[Robotgroup] Austin American Statesman Mention!

[Vern Graner]

Small blurb, no pics, but coverage! :)

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/01/01/0101firstnight.html

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Third First Night is second to none
125,000 join carnival-like atmosphere downtown to greet 2008.

By Patrick George
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, January 01, 2008

How did Austin ring in the New Year? With rock 'n' roll, funnel cake and 
giant insects, of course.

In front of Lady Bird Lake, thousands of revelers kicked off 2008 by 
attending First Night and turning the city into a massive carnival.

The Texas Juggling Society added a spark to Monday night's events: 
Connie Leaverton lights up the First Night parade as she juggles her way 
along Congress Avenue. The third year of the Austin event attracted up 
to 125,000 people, according to city estimates.

Kids who couldn't greet 2008 at midnight got their own fireworks earlier 
in the evening.

Jack Fairchild put the yee-haw in Monday's First Night parade, stopping 
to rope a spectator on Congress Avenue. Plenty of costumes, creativity 
and talent were on display as Austin turned out to meet the New Year.

Bicycle parades, dancing librarians, sausage wraps and toddlers with 
glowing plastic swords all dotted the downtown streetscape Monday night. 
Approximately 125,000 people enjoyed the third year of this festival of 
creativity and local flair, according to city estimates.

Recent Albuquerque, N.M., transplant Jill Price brought her 3-year-old 
twin girls downtown and said she was impressed by First Night's 
alcohol-free environment.

"It's definitely family-friendly," Price said. "It's a good, safe place 
to bring your kids for New Year's Eve."

Traffic on Cesar Chavez Street, Guadalupe Street, Lavaca Street and the 
South First Street bridge was shut down from 2 p.m. Monday to 2 a.m. 
today to allow partygoers a safe space to view more than 60 public art 
showcases. A parade along Cesar Chavez Street included zany bicycle 
floats shaped like huge butterflies and even a gargantuan snake skeleton.

And what would any New Year celebration be without fireworks at 
midnight? This year, there was also a fireworks show earlier in the 
evening so kids could have some New Year's fun before bedtime.

The event drew out odd contraptions, too. Austin-based tech-artists the 
Robot Group showed off Ponginator, a 20-foot-tall computer-controlled 
robot that fired pingpong balls at up to 160 mph. Robot Group president 
Vern Graner said the robot, stationed on West Cesar Chavez Street, could 
launch balls nearly to the top of the CSC building across the street.

"It's been amazing. Kids love it," Graner said. "It's a big, giant 
robot, and kids love robots. It makes a lot of loud noise, and kids love 
that, too."

The carnival atmosphere was strongest on the South First Street bridge, 
where the smells of sausage wraps and funnel cake filled the air and 
kids drew New Year's greetings in chalk on the pavement. Toni Gonzales 
and her husband, David, said the fun on the bridge let their 4- and 
6-year-olds enjoy the New Year's celebration before their 8 p.m. curfew.

"We had fun making kites," Toni Gonzales said. "We just had some sausage 
wraps over there."

"The lemonade was good, too," her husband added.

First Night was a big opportunity for those who serve the throngs of 
revelers. Just ask pedicab driver Jeff Raby, who, despite being new to 
the job, had big goals for the evening.

"Tonight, you can make up to $400," Raby said. "I heard someone made 
over $1,000 last year."

pgeorge at statesman.com; 445-3851
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:)

Vern

-- 
Vern Graner CNE/CNA/SSE    | "If the network is down, then you're
Senior Systems Engineer    | obviously incompetent so why are we
Texas Information Services | paying you? Of course, if the network
http://www.txis.com        | is up, then we obviously don't need
Austin Office 512 328-8947 | you, so why are we paying you?" ©VLG