Event Industry News: St. Patrick’s Day in LA, Samsung Galaxy S4, Facebook hashtags

March 18, 2013

Photo from Huffington Post

St. Patrick’s Day LA: Marathons and St. Patrick’s Day = polar opposites but the two paired remarkably well in Los Angeles. St. Patrick’s Day festivities began on Friday night and went strong until Sunday evening, but in between the green beer and shamrock shenanigans, the L.A. Marathon began bright and early Sunday Morning as runners made the 26.2 mile trek from Dodger Stadium to Santa Monica Pier. Many of the 24,000 runners donned themselves in green tanks, tutus, leprechaun costumes and paint in celebration of the holiday. Free beer was being offered alongside the usual water and Gatorade fare, although quite a few runners declined that one.

First time marathon runner Aleksandra Duliba of Belarus won the women’s race and Kenyan Erick Mose won the men’s race.

Social media: Facebook is bringing hashtags to their site. Fun for consumers, smart for businesses.  Like the promoted hashtags on Twitter, companies can pay Facebook to promote their ads/campaigns via hashtags on users’ News Feed. Depending on how Facebook plans to leverage their hashtags, it could be a whole new way to engage with event guests.

Technology: Samsung is giving Apple a run for their money with the launch of their Galaxy S4 kicking off in New York last week. A wave of positive reviews over the weekend indicates the new device could be the best smartphone yet.

Closing time… or not: Proposed legislation could extend last call for alcohol in California event venues including bars, clubs and restaurants from 2 a.m. to 4 p.m. This puts California on the same level as New York, Las Vegas and other hot nightlife destinations in the United States. It also means later hours for the owners of these venues and adapting in more ways than one.

Spring Socials: For those who have burst from their winter cocoons and emerged as social butterflies, L.A. Times gave a tidy round-up of all the spring happenings in our city.

Did floral ever go out of style? Cvent gives tips on how flowers can enhance any event.

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