BIYF 2001 is nearly here! BIYF 2001 will feature several significant departures from previous years. Check 'em out below... BIYF 2001 is scheduled for the weekend of May 4-6. On-line registration, is basically over unless there are any unregistered newbies that wish to attend. Be sure to check out the CONTEST soon (deadline midnight Thursday). BIYF 2001 Predicted Timeline Friday, May 4 - The Gathering 6:00 PM - Derr/Paarmann anticipated arrival in the Twin Cities area. 8:00-8:30(?) PM - Barnum/Mead anticipated arrival in the Twin Cities area. 8:30 PM - Pre-Festival Celebration at Khan's Mongolian Barbeque. Saturday, May 5 - The Storm Mid-Morning - A Light Bagel Brunch at one of the delightful Twin Cites bagel places, probably on the south side of town (TBA). 11:00 AM - Movie Viewing portion of the Festival begins at the Shakopee Country Inn & Suites. Beverage Sampling portion begins as soon as it is deemed to be a civilized hour for such an activity. Breaks and refreshments as needed. 7:00 PM - Dinner, beer, schnapps und snuff at the Gasthof Zur Gemutlichkeit. Post Dinner - An evening activity or severe bloating and after-effects from dinner (at participant's discretion). Sunday, May 6 - The Morning After Morning - Brunch, somewhere, some time. Later - Iowans Depart. 2001 Highlights : NEW LOCATION For a whole lotta good reasons, this year's festival will be held primarily at the Shakopee Country Inn & Suites. Click on the name to get directions and contact information. It would probably be prudent to avoid mention of BEER Is Your Friend and refer only to BIYF if questioned. You and I both know that we're essentially a harmless organization, but we would want to avoid using "annoying buzzwords" that might distress our hosts. We have their meeting room reserved for the entire day of May 5 (or for as much of the day as we choose to use). NEW FACES For a whole different set of good reasons, this year BIYF was opened up to a slightly larger audience. Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge no one has taken us up on it. If you know of anyone new that's definitely going to be there, please point them at the on-line registration page so that we can anticipate our needs as accurately as possible. I think that (for sanity's sake) we'd better not get too ambitious and should set an extreme upper limit at 20 people. That would be doubling the size of the festival (yikes). Newbies will be added as "Guests" of the Collective after the festival, but will not become "official" members of the Collective (i.e. will not have bad pictures posted on the site) until completion of a second BIYF Festival. "NEW" TECHNOLOGY Well, it'll be new to BIYF. Assuming our convention facilities are up to the expected standards, BIYF 2001 will be enhancing your experience by the use of the "latest" in technological innovations. BIG FOOD This year features a return to the Gasthof zur Gemutlichkeit (a new experience for a couple members of the collective and any newbies) and an actual visit to Khan's Mongolian Barbecue (as yet unvisited during a BIYF festival). That's a lot o'chow. BEER & MORE This year's festival will once again feature the traditional beer tasting option and also the "newly traditional" blender-drink tasting option. Jim has graciously agreed to head up the beer sample selection for this year's fest and Chris has agreed to a lifetime contract as Blender Queen. That's great news for all, eh? BETTER QUALITY SHIRTS Due to the Derr's "connections", BIYF 2001 will be able to offer a much more lasting memento of the 2001 festival than the previous years. Shirts will be unveiled at the Festival. BETTER QUALITY MOVIES? Well, that's open to personal opinion. Movie voting has closed for the 2001 Festival (although you could start voting for next year if you'd like). Check the Final Stats page, where you can find out what the results of the 2001 voting are. This year's features are: Godzilla 2000, Night of the Lepus, and Not of This Earth. In the likely event that we cannot find one or two of these films to rent or purchase, will keep moving down the list for our selections. CONTEST This year's festival will offer a smaller number of "higher quality" prizes which will be given away based on the outcome of the new on-line BIYF contest which can be found right here. Winners will be announced and prizes distributed at the BIYF 2001 festival.