The second day of Lebowski Fest, commonly referred to as the "bowling day," consists of more than just bowling. The Garden Party happens before the bowling event, and this year we (The Lebowski Podcast) hosted a meet up before the Garden Party.

The meet up was a random idea that we came up with a few months ago. I can't remember who thought of it first, it could have been Liz or Tom, but it was a great idea nonetheless. One thing people always comment about on the Fest forums is the awkwardness of finding other forum members. We all interact using nicknames and pseudonyms, but most have no clue what people actually look like. So we scheduled a meet up, get together, or what have you. It took place in the Executive Strike and Spare at 3:00. Tom and I got in a couple minutes late, but nobody minded because we were all functioning on Dude-time. I laid out some sticker name tags and a few sharpies. Some slapped on a name tag and others did not - and that's cool. Different strokes for different folks. Other than that, we all just milled about, met new friends, and said hello to old ones. One guy I met, Greg, wrote up an article for Media Geeks. You can read it here - http://www.media-geeks.com/articles/1472/Media_Geeks_hits_LebowskiFest_Louisville! I'm not really sure how many attended, but a lot of people kept coming in and out between 3:00 and 4:00.

The Garden Party started up at 4:00 with several bands playing before the bowling event. I spent most of the time tracking down those in Dude costumes for short interviews. This year I wanted to just talk to Dudes in an effort to do something different. I also had a great sit-down with Prof Tim. He's working on a dissertation/thesis centered on the pop culture of The Big Lebowski. Eventually we switched roles and Prof Tim started asking me questions. I haven't listened to the audio yet, but we talked for almost an hour.

The bowling event started around 8pm. When Prof Tim and I walked out of the bowling alley around 6:45, the line to get inside had already started. I don't even try to get into the bowling event early. The lanes get so packed I don't even try to bowl. I spend most of my time walking around talking to people and checking out interesting costumes. Some of my favorites included The Stranger, the cash machine, Donny with his walrus on his shoulder, the Chinamen with severed legs, and the lawyers - Ron Kube and Bill Kunstler. The trivia contest is also of great interest to me because I'm into that kind of stuff. It was a close competition this year and the 1st and 3rd place winners were a married couple. They took two golfing trophies home to place on their mantel.  The guy who took 2nd place was also dressed up as Walter.  I think he also won Best Walter and the bowl-off.

Bill Kunstler and Ron Kube

I'll save the rest of the details for our episode. We should have two coming out in the next couple weeks. In one I'll be posting the audio from the book event for The Year's Work in Lebowski Studies, and the second will consist of Liz interviewing me to find out what happened at the Fest.

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