The City of Alcoa announced today that its annual FreedomFest celebration was recognized in the Kaleidoscope Awards competition at the Annual Southeast Festivals and Events Conference held in, Nashville TN, February 19-21, 2007. The festival won two silver awards, one award was for the Best Miscellaneous Printed Materials and the second was for the Best Marketing Campaign. FreedomFest competed in the category for festivals that have under $75, 000 in budget expenses.

City Manager Mark Johnson acknowledged that, "Coming in second place was quite an accomplishment seeing that this was the first time in competition for FreedomFest. We are always proud and grateful for the hard work and efforts put into FreedomFest by the employees."

"The conference was a huge success providing educational sessions and panel discussions to 160 event professionals," said Cheryl Burnette, Decatur Arts Alliance and Conference Chairman. Burnette attributes the success to outstanding speakers and a well-rounded program plus a super core of volunteers. During the awards program, top festivals and events throughout the southeast were recognized for their outstanding contribution to the festivals and events industry by receiving the prestigious Kaleidoscope Award. The awards program is sponsored by RSC Productions, Inc.

The name Kaleidoscope was selected because the award committee felt the colors and changes in the image represent the many different festivals and facets within the events. "The quality of submissions continues to go up each year making it harder and harder to choose only one winner," says Nia Foster, Award Coordinator, International Festival and Events Association, parent organization of the conference. "It is a wonderful opportunity to showcase your event or community and award those who have worked hard creating the perfect event or festival."

Tricia Tipton, Special Events Coordinator for the City, stated that, "Work has already begun on FreedomFest 2007 which will be held on Saturday, June 30, 2007. As an experiment, we expanded the hours and size of the event last year. It was very successful and plan to do the same this year. Festival-goers can look for a day full of fun and adventure this year. We will again have an expanded children’s area located in Springbrook Park along with food vendors and a craft area. An entertainment stage, food vendors and other activities with be located in the vicinity of the Duck Pond. Plans are also underway for the second annual FreedomFest Cruise-In.

The event will end literally with a bang, with the 31st presentation of the annual spectacular choreographed fireworks display. Assistant City Manager, Bill Hammon, added, “ We are really fortunate to have the professional fire department that we have, the process of designing the order of the fireworks, orchestrating the music, building the set up and delivering the show is quite complicated. Even though Chief Graves has recently retired, we begged him to stay with us for this year’s show to take advantage of his vast experience in this area. I expect an event this year that the community will thoroughly enjoy and continue to be award winning."