine the cost of taking something like that on…just the 3 large heated tents alone.
I certainly don’t feel the new location was at all an urban ground zero. As you mentioned the weather was gloomy with warmer temps & rain which made the snow “dirty”. I think they did a wonderful job taking over this event & even added to the 2009 event with: the aforementioned ice maze, snow hill & tubing hill. As well as exhibitions: dog weight pulling, wood carving, microbrew tasting, wine tasting, local dance studios & they even did some fundraising for Easter Seals Wisconsin with a pancake breakfast held on site.