Stately Orman Manor: Festivus Party 2007!

Ah, Festivus. For the second year in a row, we hosted a Festivus celebration at Stately Orman Manor. We did it just as Frank Costanza would want, complete with The Metal Pole, the Airing of Grievances, and the Feats Of Strength. Welcome to Festivus 2007!

Festivus, of course, is the ficticious holiday popularlized on the sit-com Seinfeld. Frank Costanza (pictured above) founded Festivus, which had three central features: (1) The Metal Pole; (2) The Airing of Grievances; and (3) The Feats of Strength. We had all three at the second annual Festivus For The Rest Of Us celebration at Stately Orman Manor.

THE NOBLE BEACON

In addition to the main foundations of Festivus, we added a new tradition, the Noble Beacon Of Festivus. This is a flashing light that guides participants to the Festivus Celebration. No Festivus event should be considered complete without one.

The Noble Beacon is deployed in anticipation of Festivus

THE METAL POLE

What Festivus celebration would be complete without the metal pole? People love to pose with the metal pole.

Here I am, with the metal pole in the background

More fun with the pole!

Check out the T-shirts!

The Festivus Meal

Of course, every Festivus celebration needs to have a Festivus meal. We don't really know that the menu was at the original Festivus, but we tried to figure out what Frank would want. We think that we succeeeded.

The Festivus Buffet

Enjoying the traditional Festivus meal.

Good Times

Of course, there is more to Festivus than Feats of Strength, Airing of Grievances, and Metal Poles!

A participant enjoys a refreshing beverage.

Everyone is happy at Festivus!

A participant shows off the prize he won for one of the Feats of Strength (the Little Debbies, not the dog).

Who wouldn't enjoy Festivus!

This participant was obviously peeved about something.

FEATS OF STRENGTH

Of course, one of the primary events of any Festivus celebation are the Feats Of Strength. This year we had four seperate competitions. One involved holding a gallon of water up with a straight arm.

Here five participants engage in a battle of pure strength.

Now they are starting to get tired.

The pain must have been unbearable.

THE AIRING OF GRIEVANCES

Unlike the original Festivus, where Frank told everyone assembled how they had dispppointed him in the previous year, we encouraged guests to fill out grievance forms, which were then submitted to a panel of judges, who selected 12 (or so) grievances to air to the Festivus participants.

Here is an example of a Festivus Grievance Form

Here I am with my little megaphone explaining an upcoming grievance to be aired.

Hal airs a grievance

A guest explains the facts surrounding her grievance

As does another.

The assembled masses listen to a grievance being aired

YET MORE FEATS OF STRENGTH

The evening ended with the final Feat of Strength, the Wresting Of the Pole. Here was one of our first heats. Two participants engage in a battle of strength and wits to wrest the pole (here 3 feet of 2 inch PVC pipe) from the other's grasp. The pole symbolizes the metal Festivus Pole, one of the mains elements of any Festivus celebration.