The search for america’s small, hidden and bizarre festivals
Quiet Festival launch slideshow
The Quiet Festival- Ocean City, NJ
As many of you may have noted from the last post of quiet pictures, I was in Ocean City, NJ for none other than the 21st Annual Quiet Festival. Yes, the Quiet Festival. What exactly happens at the quiet festival? Well, not too much to be quite honest. However, as slow and uneventful as the weekend turned out to be, the few events that did take place were very entertaining. The festival is so small and so quiet that every local I asked had never heard of it before. But that didn’t dissuade me from noting this as a successful festival. Besides, I am searching for hidden festivals.
The mastermind behind the Q.F. is none other than the Ocean City’s Publicist, Mark Soifer (below, center, dark blue sweatshirt). At 76, he has a notorious record for creating unique events in Ocean City–the Q.F. probably being the smallest and least attended.
Soifer was recently named the president of the National Association of Tired People (NAP), a group that he founded about three years ago. Because there is no official voting process for the board members of NAP, Soifer will continue to be president until he becomes tired of being president.
“I’ve been tired for about 40 years now,” he said upon accepting his nomination. “I feel uniquely qualified to represent the millions of tired folks in this nation and the world.”
The Q.F. starts on Friday afternoon with a yawn and song in front of City Hall. A group of ‘talented individuals’ called the Yawn Alongers yawn to Beautiful Dreamer, a tune that Soifer wrote himself. After the song, the Yawn Alongers and NAP members throw maple leaves (helicoptor leaves) into the air and watch them fall to the ground. Despite this seemingly quiet event, there was actually a lot of commotion. Bystanders offered their comments, locals drove by honking, and most of the participants were so amused by their own actions that they never stopped talking or laughing.
There were a number of other events throughout the weekend, but most involved visits to schools and nursing homes in an effort to bring the Q.F. to people who would not normally enjoy it. During the weekend, Soifer encouraged leaf-squeezing, paper airplane-making, pin-dropping, and pet-petting.
The only other visually interesting event from the weekend was the Wind Chime Symphony on Saturday afternoon. The sky was dark and the wind was blowing misty sprays off the ocean. It was a perfect day for wind chimes.
Ted Prior (Elvis) has been friends with Soifer for 20+ years. He’s a staple participant at most of Soifer’s crazy events. At lunch one day, he told me the story of when he was a limo driver and he drove Johnny Cash to a concert. Ted popped in a video of himself performing Elvis, and Cash loved it. He autographed a photograph and wrote on it, “To Ted, the best Elvis act I’ve ever seen.”
Mark Soifer, the mastermind behind it all, allows the ocean breeze to conduct its own symphony.
A quiet weekend – Ocean City, NJ