History of the Festival of Goddesses

This festival began in the summer of 2010 in Laguna Beach at Bridge Hall of the Neighborhood Congregational Church, a venue that is frequently used for local events such as concerts and fundraisers. We had 20 vendors, 5 celebrity speakers, a TV personality, 10 handsome male servers and a concert by a Celtic singer and her musical combo. Approximately 80 people, mostly women, came and participated. Our vendors were our sponsors and other than ticket sales, they were our sole means of funding the event, the cost of which was minimal as all the celebrity guests and entertainers agreed to participate without pay.

Encouraged by the success of 2010, we moved to higher ground in 2011, The Festival of Arts and Forum Theater, visualizing this as the perfect and permanent home for the Festival of Goddesses in the spring of each year. This was quite a leap in size and scope and took a leap of faith to pull off.

We expanded our panel discussions to 4 separate panels of 4 celebrities each including those who participated the previous year. Again, each of the panelists and our well known and talented emcee did it for the love of the project and not for personal compensation. Even so, expenditures ran high with the cost of the grounds and theater rental, advertising ,staff, professional technicians, the sound, video equipment and furniture rentals and the two live bands for our concert. To offset these expenditures, we brought in 55 vendors and a handful of sponsors who paid a little more for a booth. We had a silent auction, which helped, but we also charged more for tickets, which limited our draw at the gate to approximately 200. This more than doubled the previous year, but was far from adequate to fill such a big space. So we are positioning ourselves for a far more successful event next year.

Plans for the 2012 Festival

On March 31, 2012 we intend to open the gate to both men and women with a minimal admission fee of $10 instead of $25, and a minimum projected draw of 500. We will also limit the number of vendors to 36 and increase the number of artists to 20 who will be approved by our panel of judges and come in for free but share in the profits they generate. We will charge extra for the events in the Forum Theater including celebrity panel discussions, the keynote speaker, the live auction, the Funniest Housewives performance and the concert in the evening. But those who pay the minimal admission will enjoy live musicians and entertainers on the grounds, a fashion show, belly dancing, ecstatic dancing, yoga lessons, hands on massages, gourmet food, handsome male servers and all the shopping a goddess could want. Plus! S0me special workshops in a tent on the grounds, including Niurka's Transformational Goddess workshop and a speed dating Elixir Mixer hosted by Renee Piane, the queen of matchmaking in Hollywood.

Some of the celebrity panelists include: LuAn Mitchell, “Millionaire Mentor” best selling author/speaker; Kelly Sullivan Waldon, “Dream Doctor”, author/talk show host; Dr. Elizabeth Lambaer, “Fit, Fifty and Fabulous” author/talk show host; Allana Pratt, “Sexy Mom” author/talk-show host; Marigold Somerset, International psychic and Suzy Prudden, best selling author/speaker and the very popular and talented Lynne Rose will return as our emcee.