This event is made possible through the efforts of the all-volunteer Boulder Jewish Festival committee members who have been planning the 2010 event for over a year. A huge thank you from me to all of the committee – you’re the best! Another big thank you to our many event-day volunteers and to the community for coming together to make this a GREAT DAY!

The Carousel of Happiness, a dream of Nederland resident Scott Harrison, is set to open on Saturday. If you go, check out the “twirling girl” on the top – inspired by a photo taken of Eliana Dreyfus at the Boulder Jewish Festival in 1999.  That was only the 5th year of the Festival!  At that time, the entire event could be contained on just the Courthouse Lawn and the 1300 block of Pearl Street. Our t-shirt that year was designed by Dvora Kanegis. We didn’t even have a website yet! The photo of Eliana ran on the front page of the Daily Camera the next morning and was a thrill for us to see.

The photo above was last year’s update, from the Daily Camera: Eliana Dreyfus, holding a ground breaking shovel, looks at the photo taken of her 9-years ago. Eliana Dreyfus, the famous “twirling girl,” attended the ground breaking for the Carousel of Happiness in Nederland on July 26, 2008. The carving of Eliana, which will be at the top of the carousel, was inspired by a photograph taken of her in 1999 at the Boulder Jewish Festival.  Read the story about her visit in 2009 and see more photos here.

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By joining the Big Tent Judaism Coalition, Boulder Jewish Festival has committed to serving all Jewish households and embracing the diversity that comprises today’s Jewish community. Congregation Bonai Shalom, Pardes Levavot, and Beth Ami are also members of the coalition, as well as Denver groups including Judaism Your Way and Jewish Mosaic.

“Our Biblical forebears Abraham and Sarah opened their tent on all four sides and welcomed all who approached,”

says JOI Executive Director Rabbi Kerry Olitzky. “It’s time that we as a Jewish community follow their example and welcome all who cast their lot with the Jewish community into our midst.”   The Big Tent Judaism Coalition provides an online directory of organizations committed to welcoming and including any individual or Jewish household—including the increasing numbers of interfaith couples and families, Jews of color and multiracial families, Jews-by-choice and members of the LGBT population—interested in engaging with the Jewish community. The site will also provide updated information about Jewish holidays and practices, as well as other resources that will help them navigate the Jewish community. For the communal professionals and lay leaders working inside member organizations of the Big Tent Judaism Coalition, the initiative offers networking, consultation, and best practices for welcoming those individuals and families.

More information about Big Tent Judaism is available online at www.BigTentJudaism.org.

The Jewish Outreach Institute (JOI)— is an independent, national, trans-denominational organization reaching out to unengaged and intermarried Jewish families, and helping the organized Jewish community better welcome them in. JOI conducts research, runs programs, and serves as a national training institution and network for outreach professionals, guiding and supporting innovative outreach in communities throughout North America.

Do you have a favorite Festival story? Share it with us!

To qualify, one must teach in a Jewish school in the Boulder area and be able to demonstrate how the scholarship will be used for professional development such as workshops, conferences or other teacher training. Click here to apply. Applications are due by May 27, 2009 to srheins@caje-co.org. Scholarship awardees will be notified in June and honored at the Boulder Jewish Festival on Sunday, June 7, 2009.

Both came from cities that had Jewish festivals, and they asked, “Why not here?”

The first Boulder Jewish Festival was held that year at the Courthouse Lawn on Pearl Street Mall, concurrent with Israel Independence Day. The success of the first year was not dampened by the rain!  Children on the mall were heard saying, “This is so cool, everyone here is Jewish.”  Many people remarked that they didn’t realize there were so many Jews in Boulder. The sense of community was wonderful and a tradition was born.

For the next two years (1996 and 1997), the Boulder Jewish Festival was held on 13th Street and Central Park.  In 1998 the event returned to the Courthouse Lawn and the 1300 block of Pearl Street. The number of participating groups and vendors grows each year, as has the number of guests. In 1999, for the 5th Anniversary of the Festival, local artist Dvora Kanegis designed a logo for the event, which debuted on fridge magnets that year. In 2003, recognizing that the event had outgrown the Courthouse Lawn area, the Festival spread to 2 additional blocks of the Pearl Street mall.

The Boulder Jewish Festival is now the largest single-day independent event held at the Courthouse Lawn & Pearl Street Mall site, the only Jewish Festival in Colorado, and one of the longest-running Jewish Festivals in the US.  Our Fine Art and Judaica show is the largest independent art show on the Mall. Local non-profit groups are the heart of the event, on the Courthouse Lawn.

This event is entirely planned and produced by a dedicated team of volunteers who spend approximately 18 months planning each Festival. The event is a project of Menorah: Arts, Culture, Education, and we are grateful to our many sponsors for their support.

2009 is the 15th Anniversary of the Boulder Jewish Festival and we are proud to be included in the City of Boulder’s 150th Year Celebration.