For those of you that missed it last year – take note, Les Fest 2017 starts next Saturday!
Last year A beautiful friend of mine, Geejay, asked if I’d like to get involved in an event in world. She was DJing durng the event and as one for the best DJs in Second Life the answer was a no brainer! She described the event as a virtual recreation of some of the famous Lesbian festivals from around the world such as the Ella Festival, (which incidentally runs from the 31st of August to the 3rd of September this year and is in beautiful Majorca!!). The event was called Les Fest and was the brainchild of Gee and Melenda Mikael. It was to be a celebration of the contributions made to our virtual paradise from the LGBT community. I played a VERY small part so let’s leave that bit right there! Gee offered me the opportunity to have a look around the venue prior to the event. Rarely am I speechless however, on this occasion I was blown away by the amount of effort Gee, Mel and the Team had put into creating the perfect virtual festival venue! The stage, props, stalls, pretty much everything had been hand built from scratch and was an indulgence of colour, light and eventually sound. Often over used word but fitting in this case – it was simply stunning!
The extravaganza it’s self was one of the best events I’ve ever been to in Second Life, I’ve subsequently described it as the closest thing you will get to a RL festival in the virtual world and as a veteran of Glastonbury, Creamfields, Download and NOS Alive, I don’t make the comparison lightly! The event was a joy; fabulous music, vibrant colours, raucous laughter and illimitable love and compassion for one another, Lesbian, Gay, Straight whatever orientation! In my time zone the main event was late on a Saturday night so I confess to being a little Inebriated! But it wasn’t that which provided the sense of Euphoria, a sense of Euphoria I’d not really experienced in Second Life before. Needless to say, the event was a HUGE success and after all the time, blood, sweat and tears Gee, Mel and the team had put into the event I’m sure they slept for two days straight dreaming “Never Again!!”
Imagine my delight then when a couple of months ago Gee dropped into conversation she was thinking of running it again only bigger and better! Bigger and Better – OMG there’s ambition and there’s reckless lasciviousness however, if anyone could pull it off Gee could! The thing I love about her is her unshakable optimism and her absolute positivity, it’s infectious and quite frankly inspirational. For this reason, I knew she would be able to coax and cajole the right people to make it happen and with one week to go – I’m very pleased to say I’m right!
So, what exactly is Les Fest 2017? Well, according to the hosts, it’s a festival that celebrates lesbian, bisexual and pansexual women on second life by merging music, art and lifestyle in one location over 2 days. During the festival, they intend to showcase the best of SL's lesbian, bisexual and pansexual DJs, Live Singers, Spoken Word Artists, Photographers, Artists, Fashionistas and Designers.
Today I got a sneak preview of the new venue \0/;
Having landed and walked through the shopaholics paradise you’re presented with the “Les Fest Teleporter”, my advice…. Ignore it for now, instead follow the technicolour footprints.
As you walk through the door, you get your first sense of just how vast this event is, not only do you get the sense you’re walking into something a little different to your standard club you get the sense that this is something really special!
Moving on along the path you arrive at an area dedicated to some of the most talented photographers in Second Life, just a small selection but follow the links to the various Flickr pages to see the work of some true artists.
Again, ignore the TP sign and follow the path up another set of stairs where you are greeted by some beautiful statues and a tribute to Lesbians through the ages. Again, take the time to have a look, by understanding and sharing this story we encourage tolerance and consideration for our brothers and sisters in the LGBT community.
From here we move through a guard of honour dedicated to the sponsors of the event, clubs we all know and love whose owners have contributed to the undoubtable success of the event! Further along we reach the Gaming Tournament part of the event, not really my thing, I’m too slow for stuff like that but for anyone with lightening fingers you have the chance to win L$10,000!!!
As you continue to reach a funfair complete with Carousels and log flume, beyond there is a lovely little area for kids complete with Face Painting, a kiddie’s playground and a fantasy park with Unicorns!
From here I finally succumbed to the Teleporter and went to see the Parade area. Clearly not much going on at the moment but at 1:50pm on the 4th of June it has to be a must see! Floats will be prepared from 1:00pm onwards so plenty of time to find your spot along the meandering stained glass road!
At the end of the technicolour road you will find the “Speed Dating” area, I mean, what a great idea, it’s something I’ve done in RL and had enormous fun from it so I’m gutted that the official speed dating is way past my bed time on the Saturday – stupid time zones! So, if you see some lonely blond sat on her own in the area outside the event time – come and speed date with me!!
From here I made my way to the main event, the stage area! As with all good festivals there’s not just one stage there’s several including a Theatre Stage which conjures up all kinds of possibilities! The main stage though……... WOW!!!!! At this point I’m thinking, “Do I really want to give this feast of colour, vibrancy and creativity away” and I’ve concluded no, I don’t. No matter how many pictures I take at how many different angles I’m simply not going to do it justice, I’ll give you a very small sneak peek but you’re just going to have to go and take a look yourself, I promise you will be blown away by the joy that dances in front of your eyes!
So, bigger and better? I should say so!!!! Another overused superlative is that there is something for everyone, actually, at this event there really is, as well as the shopping and the fairground and the stuff to keep the kids entertained, look!!
Massive congratulations to the team that have put this together, you know who you are but sincere credit where it’s due;
G E E J A Y MIKAEL MELENDA MIKAEL KAIRO DEXLER DEVLIN DEXLER
ADRI DEXLER KEOL SOCKE EVANNE DEXLER LEXTACY DEXLER
BUBBLES MIKAEL THORN TROKOVA FAINORA MIKAEL ADO HANSOME
SWEETS HANSOME KORALIA ZELIN NISH LOCKJAW VENUE CARNIVALE
JENNY MAE FRELTO TARA ALLEN NAANAA GREY-CAPELO JULES SOLANO
KUSH GANT KAIRO DEXLER KILOLO JENKINS SIERRA HA’ANI
KENYATTA GANT HEAVEN SILENT TAYLER ORORO CARNIVALE
T.CHALLA CARNIVALE JULES SOLANO KIT MILLHOUSE TALI MORETTI
So, don’t miss out on the event of the season, you can find more information here
But, where is it? Well with some more tricks up their sleeves the team want to keep the location under wraps for now so, keep an eye on their website and as soon as I can share the location, I’ll publish it here!