riverviewlogs | introductory mingle: RIVER FESTIVAL

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introductory mingle: RIVER FESTIVAL

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: Introductory Log and River Festival
when: The month of August; the bulk of celebration will be in week 1, but there is a party and fireworks display on August 14th.
where: Anywhere around the city.
warnings: please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

river festival

In the days leading up to August 1st, residents new and old will notice preparations beginning, a flurry of activity getting the city ready for the upcoming celebration: The River Festival. This holiday is in celebration of the river and the life that it gives to the city, as well as the heat of summer and forming bonds with friends, family, and romantic partners. The celebrations are marked by a community-wide cleanup of the docks and beaches along the river - particularly important considering the recent acid rain - as well as beachfront cookouts and parties (both private and city sponsored) and beach sports tournaments happening on either open stretches of beach or in special clothing-optional beaches, all capped off with fireworks displays on the evenings of August 7th and 14th.

a celebration of the river and togetherness

Following the hedonism of Carnivale, it's time for something a little more low-key and relaxing. The River Festival happens every year in August, and is geared toward community building through cleaning up the beaches and docks along the river and then using all that freshly cleaned beach to gather on. During the first week of August, there are various lightly-themed government-sponsored beach cookouts and parties geared toward family, romantic dates, or casual all-ages get-togethers for meeting new friends; there are also a few more racy parties at clothing-optional beaches around the city. Many private residents also take this time to gather together friends and family, and have cookouts on the beach with all the typical trappings of the beach barbecue. There are also various casual sports tournaments sponsored by community centers, gyms, and sports teams in the city, featuring prizes ranging from notoriety to sports equipment to big bucks. Finally, there are two fireworks displays, one on August 7th and one on August 14th, with free food, and various live performers beforehand.

i. cleaning up

The holiday starts off on a note that is just a bit more sombre than the rest of the season, with the cleanup efforts following late July's strange fog and acid rain blending into the usual tradition of cleaning up beaches and docks along the river. The cleanup is a group effort, with every citizen who is physically able pitching in to comb the beaches, where they pick up fallen tree limbs, garbage, and anything else that's accumulated during the winter and spring, and then raking the beaches to make them clean and ready to use. The cleanup of the docks is similar, with residents sweeping and hosing them down where necessary. This year, there are a lot of repairs to be made to beachfront structures that might've been damaged by the acid rain, so if anyone has some carpentry or building skills, those would definitely come in handy.

This is meant to be a community building effort, so many businesses in the area, more well-to-do private citizens, and the government have pitched in funding to provide lunches, cold drinks, coffee or tea, and snacks to anyone who's helping out with the cleanup efforts. All in all, the cleanup has a very friendly, welcoming vibe.

ii. cookouts and parties

The main traditions of the River Festival involve cookouts and beach parties. On August 7th and August 14th, the government as well as various corporations and businesses in the city, will be providing funds for large beach gatherings. On these days, there will be booths set up offering wares and freebies from various businesses around the city that have helped fund the party, large swaths of cleared beach where residents can don a swimsuit and catch some rays or swim in the river, massive barbecue setups to provide partygoers with all the standard barbecue fare, beach sports tournaments, dancing and musical performances, and fireworks displays (see prompts below).

The holiday isn't just about these big parties, though - many residents arrange their own barbecues, cookouts, beach camping trips, beach bonfires, and other riverside gatherings and outings. Many riverfront businesses offer discounts on services such as canoe or kayak rentals to go out paddling on the river, jetski or motorboat rentals for tubing, wakeboarding, or waterskiing, or mounts to take romantic rides in the surf. Additionally, there is an adults-only section of the beach where any of these activities can be done in the nude in a clothing-optional setting, including the big city-sponsored parties.

iii. sportsball tournaments

Is your character good at playing a particular sport that could, conceivably, be played on a beach? Chances are that during the month of August, a tournament will be set up for them to participate in. The tournaments are pretty standard, generally sponsored by community centers, sports clubs and teams, gyms, and other organizations and businesses in the city, with various levels of specialization, and levels of skill or competitiveness. The prizes also vary, with everything from plain old bragging rights to sports equipment or passes to gyms and community centers, to large lump sums of cash money. Definitely worth it, for characters with a love for sport.

Oh, and a lot of these tournaments are happening on the adults-only clothing-optional beaches, for those grown-up sports fans who like a bit of an extra challenge.

iv. performances and fireworks

On August 7th and August 14th at the end of the large city-sponsored beach parties, there will be evening performances all along the beach. Not as extensive as the musical performances during Carnivale, there are two large-name performers per night, with various lesser-known groups performing at random off and on throughout the day and night. Areas of the beach are cleared for residents to watch and dance to the music, both on the regular and adults-only clothing-optional beaches (acts will switch off between the two areas so both areas get both performances).

Player-characters who are musical artists, DJs, or otherwise perform are free to set up shop around this party and panhandle or put on free performances for publicity.

After the sun goes down, boats will head out into the water carrying a variety of fireworks, and there will be a beautiful display of exploding color in the sky for residents to watch and enjoy. The fireworks are highly advanced, incorporating old-fashioned gunpowder as well as modern technology that result in really beautiful displays that can take the breath away!

v. roommates or wildcard

Feel free to use this prompt to meet new roommates, for the purpose of getting to know each other, or hit up one of the mod-posted prompts for each Communal Floor. Or if you have an idea for a prompt that isn't in this list, set during the River Festival, feel free to write it up!

visual inspiration

click on thumbnails for larger view

Credit: image i: credit unknown; image ii: Albert Ramon Puig; image iii: Claudio Pilia; image iv: Alan Philips

navigation

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I. Clean Up Crew!

Cleaning up, Community Service, it was all the same for her - and it was definitely needed. So of course, Marinette was more than happy to help out, chucking garbage and litter into a trash bag with a mildly disgusted expression and occasionally helping with hosing the docks down. It's when she went to start clearing some rather large fallen branches that she had a little trouble. She had grabbed a large broken off limb which was wedged underneath a half-fallen tree, and grabbed onto it to try to pull it free. She wasn't making any headway until she put a foot on the trunk of the tree and pulled harder -- at which point her hands slipped and she lost her balance, stumbling backwards to topple over into anyone unfortunate enough to be behind her - and hitting the ground.

II. Cookouts/Parties

Obviously Marinette stays very far away from the adult-only side of the beach -- which suited just fine, really. She was debating getting something to eat at the barbeque, but at the moment she had donned a bathing suit of her own design - a red one piece with a black trim, and was busy fixing one of her flip-flop sandals which had snapped. R.I.P. Footwear. She would always welcome good conversation though!

IV.

She didn't go to the festive event every day - that would have been a little much, and she had her own things to do. However, she WOULD at least put in an appearance to the beach again for the performances and to watch the fireworks. And as fun as that is, she can't help but feel a little nostalgic. It'd be perfect if she could watch the fireworks with a certain someone she liked, but she wasn't going to dwell on that - if she did, she'd get depressed. "Gosh - no matter where you are fireworks really never cease on being 'c'est magnifique..'" so to speak.

V. Roommates / Wildcard

Got a prompt of your own in mind? Come at me bros! And brosis'!

Edited 2017-08-03 00:39 (UTC)

Keith was also watching the fireworks. He knew someone had sat down beside him, and a quick glance confirmed who it was for now. He'd never met her before, but he'd let her start the conversation first. Which... she did. He looked back at her again.

"Huh?" He took a second. "Oh... that's French, right? For magnificent?"

"Right," Marinette smiled over at Keith, starting to prop herself up against her hands. Though it occurred to her she could have just taken his friend's spot, and squawked a little, "OH! Sorry, was someone sitting here?" Truthfully it had looked kind of empty and she didn't think anyone should sit and admire fireworks alone. ~~And not because she herself was lonely or anything.~~

Keith smiled a little that he got it right, but then raised his eyebrows slightly when she got suddenly self-conscious about her choice of seat. He shook his head.

"No. No one was sitting there." He shifted a little, sitting cross-legged on the ground there. "I'm Keith."

Marinette relaxed again in that case, smiling again, "Oh, good. I was worried I -- well yeah, anyway." She chuckled, and as he shifted to introduce himself, she did the same, offering a hand to shake, "My name is Marinette. Nice to meet you." There's a beat, and she inwardly cringes a little, "And.. it's not named for the puppets." he might not have even thought that but she's nipping that one in the bud early just in case.

He took the offered hand.

"Nice to meet you, too." Her comment about the puppet made him think for a second. "Oh. Well, I mean, it only sounds similar. It's not the same. Have some people made comments like that to you?"

She laughs a little, "Not a lot, but, yes, it was literally the first thing they said when they heard my name. I thought I'd get ahead of the game - figures you actually wouldn't say it." she grins. "I feel a little silly for even bringing it up now."

Keith just shrugged a little.

"It's not a big deal, really. Don't feel silly."

He could understand why she'd jump the gun like that, especially if it was something that bothered her from the initial comment. He leaned back a little so he was resting on his hands and could better see the fireworks.

"I haven't seen fireworks in a while."

They didn't exactly work in space.

She grinned again, turning her gaze to the sky with a nostalgic smile. "I used to watch them with my parents, times like these." She glanced over at Keith again, "A long time, huh... Do these hold up to how you remember them?"

Maybe they were prettier, or maybe he wasn't as impressed by it. But her, she loved the sight - there was something inspiration about the firework against the starry sky. She kept finding herself trying to track where the next one would pop into a shower of color.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng | OTA

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