In 1927, Edwin Perkins invented Kool-Aid in Hastings, Nebraska. The six
original flavors were strawberry, cherry, lemon-lime, grape, orange and
raspberry (Mr. Perkins’ favorite). Kool-Aid was produced at 506-508
West 1st Street in Downtown Hastings, across from Burlington Station.
Perkins Products were manufactured there until January of 1931. Nearly
80 years later, Kraft Foods owns Kool-Aid. Over 500 million gallons are
consumed each year worldwide by Kids of all ages!
You can download the rules and entry brochure here .
CuteKid Director: Tiffany Lacy at 402-469-7577 or email her
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.
Location: Kool-Aid Days Second Stage - Auditorium Park
Event Days: Saturday
Saturday: Noon - 1:30 pm (Registration at 11:30 am)
Our new TV ads are out and running on NTV and Fox 4 & 17 across Nebraska. Take a look:
Volunteers needed!
Would you like to be a part of a unique Hastings event — see the
smile on a small child’s face when she throws a bean bag through the
Kool-Aid smile? Or have you ever wondered what it’s like to mix
Kool-Aid by the gallons? Can you put up a tent, sell tickets and
t-shirts, or just help haul several tons of equipment around Hastings?
Try volunteering for Kool-Aid Days. We need volunteers on August
10th–12th to set up, August 13th–15th to help run the event, and on
August 16th to help clean up.
Volunteers are needed to work at the Kool-Aid Stand outdoors downtown
and at Brickyard Park, run games in the air conditioned City
Auditorium, take tickets on the field of inflatable rides, help out at the
“Jammers” and Kardboard Boat Races, and sell Kool-Aid Kollectibles and
game tickets (inside and outside).
You may sign up to work a 2-hour shift. Families, Service
Organizations, or School and
Community Groups may sign up to staff the Kool-Aid Stand for a whole
shift (20 people) or run a game all-day (8-12 persons spread over 4
shifts). Volunteers should be at least 13 years old and some jobs
require that you be 16 years or older. Younger children may volunteer
when working with an adult.
Contact
Belle Williams
(402)
463-1933
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To volunteer to help with the Kool-Aid/KaBOOM! playground project,
click on the Kool-Aid/KaBOOM! tab above on the right and follow the
links.
Rave On! The Buddy Holly Experience Returns to Rock Koncert Kool-Aid 2010
Thirteenth Annual Kool-Aid Days Is "Keen on Green" for the Environment
Nebraska’s Official Soft Drink Heritage Foundation announced today that, by critical demand, it is bringing back Rave On! The Buddy Holly Experience, starring Billy McGuigan, to perform at the fifth annual Koncert Kool-Aid. Previous Koncert Kool-Aid's have included folk legends, Richie Havens and Judy Collins, and last year featured Yesterday & Today, a tribute to the music of the Beatles, also starring McGuigan. The concert will take place on the Saturday evening of Kool-Aid Days, August 14th, during the second weekend of August at Brickyard Park Amphitheatre in Hastings, Nebraska. As usual, the evening will be topped off by a large fireworks display.
"Rave On! was last on the Koncert Kool-Aid bill in 2008," said Randal Kottwitz, Kool-Aid Days Executive Producer, "but you may remember that we were hit with torrential rains that year, and had to move the concert into the City Auditorium. Those who came had a fantastic time, but a lot of people stayed home. I've talked to a number of folks who braved the rain to see Rave On! two years ago and they've all enthusiastically greeted the idea of bringing this great Buddy Holly tribute back for the full Koncert Kool-Aid experience in Brickyard Park."
The concert is only one of 30 events featured in Kool-Aid Days 2010, celebrating the invention of Kool-Aid in Hastings by Edwin Perkins in 1927. Other events include a Grand Parade, Jammers and Kardboard Boat Races, the Kwickest Kool-Aid Drinking Contest, the classic car Kool-Aid Cruise of America, the Kool-Aid Fun Run, a new Nebraska Entrepreneur Show just off the festival grounds on Saturday, and as always, the World's Largest Kool-Aid Stand.
This year's theme is "Keen on Green" and the festival will include practical applications of the "reduce/reuse/recycle" mobius strip incorporated in the logo for the year. "We're beginning a process this year of reducing Kool-Aid Days' footprint on the environment," said Kottwitz. "We're far from perfect and have been frustrated to find that some of our goals simply can't be met in a single year. However, we'll be improving what is already a relatively 'green' event every year from now on, increasing the number of recycling bins, using more recycled products -- steps both small and large -- and encouraging the thousands of people associated with our festival to do the same. We decided that in this kick-off year of our environmental efforts that we would incorporate it into our theme, and part of the celebration will feature a 'green pavilion' on the festival grounds on Saturday. The pavilion will include exhibits from companies and organizations who are working to improve the environment and feature demonstrations and entertainment to help educate our guests."
Kool-Aid Days was awarded Nebraska’s Travel & Tourism Outstanding Event Award for cities with populations of more than 20,000 in 2006 and their award for Outstanding Website in 2009. Kool-Aid Days is featured in the Rand McNally Festivals & Events Guide and Atlas. Details of all the events that comprise Kool-Aid Days can be found at the festival's website: www.Kool-AidDays.com.
The Day the Music Died
On a frigid February night in 1959 over Central City, Iowa, three of the greatest talents of rock 'n' roll met their fate. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. Richardson aka "The Big Bopper," triumphantly touring the country together at the peak of their careers, had taken a small private plane to arrive at their next concert date a little early. In a tragedy for the music world, they never arrived. Although his career lasted only eighteen months, 22-year-old Buddy Holly forever changed the world of rock 'n' roll with his many hits, including "That'll Be the Day" and "Peggy Sue."
Koncert Kool-Aid is proud to present one of the most renowned revivals of Holly's incredible music in Rave On! The Buddy Holly Experience. Since 2002, Billy McGuigan and a band of seven gifted musicians have been bringing not only Holly's music, but the character of Buddy, himself, to life on stages across the country, performing the Buddy Holly "concert that never was." In a performance described by the Omaha World Herald as "a carefully staged, fast-paced two hours of '50s rock 'n' roll," McGuigan and the ensemble perform dozens of Holly's hits, along with those of Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. Mix in their high-energy covers of Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, Bobby Darin, and Paul Anka and you have a musical experience that will have Koncert Kool-Aid's audience on its feet and rockin' out on a great August night at Brickyard Park Amphitheatre in Hastings.
Rave On! has been performed at many theatres across the country, and has made several acclaimed national tours since they were last in Hastings.
Koncert Kool-Aid Free with Any 2010 Shirt or Mug
To gain free access to the Koncert grounds, concertgoers will need to show one of the Kool-Aid Days 2010 Commemorative Mugs (selling for $2, $4, $8 or $10 for a stainless steel bottle), or a Kool-Aid days T-shirt. If they don't yet have a Kool-Aid Days mug or shirt at the concert gates, guests will pay $2 and receive a ticket redeemable for a mug or $2 discount on Kool-Aid Days Kollectibles being sold on the concert grounds.
Bigger and Better Every Year!
Koncert Kool-Aid is one of over 30 events taking place throughout Hastings during Kool-Aid Days. All of last year’s events will be back, including the Jammers Boat Races at the City Aquacourt on Friday, the Grand Parade downtown on Saturday morning, and the Kardboard Boat Races at Lake Hastings on Sunday. The Downtown Mainstage on Saturday will feature performers from across Nebraska and showcase local talent, as well. (If you’re interested in performing, contact Todd Okeefe at
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or (308) 227-9518.) “As always, we still have a few things in the planning stages and a couple of big surprises to announce in the coming weeks, but rest assured that it will be the biggest and most exciting Kool-Aid Days ever. We expect to see as many as 40,000 ‘kids of all ages’ come out to help us celebrate Nebraska’s Official Soft Drink.”
Details, schedules and entry forms for almost all Kool-Aid Days can be found at the festival's website: www.Kool-AidDays.com.
Calling Corporate Sponsors
Kool-Aid Days’ corporate sponsorship drive is ongoing. “Although Kraft Foods is very generous in their support of the festival, Kool-Aid Days requires many local corporate sponsors and individual donors in order to keep our events affordable for all. Area businesses have made an amazing investment in the success of Kool-Aid Days over the past several years, but this is a call for generous corporate citizenship that must be renewed every year. The board and I hope even more companies and individuals will recognize the important contribution a successful Kool-Aid Days makes to the area’s economic development when we call on them this year. We like to think that Kool-Aid Days is a model for how a community can invest in itself, build its income from the tourism industry, and have a lot of fun at the same time,” said Kottwitz.
Videos of a number of Kool-Aid Days 2009 events are now available for viewing on our website and on YouTube. Use the links below to view individual videos. Some of the videos are in multiple parts due to YouTube's restriction to only ten minutes per video clip. Thanks to Glenwood Telecommunications and the Hastings Tribune for providing the video footage used to produce these clips!
Would you like to be a part of a unique Hastings event — see the
smile on a small child’s face when she throws a bean bag through the
Kool-Aid smile? Or have you ever wondered what it’s like to mix
Kool-Aid by the gallons? Can you put up a tent, sell tickets and
t-shirts, or just help haul several tons of equipment around Hastings?
Try volunteering for Kool-Aid Days. We need volunteers on August
10th–12th to set up, August 13th–15th to help run the event, and on
August 16th to help clean up.
nd the festival will include practical applications of the "reduce/reuse/recycle" mobius strip incorporated in the logo for the year. "We're beginning a process this year of reducing Kool-Aid Days' footprint on the environment," said Kottwitz. "We're far from perfect and have been frustrated to find that some of our goals simply can't be met in a single year. However, we'll be improving what is already a relatively 'green' event every year from now on, increasing the number of recycling bins, using more recycled products -- steps both small and large -- and encouraging the thousands of people associated with our festival to do the same. 
Koncert Kool-Aid Free with Any 2010 Shirt or Mug
Kool-Aid Jammers Boat Races (pending)
