The fourth monthly Wigg Party Party went off last week, and while it was the quite possibly the most crisp and inspirational meeting to date, there is no doubt that the WPP was upstaged by the first official Wigg Party Late Night Chalk the Wiggle Extravaganza.
bikes + chalk + wigs + modelo = socioreverberation
While the glory certainly went to those intrepid Wigglers who braved the dark streets, oblivious drivers, and curious after-hour pedestrians (one of whom stole the camera of Media Director Jenny Sherman!), the exhilarating chalk festivities would be entirely without meaning if it were not for the work being done on the daily by the Wigg Party. The reporting of this work formed the real substance of the evening, while the subsequent Party and Chalk Festivities served up more than enough sizzle to carry us through this next month.
Those who made it to the Sunshine Castle by 8:30 pm were treated to a multimedia update of the last month’s work – a slideshow of pictures from the Carrotmob and the Local Food Potluck in the Panhandle accompanied by the smooth live piano stylings of Johnny Cat greeted Wigg Partiers as they filed in for the evening. Once 9 pm hit, the meeting began. The theme of the meeting was lessons learned. Last month we talked about finally having a chance to get to work, to start implementing some of the strategies we’ve been scheming for months now. This month, we shared the wisdom culled from that great deep well called praxis.
Both success and failure served up important lessons. We had learned that wearing wigs as a group in public created a startlingly powerful dynamic – nearly everyone was interested in who we were and why we were having so much fun. Second among our successful lessons was the power of chalk – dressing up the Wiggle with chalk the night before the Carrotmob event served to inform people of the nature of the event, as well as to the existence of our group. Finally, we learned that our newly established presence on Facebook and this site were reaping rewards – over 150 people now officially “like” The Wigg Party on Facebook and we’ve had a few different blogs link to this site. But it’s really the ability of The Wigg Party to inform our members of events of interest and for people to give dynamic feedback online for all to see that has proven to be a boon to our efforts.
The main lesson we learned from “failure” was really more about effort:outcome ratio – while the Local Food Potluck in the Panhandle was a lot of fun for everyone who attended, the overall turnout was no doubt hampered by many factors, not least of which was the competition from other events around the city and the Bay. The effort required to put on an event that was lower profile than was hoped has made us re-evaluate our strategy with regards to events. Instead of focusing on adding yet another event to the already full lineup of San Francisco eco-cultural gatherings, we have decided to focus on securing a strong presence of wig-bequeathed Wigg Partiers at a couple chosen events being produced by other great groups in San Francisco each month. Instead of using up our group’s energy on promoting and pulling off events of our own, we’ll let the other groups do all the hard preparatory work so that we can show up fresh in our wigs and reach a larger audience than we ever would have if the event were our own. Our first attempt to pull this strategy off in earnest will be the Divisadero Art Walk taking place the night of June 3rd. Get your wig ready!
Of course the highlight of the evening was the late night chalk session on the Wiggle. No tactic has proven more effective in reaching our core constituency – the riders of the Wiggle. This instance of chalking was particularly well timed, as the following morning thousands of people rode the Wiggle to or from work. While it’s difficult to know exactly how many people actually got the message about our group, the traffic to this site was the highest ever on Thursday. However, the follow-through is almost inconsequential – so far, no group event has served to create a greater sense of community and comradeship as a late night chalkfest. While the chalk has since been washed away, the photos and memories live on.
job well done
out of the cave and into the light!
wigg party what
See you next time!
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