About MagicFest
While some would describe many government programs designed to work through the economic crisis as smoke and mirrors, Historic Downtown Twin Falls is hoping that a little magical illusion and misdirection at the inaugural MagicFest 2009 will bring families to the downtown merchants over the July 31st and August 1st weekend.
MagicFest 2009 has been in the planning stages for over a year and is an idea presented by Twin Falls Mayor Lance Clow. Clow first introduced the idea at one of the first Town Hall Meetings in 2008, meetings that focused on the revitalization of Historic Downtown.
Mayor Clow, an amateur magician at best, visualized a long term opportunity to make magic a permanent part of the Magic Valley, specifically Historic Downtown Twin Falls. When he first presented the idea at a Town Hall meeting, a friend gave him a book "The Magic Life", by Ace Starry. It was special because Ace Starry was a graduate of Twin Falls High School, the College of Southern Idaho and completed his education at Boise State University. While an author, he has performed and taught magic most of his life. An email followed by a phone call to Ace Starry began a dialogue that hatched the idea of the MagicFest. Clow recalls "Ace told me about a community in Texas that has used magicians as part of a business promotion, with magicians on the street and in store window displays." From that call research and planning began. The first challenge was where to find affordable magicians and how to present the magic to the public.
After contacts with the Magic Castle in Hollywood and contacts provided by Ace Starry, Mayor Clow discovered Kipp Sherry, a full time magician in Boise, Idaho. Mr. Sherry was also the Territorial Vice President of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. Clow immediately recognized the name, as Sherry formerly worked in Twin Falls for KLIX Radio and Z-103. Working together the weekend plans for seven magicians and the illusionist Jason Byers resulted in a workable plan for the two day event. MagicFest will provide over 55 hours of continuous magic hosted by Historic Downtown businesses. There can be up to seven different sites performing simultaneously, so everyone is encouraged to move to new sites every hour to catch all the Magic. Both the magicians and guests of Historic Downtown will be on the move.
The proceeds of the event will be used to establish a dedicated fund with the Twin Falls Community Foundation. The fund will be used to support the proposed Memorial Plaza or park improvements in the Historic Townsite. Clow, a member of the Kiwanis Club of Twin Falls, has volunteered as the inaugural chairman of MagicFest. Clow can be reached at 208-733-5767 or by email at info@MagicFest.org.
