Sunday, June 19, 2005

Gosh!

I'm not surprised that NAPOLEON DYNAMITE caught on, especially with high school and college students, but color me shocked to hear that already Preston, Idaho is going to hold the first Napoleon Dynamite Festival on June 24 and 25. (At that link you can also hear NPR's story and interview with Preston's chamber of commerce director.) After all, it took four years after THE BIG LEBOWSKI debuted in theaters for Lebowski Fest to get off the ground.

Those trekking to Preston--reportedly six thousand since January--are the definition of hardcore fans.

Some of the festival events include:

-A tater tot eating contest
-The obligatory impersonation and look-a-like contests
-Happy Hands Club performances
-Tetherball tournament
-Moon Boot Dance
-Rex Kwon Do tour
-A football throwing contest
-Sweet Bike & Roller Blade races

Since NAPOLEON DYNAMITE doesn't exactly portray the people of Preston in the most positive light, it looks like they've made lemonade out of the lemons that the film's exposure brought.

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