As 2024 come to an end I find myself reflecting on this year. I came into 2024 thinking I would hold Blues and Brews for it’s 10th year. The more I ran the numbers, and not having a confirmed venue, I made the very difficult decision to cancel the 2024 Flagstaff Blues and Brews Festival. Because of losing this festival, I reached out to the Northern Arizona Pride Association to see if they might need help with their annual festival – and they did! I was so excited to work on this festival.
Once again I was able to work with the Boys and Girls Club of Flagstaff on their annual Kentucky Derby fundraiser. We raised over $50,000 which was the most ever!
I was approached by the City of Flagstaff to help with their 4th of July celebration. Before that event I got to execute the Pride in the Pines Festival where the First Lady of the United States came! Now, I don’t care where you lean politically – this was a very cool and unique experience. I go to work with the secret service, and our local resources. I learned a lot, and it was a great experience. Then I moved onto an annual summer BBQ for a local company. I’ve been planning this for a few years now. It was a great event.
The 4th of July event was a hit, which was fantastic. It was hot, well hot for Flagstaff. Because of where we live, we aren’t able to have fireworks so this was a nice compromise. We had live music, free face painting, free balloon twisting and a photo booth! For 2 days we created some excitement in downtown Flagstaff.
In August I helped coordinate a school supply drive for a local charity. The Flagstaff Unified School District Foundation was getting ready to open a Teachers Closet where teachers can get supplies for their classrooms for free! So we worked with Staples, the local radio station, etc and we were able to bring in a ton of supplies to get the closet started.
Also in August I welcome a new ground of NAU Students who were my interns for the semester. It was so much fun to teach them about the Flagstaff Oktoberfest, what goes into planning a major festival and then executing it!
In September I was able to plan and execute my dad’s 60th birthday party along with 2 friends of his. We had so many friends and family attend, with a live band. People partied long into the evening and everyone had a great time celebrating 3 friends all turning 60!
The final event for 2024 was the 15th Annual Flagstaff Oktoberfest. The weather gods were looking down on us, we had 81 degrees in Flagstaff in October! That is just unheard of. It was into the 100s in Phoenix and we had so many people attend! I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was, and then I get a call on the radio that people can’t buy tickets – I was confused. Well we had hit our limit on the ticket website! I’ve never done that before, so I increased it! It was a fun, easy going day and people really seemed to enjoy themselves. Who knew a Peach Cobbler Cider would have been the biggest seller? It was delicious! And we managed to raise over $32,000 for local school music programs.
2024 had some challenges but overall it was an incredible year for Peak Events! I got to work on a new festival and I made a great connection with the City of Flagstaff! Now I’m looking ahead to 2025 and I have 8 events on the books! There is a possibility of another event with the City in May but that’s not confirmed yet, however that would make 9 events and that just makes me want to push for an even 10 events! Until next year…