Mall of America a Popular Place for FILO Events

One location that has been a great host to events FILO helps manage is the Mall of America. Over the past few years, there have been a variety of successful events held in the Rotunda. The past couple months have been no exception, as two of the events included a Minnesota Lynx season kick-off party and a Nickelodeon promotion of the Kid’s Choice Sports Awards.

On May 21st, 2016, FILO, in conjunction with FOX Sports North and the Minnesota Lynx, put on a great community event. It consisted of a half-court basketball area, an interactive photo opportunity and Pop-A-Shot games for kids. A highlight for many of the people that attended was the “Lynx Training” that people got to experience on-court. It was a little taste of what a WNBA practice is like.

Another area that received a plethora of attention was the interactive photo opportunity, provided by FILO. Kids and adults alike were able to take all kinds of fun pictures. There were large player cut-outs, along with huge emoji’s to hold, and everyone that took a photo was able to take home a personal print. Overall, this was a great event and a blast for all involved.

The Nickelodeon-sponsored Kids’ Choice Sports Awards party took place on June 25th and 26th. It was a large promotional event for the awards show that was coming up in a few weeks. At the Mall of America, there were three inflatable opportunities (football, baseball, and soccer) that kids could practice their skills at. Also available at the event were temporary tattoos and hair painting stations. And while all of those were a huge attraction, the main feature was the drawing at the end of each day. There were a few great prizes, like 4 tickets to a Minnesota Vikings game, but the grand prize was a trip for 4 to the awards show in Los Angeles. It drew a huge crowd at the end of the event and left one lucky kid very surprised and happy.

FILO Produces 3rd Annual GermanFest MN

This was the 3rd Annual GermanFest Heritage Festival that was produced by FILO, in partnership with West End Festivals and the Fort Road Federation. After a hugely successful 2015, much of the same structure was used for this years’ event. It took place over three days, June 17th – 19th at the Schmidts’ Artist’s Lofts site (formerly Schmidts Brewery).

Many of the same vendors were back again, both for selling their crafts and for creating delicious foods that people have come to expect. The Strongmen competition returned for the third year on Saturday, as well as the return of the Dachshund races as a feature event on Sunday. As always, one of the most popular attractions was the local tour(s) put on by historian, Dave Bredemus. This year the tour(s) included areas on the brewery site that have not been opened to the public in many years, and showed the Rathskeller before renovations take place on the infamous, old building.

Of course, in order to keep the event new and exciting, new components were added to 2016. The most noticeable was the focus on art, which is especially important to GermanFest since the old Schmidt Brewery has been turned into Artist Lofts.

The tenants were able to walk outside their doors and have a festival to attend without even leaving the property.

The theme for 2016 was “Modern Art with German Heart” and helped to display many connections to bring artists into the fold. Local artist Richard Hubal created a mural titled “A German Breath Over St. Paul MN” which featured many of the most famous churches all over Germany and St. Paul, and also had attendees create leaves to put on the frame. There was also a tent for the local artists to set up a table to display and sell their pieces and to engage in the community.

Another new participant this year, Hot Air Affair, helped with the “art in the sky” theme and brought in their hot air balloon baskets to help promote their own event. The Hot Air Affair is a great tie to Ferdinand Von Zeppelin's first hot air balloon ride that was piloted by John Steiner out of St. Paul, MN in 1863. Based from these flights, Von Zeppelin designed his first cigar shaped balloon called the "Zeppelin."

As a new addition to the calendar, FILO partnered with the Germanic-American Institute to put on Deutsche Days, which was a week-long program with activities each day to help bridge the gap between the GAI’s feature event, Deutsche Tage, and GermanFest. This helped to bring the two events closer by engaging the German community throughout the week, with new events that could not otherwise find a home. One of the highlights for Deutsche Days was a bus tour hosted by Dave Bredemus. Each year, GAI has become an even bigger supporter of GermanFest MN and we look forward to growing our partnership in the upcoming years.

FILO Creates NEW Branding Division, Aims For Cost Efficiency & Superb Customer Service

For years now, FILO has created, managed and executed high-scale events for companies all over the world. Recently, however, FILO broadened their services and capabilities by introducing a new department that will allow FILO to produce new event displays, signage and banners for new (and existing) clientele.

The FILO catalog, which includes hundreds of examples for your next project or event can be found on FILO’s webpage under “Signage,” or visiting http://www.filoproductions.com/displays__tents_and_signage.cfm.

Here, a company, client, festival or consumer can find a variety of ways to brand and design any project. The catalog includes custom banners, tradeshow displays, teardrop flags, custom tents, retractable banners, banner displays and any custom signage one could dream-up.

FILO has partnered with a local manufacturer in an attempt to avoid higher distribution costs and mark-ups. Items can be done as quickly as 24-48 hours, and FILO works to match the best price on the market.

Virtual samples are offered up FREE of charge, and FILO offers general creative work at an affordable cost.

Quarterly promotions will also be available for new customers.

For more information on FILO’s new service, or to receive your own virtual sample on a certain product, please contact andywestphal@callfilo.com, or check out the FILO catalog at http://www.filoproductions.com/displays__tents_and_signage.cfm.