In its 13th year, CarnEvil is the fastest growing costume party. In 2002, the party was popular enough to move to a 10,000 square foot space at the Hanford Mill on Hawthorne Lane off Central Avenue. Still overflowing its venues' banks, CarnEvil has been trying to move to larger locations but due to legality they have had to stay in the same location; turning away over a 1000 party goers for the last couple years. To accommodate the growing numbers, Jim McGuire and Jade Wills, the co organizers, rented a large outdoor tent to satisfy their growing needs. The event required three lighting rigs. One for the bands on an outdoor loading dock, one for the dancers, and one for the DJ's in the tent.

The simplest part of the setup was the burlesque show on the side stage. I wanted the stage to feel like an inner city street dance. 4 par cans with an amber gel unevenly washed the stage in a naughty performance by the Burlesque team. The Med spread beams alluded to street lights up above the stage.

The large industrial loading dock made a beautiful CarnEvil main stage. Smoke, Moving lights, and Pars filled the narrow space with dynamite exploding with every strum of the night's feature acts: gogoPilot, JT & the Blame, Lamb Handler, Alternative Champs, Taradactyl, Suburban Shaman, and Anders Manga. The movers then turned outward between sets clawing its illuminate hand across the tall metallic warehouses around the loading yard.

10 Led pars illuminated the top of the tent with reds, oranges, yellows, and greens. The color provided a backdrop and ambient glow to the room. Saturn 4's cut through the color with beams of white light while the Image 250's morphed skeletal images on the tent ceiling. The VJ splashed provocative and haunting images on the Tent. While Lasers, hazers, and fog machines finished the spooky dance party. Guest DJs pushing the beat in the tent include D'Nooch, Starseed, Anthony Ramirez, Spaceboy, Tober, Kate, Jeff Nagel and Christian.

The hard lesson is one I will never forget: If it can fall, it will fall. I placed a number of lights on a 14' pole with an Altman 50 lb base. On the base, I placed on the base 2 x 35 lb sand bags. On the pole were 6 x LED Par 64 at 5 lbs each and 4 x Saturn 4s at 8 lbs each. I foolishly thought that the 120lbs at the base on level ground would be able to hold the 62 lbs evenly distributed around the pole. Even though I unsuccessfully pushed the pole to see if I could knock it over, someone stronger than I achieved throwing the pole down on three girls. They were sent to the hospital ruining the night for all those involved. Alcohol is a monster and those being controlled will act foolishly. No witnesses saw how the pole fell but it should have never been able to fall. When dealing with wild parties, Eye Dialogue now treats the party goers as children, protecting their safety and assuring their safe return home. Additional precautions are to be taken at all alcohol events, access to all equipment will remain inaccessible or bolted to the floor. In four years of business, Eye Dialogue has never had an accident. My word of caution is never assume the standards will protect you. Exceed the Safety standards, preventing the possibility of future calamity will not only keep the party pumping but save money and prevent injury.

Between a legal battle in moving the event, unmoving the event, being pushed out of doors, and the unfortunate injury of three persons, everyone learned hard lessons this year. Although discouraging, the event was a huge success and raised money for charity. CarnEvil has shown what a party can be and through our hard lessons will prevent others from making the same mistakes.

CarnEvil
12th Annual Eat, Drink, and Be Scary | Katrina Relief Benefit
Uberdose | Fran Hammer | Dirty Box | JT & the Blame
Baby Shaker | Avec La Force | Teradactyl | Hardcore Lounge
Lighting Design for CarnEvil by Jack Kelly of Eye Dialogue on October 29, 2005