Arts & Culture
Foo Foo Fest Turns 13 With Puppies at the Ballet, Mirrored Spheres and a First-Ever Beach Show
Past chair Therese McKenzie tells Rick’s Blog Live why Pensacola’s most unpredictable festival keeps reinventing itself.
Ballet and Puppies
Pensacola’s Foo Foo Fest has found the combination nobody knew they needed.
- Ballet Pensacola is partnering with the Humane Society on an original production of Carnival of the Animals, and yes, there will be puppies. “Who doesn’t want to go to a ballet and see puppies?” said Therese McKenzie, Foo Foo Fest past chair, on the latest Rick’s Blog Live.
It is one of the many surprises in store for the festival’s 13th year.
What Foo Foo Fest Is
Foo Foo is a 12-day celebration of arts, culture and entertainment that runs across the first two weekends from the end of October into November. It is presented by ACE, a local nonprofit, and funded by Escambia County, the State of Florida and the City of Pensacola. The festival begins Oct. 29 and runs through Nov. 9.
“We have so much to offer in Pensacola, and it’s a time for Pensacola to essentially show off.”
The twist: ACE gives grants to local arts nonprofits to create special events for the festival, so no two years look alike. The grant process runs on a point system and happens in public view. After each festival, the committee reviews what worked and what didn’t, including the application and the scorecard.
What’s New This Year
- Night Moves goes citywide. The music series is no longer a one-day event at Maritime Park. It is spread across the festival at venues including the Handlebar and Odd Colony. Motion City Soundtrack is playing the Handlebar.
- A first for the beach. Foo Foo Fest will host a show at Laguna’s Beach Bar, the first time the festival has put an event on the beach.
- Light Spill. The Friends of Downtown public art display this year sends mirrored spheres cascading down the side of Artel Gallery. McKenzie called it “another great selfie moment for sure.”
- More grant recipients. The Pensacola Museum of Art, the opera, the symphony and Mess Hall all received grants and have events planned.
By the numbers: 13th year. 12 days. 7 committee members. 0 paid staff on that committee. Everyone who works on ACE and the Foo Foo Fest committee is a volunteer.
Why It Works
Volunteers run it. McKenzie said the committee is small and close. “It’s a passion project for all of us,” she said, “and we really love what we do and it shows.”
The community gets to see itself. She joined the ACE board and was soon asked to join the Foo Foo committee. What won her over was seeing the economic impact for the county and then watching local people enjoy the events. “Seeing behind the scenes all the hard work from all our fabulous arts nonprofit organizations and all the work that they pour into it,” she said, “it’s just really special.”
Nobody else does it this way. Rick noted that he knows of nothing similar anywhere nearby. McKenzie said the reason is simple: “It is different every year.”
The festival has given Pensacola painted blue trees, parasols, bubbles and a night when the history of the city played out on the side of a gallery.
