Aw shoot. Looks like the abn-moral majority got the best of Gilbert, MN’s latest tourism idea. I’m sad to see that it isn’t going to happen. Not because I particularly was planning on going to Whorehouse Days, but more because I think that it’s a cute idea. Plus the contests they were going to have were totally original. I mean – a four poster bed race? Prettiest Madam contest? See-who-can-slide-the-bug-of-beer-the-farthest-on-a-bar contest? Those would all be priceless. Obviously, these sorts of games would immediately become exhibition sports in the next X-games competition.
But no, the thought of all that income flowing into the city’s coffers was too much for some folks, and the promptly tromped the organizers out of town with a procedural roadblock. Just wait until next year! We’ll have even bigger whores! Faster beds! Slipperier beer!* I wonder whether this is going to be a new trend – where communities with questionable pasts and bad economies dig them up and turn them into a festival for fun and community tourism:
- Salem, MA** - “Burn the Witch-Fest”
- Little Rock, AR – “Separate But Equal-Fest”
- Flint, MI – “Pets or Meat Days”
- South Central Los Angeles, CA – “Race Riot Days”
- Three Mile Island, PA – “Meltdown Downtown Fair”
- Wounded Knee, SD – “Government Cheese Days and Free Blanket Giveaway”
Of course, I’m sure that not all these communities will jump at these suggestions. But hey, just my little contribution for economic development.
* Interestingly, you can combine these three adjectives with any of these three nouns, and Whorehouse Days sounds just as fun, albeit for different reasons…
** Note that while Salem does have the “Festival of the Dead” that’s more just a big Halloween party and is careful to avoid the going into the whole witch trial thing in any detail
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