Event Industry News: Tightrope walking the Grand Canyon, Vine — the endangered app and SnapKidz

June 24, 2013

Tightrope walking the Grand Canyon: Yesterday daredevil Nik Wallenda of The Flying Wallendas circus act did one of the more scary things in life when he tightrope walked across the Grand Canyon, no harness or safety net in sight. Using a two-inch cable rope spanning 1,400 feet across the 1,500 feet chasm, Nik successfully completed his goal despite the unexpected wind activity. The event was telecast live on the Discovery Channel and watched by millions.

Snapchat for the kiddos: Snapchat, already wildly popular with young adults–high teens and 20somethings alike–is branching out with SnapKidz. SnapKidz is essentially Snapchat without the messaging component (which as we all know is what makes the app so fun.) But for the 13 and younger crowd,  taking photos, doodling on them and saving them to their phones is all they are allowed to partake in. Snapchat currently only allows users 13+ to use the app for privacy and safety reasons.

Vine who?: As announced on Thursday, June 20, Instagram has released a video feature on their app. Similar to Vine (but better), Instagram allows users to capture video in brief spurts of time. Users have the option of creating brief clips for one video by holding down the recording button to film and releasing the button to pause. The difference? Instagram allows users to film video in a 15-second time frame–9 seconds longer than Vine. Instagram video also features a whole new set of filters that can be added to the video during the editing process. It appears Vine loses on all counts but only time will tell for what’s in store with the company that enjoyed so brief a time at the top.

Local news: It’s been a busy few days for us here at Fairplex. The weekend started early for us when Vans Warped Tour started its two-day concert series on Thursday. Thousands of fans flooded our grounds for hours in the hot sun to listen to their favorite bands, take a turn on the waterslide and chow down on food truck meals.

Check out Vans Warped Tour’s YouTube page for footage of what the celebrations looked like at Fairplex:

As soon as that wrapped up, Cheers – L.A.’s Wine, Spirits, Beer & Food Festival started up, replacing loud rock music with a live DJ and dance floor, and lemonade and Monster booths for a wine garden, spirits lounge and beer tavern.

Digital De-tox Revisited: Last week we mentioned the Digital Detox’s Camp Grounded where more than 300 people did the “unthinkable” and totally unplugged from technology for a full three days. While no tweets, Instagrams, Vine videos or Facebook updates were logged, Mashable sent one of their own into the wild. Read about his experience here.

EDM: Electric dance music (EDM) has grown in popularity to the point where it is now getting its own awards show. With favorites like David Guetta, Skrillex, DeadMau5, Swedish House Mafia and others making onto mainstream radio and festivals like Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC), Hard Summer and Beyond Wonderland attracting more than just ravers, it makes sense to have a form of ceremony to honor those who are making their art known. The event is being planned by Insomniac Events and Dick Clark Productions.

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