literacy tours and charitable events
The Literacy Tour has been proven to be the best way for us to actively engage with both the readers and the writers that make up the small communities. We've been able to draw in hundreds of thousands of people over the years and it's made for some really cool stories. We attend summer festivals, charitable fundraisers, conventions, and other specialty events spreading the importance of literacy in the modern world through fun and entertaining events.
The most exciting part of our booth is the ability to become an author in minutes by adding your creativity to our Sentence by Sentence Anthologies. If you're unfamiliar with this concept, we write a paragraph vaguely setting a scene, and if you were first in line you'd get to start it. The person behind you would continue where you left off, and so on.
During these events, we've been developing a strategy to break a world record while entertaining the masses.
The record in question is the Most People to Write a Story in 24 Hours with over 1000 people getting in on the action.
The most exciting part of our booth is the ability to become an author in minutes by adding your creativity to our Sentence by Sentence Anthologies. If you're unfamiliar with this concept, we write a paragraph vaguely setting a scene, and if you were first in line you'd get to start it. The person behind you would continue where you left off, and so on.
During these events, we've been developing a strategy to break a world record while entertaining the masses.
The record in question is the Most People to Write a Story in 24 Hours with over 1000 people getting in on the action.
our road to the record
Disclaimer: The Photos below are arranged in no particular order except by event.
The photos may be from multiple different years that we've participated.
The photos may be from multiple different years that we've participated.
The friendship Festival in fort erie
The Friendship Festival was an annual celebration of the friendship between Canada and the United States through a festival held in both Buffalo, NY and Fort Erie, ON. This event will always have a very special place in our hearts because it's where a lot of our history was founded. When we first planned a tour, we were just planning a few small literacy events but 2013 proved we were on to something.
We attempted to break the world record as previously stated, but to pull off a massive accomplishment involving over 1000 people the certification process was way too intrusive to the participants and a daunting, if not impossible task to pull off for the team. The remedy for this is to pay an adjudicator to come and authenticate the event which costs around $15,000. So, being a small company that wasn't in our budget. This wasn't going to stop us from trying, and during the process, we developed a revolutionary way to process participants and maintain a comprehensible and publishable story at the same time. Our goal is to bring the world record to Canada by 2025... But that's a story for another day. Let's see how we got here today.
We attempted to break the world record as previously stated, but to pull off a massive accomplishment involving over 1000 people the certification process was way too intrusive to the participants and a daunting, if not impossible task to pull off for the team. The remedy for this is to pay an adjudicator to come and authenticate the event which costs around $15,000. So, being a small company that wasn't in our budget. This wasn't going to stop us from trying, and during the process, we developed a revolutionary way to process participants and maintain a comprehensible and publishable story at the same time. Our goal is to bring the world record to Canada by 2025... But that's a story for another day. Let's see how we got here today.
The first attempt was at the friendship festival in fort erie ON JUNE 29, 2013.
NOTE: This was also the first literacy based event we hosted. That's why it will always have a special home in our history books.
It poured the night before, so we were praying for sunshine on Saturday... and we got our wish.
It was a little cloudy but still a beautiful day. |
The first attempt attracted more than 1/4 the projected attendees and created an awesome story called "The Bookshelf King" that we continued into a Book-e-sode series.
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There was a classic car show, great performers, fun rides and a decent turn out for a rainy weekend. The Friendship Festival was our first choice for a venue, it only felt right to try and attempt it in our hometown of Fort Erie.
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We had volunteers that were bringing in people and helped process the sentences and they did an amazing job.
Thank you to everyone that came out that day and added a sentence.
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We had experienced and educated scholars and little kids working together trying to break this record and making an awesome story it really was exciting.
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Over the years we have participated in almost every single Friendship Festival in some way, shape, or form since at least 2001.
Every year, we interact with people that have been a part of the company since its very conceptualization and it's truly inspiring to be able to bring some literacy-based entertainment to the community every year.
The Friendship Festival was cancelled in 2019 but one day we will bring it back and better than it ever was. This festival means a lot, to a lot of people. By 2025 we will have enough resources to being the festival back to its full potential.
Every year, we interact with people that have been a part of the company since its very conceptualization and it's truly inspiring to be able to bring some literacy-based entertainment to the community every year.
The Friendship Festival was cancelled in 2019 but one day we will bring it back and better than it ever was. This festival means a lot, to a lot of people. By 2025 we will have enough resources to being the festival back to its full potential.
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canal days festival in port colborne
The second attempt was at canal days in port colborne ON AUGUST 3, 2013
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We were blessed with a great location on a beautiful day, so it was no wonder we were able to bring through an astonishing 500 people in a 12-hour time frame. |
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Look at the location we had for this event and tell me this wasn't perfect. This performer had some serious talent and brought in a crowd like this every show he did that day. 
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We met a lot of fun and awesome people but the most memorable character would be "Chipper"...
a parrot who actually made a cameo in the story "Captain Terry and the Sailors Dream"
a parrot who actually made a cameo in the story "Captain Terry and the Sailors Dream"
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Canal Days is one of those festivals that is crucial for any tour because every year it gets bigger and better than the last, and the scenery is amazing. The giant ships and the port side festival have always been one of our favourite locations to play. They really care about literacy and always seem to go the extra mile to ensure our location gets a lot of traffic. We love Canal Days.
clifton hill to buskerfest in niagara falls
The third attempt was at the Niagara falls buskerfest on august 31, 2013.
On Saturday, August 31. Written Rock attempted the world record again. This time we're at the Niagara Falls Buskerfest. If you've never heard of it then you missed out. It's a worldwide celebration/festival of art with music; jam-packed with entertainment hidden in the shape of a street festival. If that didn't have your interest, the whole event was in support of arts programming for children and youth. The Niagara Falls stop was on Queen Street in Downtown Niagara Falls and was a free all-day event for anyone and everyone to enjoy.
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Clifton hill turns to Queen st.
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When we first planned this attempt we had the full backing of the Guinness World Records Museum and we were going to attempt it right on Clifton Hill. This is the highlight of the Niagara Falls tourism district and tens of thousands of people pass by every night. Plans changed and Guinness cancelled a few days before the event... but both the Museum and the City of Niagara Falls, stepped up to help us.
Buskerfest was happening the same weekend so we were fortunate enough to still attempt the record in Niagara Falls on the same weekend so we didn't waste any of the marketing we poured into the "Crown Jewel" of the literacy tour. Buskerfest did not let us down. |
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At Buskerfest we created a pretty cool story called... Buskerfest. I know, I know but the crowd voted on the name.
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comic-con!!! The perfect venue
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Is there a better venue to create a comic book story than at Comic Con?
No there is not... We didn't break the world record in the end but we did break our own personal record and we consider that a Win!!!. We also created our first sequel anthology called "Captain Terry and the Flute of Fury". It's heavily influenced by superheroes and their battle against some of their toughest enemies and features some even more memorable cameos. 
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heaters heroes
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ridgeway summer festival in fort erie
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There are still hundreds of pictures to add.
