| The
Great Texas Mosquito Festival is approaching it’s 33rd Annual Festival, scheduled for July 25,
26, & 27, 2013 in
Clute, Texas (55 miles southeast of Houston). The Festival was started
to promote and encourage tourism in the City of Clute. Over the
years, the festival has grown tremendously, attracting some 13,000
plus visitors over the three-day event. |
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The Great Texas
Mosquito Festival has received a tremendous amount of
publicity across the country in newspapers, magazines, books, on
radio and television stations.
In 2012, Trip
Advisor the World’s Most Trusted Travel Website named The Great
Texas Mosquito Festival Number 1 in America as the Wackiest Summer
Event. This brought with it a huge array of news media from
national television networks, newspapers, websites, and radio
shows. The Today Show with Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda talked about
our Mosquito Legs and Mosquito Calling Contests on the air in July.
Your Livable Garden Show which is the longest running garden show in
Houston did a live interview with Dana Pomerenke, Chairman Great
Texas Mosquito Festival. Numerous other personnel took interviews
from across the country to share in our annual event.
In 2011,
we received an award from Texas Festivals and Events Association
for 3rd Place Best Miscellaneous Printed Material. The US
Commerce Association notified us we had won the 2011 Best of Clute
Award in the Outdoor Category. Southwest Airlines Spirit Magazine
picked our festival to showcase in their July issue where they did a
write up and also placed a photo of Willie on their calendar of
events. Boat Us did a write up and placed us on their map showing
the Gulf Coast. We also received numerous interviews from around
the world in the month of July.
In 2010, Great
Day Houston with Debra Duncan (Channel 11 KHOU) did a live interview
segment from our festival grounds with Dana Pomerenke, Chairman
Great Texas Mosquito Festival then aired our Haystack Dive event at
the end of her show. Our festival was a main story for the
Travel Section of the Boston Globe in July. SportsTalk Radio
in the UK did a live interview on their Sunday show with Lin Richey,
Marketing Director about our sporting events. Numerous
publications and websites such as womansday.com, todayshow.com, and
others have written about our festival in 2010.
In 2008,
Author T. Jensen Lacey came to
our festival to autograph her book
Amazing Texas:
Fascinating Facts, Entertaining Tales, Bizarre
Happenings, and Historical Oddities About the Lone Star
State. On page 228 and 229 she wrote about The
Great Texas Mosquito Festival: See What The Buzz Is About. We
are also in the Texas Hometown Cookbook by Sheila Simmons & Kent
Whittaker on page 238 for the festival and Harvest Fun Fest.
Macmillan McGraw-Hill / School Solution Group has done a 2-page
spread in the upcoming Texas Reading 2011 book that talks about the
City of Clute and The Great Texas Mosquito Festival.
In 2007 the LeBron James Bubblicious®
Ultimate Bubble Blowing League™ Tour
came to the festival looking for those that could blow the largest
bubble! Our area had a winner that was invited by
Bubblicious® to participate in the
National Bubblicious® Bubble Blowing Contest in New York all
expenses paid. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for 14
year old Travis Terrell of League City, Texas.
The Food Network
was surfing the internet and came upon our website and were
so intrigued that they sent some film crews down to film a portion
of our BBQ Fajita Cookoff for a 30 minute segment on All American
Festivals (Fajita Festival) that originally aired on January 17, 18,
& 23, 2005.
Besides local recognition, the festival has been seen
in U.S.A. Today, Texas Co-Op Power Magazine, Texas Hot Country Magazine, Gulfscapes Magazine, The Anchorage Daily News, People Magazine,
Newsweek, Southern Living, Texas Highways, Bangkok Newspaper,
and many more. Live at Five has broadcast from the festival grounds
and CBS This Morning has picked it up by satellite. Real People,
David Letterman, Johnny Carson Show, Nashville Now, and Fishin'
Texas have all talked about the crazy festival down in Clute, Texas.
“Willie-Man–Chew” and his group were photographed
with Debra Duncan after her show in the summer of 2002.
Radio stations across the United States have done numerous live
interviews with the organizers - the SWAT team members. The American
Embassy in Japan and the U.S. Tourist office in London, England
have made several inquiries about the festival over the years.
This past year we have had interviews from California, London, Australia,
Canada, and several other countries. |
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| Hovering over
the festival activities is "Willie-Man-Chew", the world's
largest mosquito. Willie is a 26 ft. Texas mosquito, complete with
a cowboy hat, boots, blown up wings and a big stinger. Willie is
a favorite of all festival visitors, and he makes a great photo
souvenir. Willie also does festival promotions throughout the year
at other events. |
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| The Great Texas
Mosquito Festival is a three day (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday),
fun filled, family event. There are numerous contests, such as the
Mosquito Chase "Run" (5 KM), Doubles Horseshoe Pitching,
Doubles Washer Pitching, BBQ
and Fajita Cook-off, Grill Master Competition, O' You Beautiful Doll Contest, Mr. & Mrs.
Mosquito Legs Contest, a Mosquito Calling Contest, and many more outrageous events. We also
have over a 100 booth spaces with a variety of foods, along with
arts and crafts and many more.. The carnival provides three days
of fun for children and adults. |
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Awards
and Recognition Received |
| 2013 TAF&E Marketing &
Communications Award for Best T-Shirt design (2nd place) |
| 2013 TAF&E Marketing &
Communications Award for Best Promotions Poster (1st place) |
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| 2012 Trip
Advisior names Great Texas Mosquito Festival Number 1 in America as
the Wackiest Summer Event |
| 2012 TFEA Marketing Award
(1st Place) |
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| 2011
TFEA Marketing Award for Best Miscellaneous Printed Material Single
Page Entries (3rd Place) |
| 2011
US Commerce Association 2011 Best of Clute Award in the Outdoor
Category |
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| 2010
TAF&E Marketing Award for Advertising-Outdoor Category (1st Place) |
| 2010
TAF&E Marketing Award for Best Sponsorship Follow Up Report Category
(2nd Place) |
| 2010
TFEA Marketing Award for Advertising-Outdoor Category (3rd Place) |
| 2010
TFEA Marketing Award for Best Sponsorship Follow Up Report Category
(2nd Place) |
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| 2009 TAF&E
Marketing & Communications Awards for Best Promotional Advertising
for Outdoor (1st Place) |
| 2009 TAF&E
Marketing & Communications Awards for Best Other Merchandise (1st
Place) |
| 2009 TFEA
Marketing Award for Best Event Invitation (1st Place) |
| 2009 TFEA
Marketing Award for Best Promotional Poster (1st Place) |
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| 2008 TAF&E
Marketing & Communications Awards for Best T-Shirt Design (1st
Place) |
| 2008 TAF&E
Marketing & Communications Awards for Best Website (2nd Place) |
| 2008 TAF&E
Marketing & Communications Awards for Best Poster (2nd Place) |
| 2008 TAF&E
Marketing & Communications Awards for Best Pin/Badge/Button (2nd
Place) |
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| 2007 TFEA
Marketing Awards for Best Hat |
| 2007 TFEA
Marketing Awards for Best Pin or Button |
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| 2006 TFEA
Marketing Awards for Best Website |
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| 2005 TFEA
Marketing Awards for Best T-Shirt Design |
| 2005 TFEA
Marketing Awards for Best Website |
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| 2004 Texas
Association of Fairs & Events Marketing & Communications
Awards for 2nd Place Best Promotional Poster |
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| 2003 Event Crazy.com Top 100 Event in 2003 from over 100,000 across the United
States |
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| 2001 TEFA Marketing
Award for Best Hat, Medium Festival |
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| 1993 Texas
Festival Association Marketing Award for Best Informational Poster
in a Small Festival |
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| 1991 Texas
Festival Association Marketing Award for Best T-Shirt for a Small
Festival |
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The
Original Story of How the Festival Started |
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| From his vantage
point high atop a moss hung oak. Willie-Man-Chew rested from his
long search for a perfect home and surveyed the scene below. Here,
in the early summer of 1981, the sight and sounds that greeted him
were a delight to his senses. There were healthy, tanned humans
playing ball, swimming in an Olympic-sized swimming pool, enjoying
state-of-the-art playground equipment, laughing and having fun.
Willie's discerning eye noted the lush greenery surround the
homes and schools in the neighborhood. Springing, as he does from
the finest bloodlines in southern Brazoria County, he realized that
he had, at last, found the land of his dreams. |
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| Willie quickly
marshaled a group of humans as his official goodwill ambassadors
and began preparations for the first of the annual festivals that
honor him and his fellow mosquitoes the last Thursday, Friday, and
Saturday of July each year. These ambassadors, whom Willie affectionately
and jokingly calls his "Swat Team" present three fun filled
days of special events, games, food, carnival rides, and contests,
craft booths, cook-offs and much, much more |
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| Ya'll come
down to Clute, Texas and join us .... for the fun of it! |
