Press Release: Bay City Anniversary Parade And Music Event

 

Mainland City Celebrates 17 Years in Second Life®

BAY CITY, SL - Bay City will host its annual parade through the city, and a live music event in the Bay City Fairgrounds in North Channel, to honor and celebrate 17 years within Second Life.

Bay City officially opened in May 2008, with parcel auctions commencing shortly thereafter. In 2011, its landmass expanded significantly, merging with the former Teen Grid’s Bay City copy. Today, Bay City is the largest community-oriented virtual urban area within Second Life.

Parade participants are requested to assemble at noon Second Life Time (SLT/PT) on Sunday, May 18th, at the band shell in Bay City - Harwich, for lineup. The parade will proceed up to and along Route 66, commencing at 12:30 p.m. PDT, and will culminate at the Bay City Fairgrounds in the North Channel region.

A music event will kick off at 12:30 p.m. SLT/PDT at the Fairgrounds with DJ DJ GoSpeed of KONA Stream providing music leading into the event until 1:30 p.m.SLT/PT, followed by Aubryn from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. SLT/PT, Mimi Carpenter from 2:30-3:30 p.m. SLT/PT, and Jesie Janick from 3:30-4:30 p.m. SLT/PT.

All residents of the Second Life grid are cordially invited to participate in the upcoming celebration. Celebration goods, including parade float bases, are available at the Bay City Community Center, located in the Daley Bay region. Ample viewing areas are provided for all attendees. The music event is also open to all who wish to attend -- not only Residents of Bay City

Bay City is a mainland community, developed by Linden Lab® and home to the Bay City Alliance. The Bay City Alliance was founded in 2008 to promote the Bay City regions of Second Life and provide a venue for Bay City Residents and other interested parties to socialize and network. It is now the largest group for Residents of Bay City.

For more information, please contact Marianne McCann. 

Caledon Celebrates 17th Anniversary

 

 

 Sunday February 26 was a special day for the noted Steampunk community of Caledon. It was the anniversary of it's foundation, the day being considered "Founder's Day." And they would have an event to celebrate that evening.

Today, February 26th, is Founder's Day--the 17th anniversary of the day Caledon first rezzed in!  Join us tonight in the beautiful Dragon Ballroom to celebrate.  Wear your Caledon colors, the national tartan, or just plain dress up in something fancy.  Music for the Founder's Day Caledon Anniversary Ball begins at 6:30pm SLT

 

 

A number of people showed up, including Caledon governor Desmond Shang, nicknamed "Guvnah" or "the Guv."

Kamilah Hauptmann, the one who talked yours truly into signing up onto SL in 2006, was also there, still finding the time to occasionally come by some Caledonian events. 

Following the party in the Dragon Ballroom, people went to a secret tunnel leading from the governor's manor to the lair for the "Catgirl Bash." Starting a couple years after the founding, this would be the 15th.

After the regalia and gentility of the Caledon Anniversary Ball, it's time to drop the cravats and release the corsets to prowl down to the Catgirl lair under Victoria City!

Unfortunately, there was a problem with leaky pipes, and flooding. But the catgirls persisted through the wet clothes and wet fur (some more furred than others). Sadly, there would be no fireworks that night (maybe they got damp), but it was still a fun time as this large Steampunk community celebrated it's founding.

Bixyl Shuftan

The Second Life Seventeenth Birthday Event Ends

And it's over. For almost a month since Friday June 19, the Second Life Birthday has been going on. The official music events ended on Sunday June 28, but the sims remained up for people to see. Now, the sims are closed to the general public.

For some however, they can stick around for a few more days. Missy Mole (Mischievous Mole) posted the following in the exhibitor's group:

The Estate is open through Sunday, July 19th for people to come in and continue to explore. The practical side of this is DON'T take down your exhibits yet! You can clean up your parcels July 20-22. Thanks everyone for a great Birthday! I hope everyone had a good time. I would love to hear any feedback you have about how things worked and what you thought of the layout this year.

So yours truly has a little more time to take pictures. Though there's always at least one whom takes down his place early.

* * * * *

Correction: I found out late Tuesday that the sims are still up to the public, one resident saying the time was extended another week to the 19th.

Bixyl Shuftan

Last Day For The SL17B

It's been a lot of fun, but the Second Life Birthday event is about to come to a complete close. After Midnight SL time tonight, the SL17B sims will be closed to the public. So now's your last chance to see any exhibits you might have missed.

There have been no more official events since Sunday June 28. But there have been some impromptu ones, notably the several on Tuesday July 7. There might be a few DJs playing on stage sometime today, though no guarantees.

Enjoy this last day of the SL17B.

One More SL17B Stage Event, And A Carnival

Tuesday July 7 had one big impromptu, unplanned, event at the Second Life Seventeenth Birthday grounds. At the Auditorium, a number of musicians got on stage. Due to the lag, I couldn't get much of the audience in a picture before crashing. Among the performers was Golan Eilde, a longtime SLB volunteer, whom DJed for a time.

The events went on for some hours, going on to about 6PM SL time. The last performer was singer TJ O. Joubert (TJ Jenipe).

Dropping by after the events, with the lag mostly gone I saw that around the Auditorium was a carnival area. There was a Ferris wheel, a merry-go-round, a water slide, a drop tower, and much more.

There were a number of food stands, such as a pizzeria whose pizzas looked so real, one of them steaming, they had a friend of mine drooling over them. There were also some desserts. One big dessert was a destructible version of Nance Clowe's cake. Press the button, and after an ominous tune the cake would start to shake itself into pieces. One person dubbed it the "Shake and Cake." Nance joked that for a more intense experience, one could always hop in as the cake parts fly.

The carnival is at the meeting point of the four sims SL17B Imagination, Fantasy, Astound, and Awesome. People have until Sunday July 12 to drop by and join in the fun.

Bixyl Shuftan

Exhibits at the SL17B, "Conversations With A Stranger" And One Billion Rising

The events of the Second Life Birthday, at least the official ones, are over. But the exhibits will be up for a while longer. As busy Gemma Cleanslate was with her volunteer duties, she had the chance to check out two. One was "Conversations With A Stranger" by noted artist Fiona Fei. The other was the one by the women's rights group One Billion Rising.

Read Gemma's story in Places.

The Last SL17B Events, Officially

The Second Life Birthday had a lot of events. But this past weekend were the last ones that were planned. Friday at 2PM was the last of the Meet the Lindens events, "Meet the Moles." For those who missed it, you can check out the video of it here.

You can also check out the other "Meet the Lindens" videos: Ebbe Linden, Patch Linden, Oz Linden, and the Marketing Team. We may do an in-depth look at one or more of the discussions later.

Besides the discussions at the Auditorium, there were music performances at the DJ booth. On Saturday June 27, DJ Tantari played her music for a crowd.

DJ Tantari's been in the Newser a few times, such as her 2015 interview, and her guide on how to DJ.

 And there would be live singers at the Main Stage.

Nance Clowes would also have a larger version of her SL17B Cake by the stage.

In the last few hours of official events, there were fireworks at the DJ booth.

Some left, but others hung around to the end.

Some of the fireworks formed words. They were too blurry for me to make out with the lag. But  Cayenne Republic posted a link to a picture in the birthday group chat.

While the official events are done, the exhibits are still there, and will be there until July 12. And with most of the people gone, this is when the lag is less, and those with older computers or otherwise have difficulty with Second Life can have less trouble sightseeing. It should be noted that this isn't necessarily the last of the events. There will likely be an unofficial final farewell party shortly before the sims are truly closed down.

Stay tuned for a few more articles about the Second Life Seventeenth Birthday.

Bixyl Shuftan

SL17B Update: Three More Days

The Second Life Birthday is almost here. After the exhibitors have been building for weeks, the sims for the exhibits have been temporarily closed as the moles and volunteers do their inspections and will lift them tomorrow so the builders can make any needed last minute changes.

As you can see, for now the twenty-one sims that make up the grounds of the SL17B have been split into two groups, the seven exhibitor sims just southeast of the main group, which has the auditorium and stage(s). But they will be combined before the whole area is officially opened. Exactly what's in the Linden build area is speculation, which cannot be confirmed yet. As for the exhibit sims, we can't show as much as a tree outside the resident builds. So pictures there will have to wait as well.

The big day is Friday, June 19, presumably at Noon SL time, though possibly earlier.

Addition: The Second Life Birthday celebrations will officially start at 11AM SL time on Friday June 19, with the opening ceremony by Patch Linden.

Some Details Revealed on The SL17B

On Friday, Patch Linden and several Moles appeared at the "Lab Gab" talk show. After introductions, the first topic discussed was the Second Life Seventeenth Birthday celebrations.

Of the theme, Patch explained the "theme will be 'Vacation and Road Trips.' Other than that, we cannot share too much information." Of when will it open, the "Soft opening" would be on June 18, when the sims are open to those in the Second Life Birthday group. June 19 is the full opening in which everyone can enter. The event's end date is yet to be determined.

Exhibitors will have more parcels this year. They will also have more freedom to design their exhibits as there will be less of an emphasis on building within the theme. Still, keeping with it is encouraged.

Applications for the event will be "coming out every couple weeks for the next month and a half," starting Feb 28 with Musicfest.

There will be more cross-promotion between the SLB and the shopping event. The shopping event itself will have eight sims.

Patch answered a couple questions sent in by residents. One was will the Cake Stage and Stage Left from the days when the SLB was resident-run be coming back. Patch responded Stage Left is still around, renamed as Main Stage. Of the Cake Stage, "We just decided to diverge and diversify. ... But you never know. We might decide to bring something like that back. ... if it fits somewhere at some point, it can come back, "I don't know if it will be this year".

Another question was if the SLB would have an adult section. Patch's answer was, "That is something that we put some thought in to, and it may happen. We still have some logistics to work out ... when it comes to different types of content that are rated at different levels in proximity to one another. That's one of the things we have to ... figure out. It's not a 'no,' but I don't have a firm 'yes' on it."

Mischevious Mole had this to say about the SL17B, "It's really about and focused on the community of Second Life. We want to encourage everybody to participate. In the past, it has very much been 'let's do exhibits based on the theme, let's do programing based on the theme, and this year, whatever your passion is.' Please think about how you can bring it to (the) Second Life Birthday and share it with everyone else."

There was more talked about afterwards on the Linden Homes and other subjects. To see the video of the whole Lab Gab, Click Here.

Bixyl Shuftan