Celebrate Israel: Boston 2015 Coming Soon!

FILO is excited to have been selected by Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP) as the Event Agency to help produce a new large-scale, community-wide festival celebration in support of Israel that informs, engages and inspires people in the Greater Boston area. Celebrate Israel: Boston will be a one-day event on May 31st held at Gann Academy in Waltham, MA.

The inaugural festival blends the presence of an Israeli pop-rock band Ethnix, nationally-recognized headliners such as Josh Nelson and Neshama Carlebach, and local stars such as Vanessa Trien and the Jumping Monkeys. This family-friendly event has plenty of entertainment options for children, such as Dod Haim (Israel’s premier children’s entertainer), a rock wall and bungee trampolines, a petting zoo, camel rides, face painters, Henna tattoo artists, and a Ga-Ga pit.

Working hand-in-hand with CJP has been very beneficial for FILO. Partnering with an organization that understands the preferences of the potential guests of the festival helps to guide the design of the event. Many of the entertainment, community organizations, vendors and food participants are from the Boston area. It is much easier to organize and manage such a large event when a great organization (like CJP) is your partner every step along the way.

This large-scale festival is a new push of FILO’s services, as it will be the first of four major heritage festivals executed, by FILO, in 2015. In June, FILO will put-on their 2nd annual Germanfest in St. Paul, MN, as well as help manage Festa Italiana and an Oktoberfest in the metropolitan area of Minnesota.

Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP) combines expertise and resources to create positive, life-changing results for people in need, for our friends in Israel and for the future of the Jewish community. CJP brings together the people, partners and resources to fulfill the most important needs and aspirations of the community. Rooted in compassion and justice and driven by innovation, they care for the vulnerable, forge strong connections with Israel and above all, inspire the next generation to embrace Jewish life and learning. They consider their greatest resource to be their people — the volunteers, partners, staff and leaders who help make Greater Boston’s Jewish community a welcoming home. It’s this energy and commitment that drive CJP’s mission.

For more information, please check out the festival website at www.celebrateisraelboston.com!

GermanFest 2015 Coming Soon!

Welkommen to the second annual GermanFest, Minnesota’s largest German cultural event held at the historic Schmidt Brewery in St. Paul, June 19-21, 2015!

This event is free and open to the public starting with Friday night Gemütlichkeit from 4pm to 10pm. Gemutlichkeit means merriment, fun or happiness and is the theme of Friday night at GermanFest. The night will be filled with German food, beer and a live band sure to entertain you for hours.

Bring your friends and family on Saturday from 10am to 10pm and experience a day filled with food, great beer, entertainment, music, family friendly games, arts and crafts, cultural exhibits and much more.

On Sunday from 10am to 5pm, come enjoy good food, a friendly libation, and a chance to hang out with family and friends. GermanFest will surely have something for everyone.

FILO and Serving Our Troops Team-Up

Serving Our Troops and FILO have teamed up for the 9th Annual Hockey Day Minnesota. FILO was hired as the production company to assist in the set-up, overall event management, VIP services and the implementation of a fun interactive Fan Zone.

On January 17th, 2015, the puck will drop on the tarmac at Saint Paul’s Holman Field on an unprecedented sheet of ice – with the sights and sounds of the Minnesota National Guard standing side by side with our players and our communities.

Across the ocean – linked via live video – Minnesota soldiers from the 34th Combat Aviation Brigade and the 2-147th Assault Helicopter Battalion will be a part of Hockey Day, with NHL Alumni and other leaders on hand in Kuwait – sitting side by side with our soldiers as they watch high school, Gopher, and Minnesota Wild hockey action. With Fox Sports broadcasting live to over 40 million households, Hockey Day promises to be a truly special weekend.

Serving Our Troops continues to be one of the most unique projects in the nation. Hockey Day Minnesota 2015 will be the first event of its kind, continuing the tradition of Hockey Day while supporting our young people, our soldiers and families, and hockey in Minnesota.

Team FILO's Newest Member!

Please help us welcome Linda DeRoode to the FILO Productions team!

Linda is proud to be hired by FILO Productions Inc. as the new Director of Festivals. She brings many years of large scale event planning to her position at FILO. Her primary duties will be Directing GermanFest, held at the historic Schmidt Brewery site in St. Paul and assisting in the management of a 1-day Jewish heritage festival, held in Boston, MA. Her goal is to make FILO a household name.

Her passion for events started early, as she was raised in a family that organized the Festival of Nations, a heritage festival celebrating thousands of Nations across the world in Minnesota. She was hired as the Festival of Nations Education Outreach Coordinator. This position had her working with over three hundred schools from the five state region and the over twenty thousand school teachers and children that attended the event for two days. She was hired as the Director of the Festival of Nations in 2013 and successfully produced the 2014 event.

She was approached by the Italian community and asked to create and Direct Minnesota’s first authentic Italian Festival. She worked for over a year with a core team of individuals to bring about the successful production of Festa Italiana MN held on Harriet Island in St. Paul. She successfully produced two Festas’ and now she is again working with the core team to manage the event through FILO. This event was Linda’s proudest moment in her Directing career.

Linda also produces an Oktoberfest for her church, St. James Lutheran Church, in West St. Paul.

Linda is married to David and they have two children: Emma Rose, who is a freshman at the University of North Dakota and a son Theodore, who is a Freshman at Minnetonka High School. Their third child is their dog GoGo. They live in Minnetonka.

To relax she plays cello in the Mississippi Valley Orchestra which she has played in for 30 years. She also loves to travel and has been to many countries including Germany, where she has family.

Minnesota Wild Home Opener

Hockey season is back! FILO Productions teamed up again with the Minnesota Wild for the opening night pregame party outside the Xcel Energy Center on Kellogg Blvd. The FILO crew setup a photo booth, hockey shooting inflatable, plinko game and prize table.

The event was free for fans to come cheer on the Wild, participate in games and go home with prizes and a photo as fun mementos to remember opening night. Winners at each contest were given great prizes that included: a bobble head of Zach Parise, Jonas Brodin, Ryan Suter or Jason Pominville, a Minnesota Wild scarf or a t-shirt.

The Minnesota Wild played against the Colorado Avalanche, who they battled in the first round of the 2014 playoffs. The fans energy and excitement in the Xcel Energy Center that night was matched on the ice and the Wild opened the season with a 5-0 shutout against the Avas! What a great way to celebrate opening night in the “State of Hockey.” Go Wild!

FILO Opens Event Rentals Division

FILO Productions is happy to introduce our rental service that is now available and up on the website www.filoproductions.com. We have a variety of event rentals that would be great for everything from local, small-scale parties to large-scale events and festivals!

The event rentals include a hockey inflatable, a baseball hitting inflatable and a baseball pitching inflatable. Each inflatable can be branded specifically to showcase your event or party. We also have several photo opportunities available, including a photo booth, custom overlay photo tablets and a stationary photo opp. Each photo opportunity is a great way to engage fans or guests, and provides a great takeaway for attendees, while incorporating social media sharing. The photo booth, tablets and photo opp can each be custom branded to your event or party. FILO’s rentals also include Plinko, 1600 square feet of staging and 1600 square feet of black flooring.

Please contact Kristen Blumberg, the Director of New Business at Kristen@callfilo.com for details and pricing.

FILO Completes NBA Canada Tour

The National Basketball Association (NBA) and FILO have just completed The NBA Nation Tour Presented by Samsung. NBA Nation traveled across Canada to five different cities and malls in August and September.

Our first stop was near Vancouver, BC at the Metropolis at Metrotown. Fans flooded the mall for a chance to see Eric Gordon form the New Orleans Pelicans and to participate in various activations that included the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy.

Fans of all ages were treated to many on court games, free prizing and the Skullcandy lounge. The Skullcandy lounge offered fans a VIP like atmosphere where they could interact with the latest headphones from Skullcandy, play the latest version of the NBA 2K14 basketball video game, and watch highlights of last seasons top plays.

FILO Productions Inc. sent two members of its team to travel with the tour all around Canada. While on tour they played an integral role in the overall operations and programming for the run of show. FILO’s job duties included: crafting detailed truck packs, arranging trucking logistics, and onsite consulting throughout set-up and strike execution.

The NBA Nation Tour Presented by Samsung ran through September 15th, making stops in Edmonton, AB, Montreal, QC, Halifax, NS and concluding in Toronto, ON.