For Immediate Release
January 5, 2007

“POLAR JAM” CANCELLED

MADISON, Wis. — Due to extenuating circumstances, Polar Jam - the first-time music, food, and entertainment winter festival - will not make its inaugural debut in 2007. Polar Jam was scheduled to run concurrently with Capitol Square Sprints, an event that is still slated to occur that weekend.

Polar Jam, originally to take place around Capitol Square on January 13 and 14, encountered several obstacles in the planning process that prevented the production from moving forward with it as it was originally conceptualized. Organizers from Madison Festivals, Inc., the non-profit entity that was producing Polar Jam, say that while the event could have been produced in a scaled-back state, it wouldn’t have lived up to their expectations.

“Madison Festivals is well-known for producing great events that Madison residents can be really proud of,” says event manager Keith Peterson. “We simply couldn’t unveil an event that falls short of the standards that the public has come to expect from our other productions like Taste of Madison and the Madison Marathon.”

Peterson says that the decision to cancel Polar Jam was not an easy one, but he feels that it was the best choice to make under the circumstances.

“This was supposed to be a real winter festival, but obviously the weather isn’t cooperating,” he says. “We were counting on the lakes freezing so we could shoot fireworks from the ice. We wanted to feature ice sculptures, but there’s no guarantee that they’d stick around for long. When plans can’t be fulfilled and we can’t deliver what we wanted to offer, it’s time to call things off.”

Peterson says that he has spoken with the producers of Capitol Square Sprints, America’s largest Federation of International Skiing (FIS) city sprint race, and that event is still scheduled to take place around the Capitol on January 12, 13 and 14. Plans call for more than 100,000 cubic feet snow to be trucked in to create the 1-kilometer loop course with machine-set tracks.

Madison Festivals, Inc. is the non-profit entity behind some of Madison ’s most popular and successful community events like Taste of Madison and Madison Marathon. Madison Festival, Inc.’s events are managed by Advertising Service Group. For more information on Polar Jam, contact Keith Peterson, event producer, at (608) 276-9797 x 23 or keith@madisonfestivals.com. For more about Capitol Square Sprints, visit www.capitolsquaresprints.org or send an e-mail to info@capitolsquaresprints.org.

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