The First Ever Lucy World Games, Jamestown NY, 2012

The first ever LUCY WORLD GAMES will be taking place in JAMESTOWN, NY on August 3rd-4th, 2012

The Lucy World Games is a series of fun events in which LUCY FANS from across the world can compete against each other to truly see who is the best! LUCY WORLD GAMES  promotes the legacy of love, laughter, and camaraderie among all fans through several events meant to show your love for LUCILLE BALL!

Some competitions at the World Games include GRAPE STOMPING, CHOCOLATE WRAPPING, and a LUCY COSTUME CONTEST. All participants will receive aFREE PARTICIPANT SHIRT and the chance to win LUCY MEMORABILIA or other prizes.

All of this will take place during our PARTY ON THE PLAZA at City Hall, which includes food, drinks, and FREE live bands.

Registration to participate in all Lucy World Games events is $20.

Sign Up Today at LUCYCOMEDYFEST.COM!

EVENTS

 Lucy World Games: Chocolate Wrapping 

Think you can wrap chocolates better than Lucy or Ethel?

Each participant will have 1 minute and 30 seconds to see how many chocolates they can wrap. The participants who wrap the most chocolates will be declared the winner.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 3RD: 11 AM - 8 PM

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4TH: 11 AM - 8 PM 

Lucy World Games: Lucy Trivia 

In this event, individuals answer Lucy-related trivia questions. The Trivia game is scored by rounds with successful individuals advancing. The individual with the most correct answers at the end of the game will be named the gold medalist in trivia of the Lucy World Games.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4TH: 2 PM - 3:30 PM 

Lucy World Games: Lucy Loop 

Participate in the 1.5K Run/Walk in the City of Jamestown. Fastest times for the 1.5K Run/Walk wins. Individuals are given additional points if they participate in in Lucy-related costumes.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4TH: 11 AM - 12 PM 

Lucy World Games: Costume Contest 

Individuals may dress as one of the following categories of characters from "I Love Lucy": Lucy or Ricky, Fred or Ethel, or any other show character. A panel of judges chooses the top three costumes.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4TH: 12:30 AM - 2 PM  

Lucy World Games: Cornhole Tournament 

This individual event will be run with each participant throwing a series of bean bags. The highest aggregate totals will named the bronze, silver, and gold medalists.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 3RD: 11 AM - 8 PM
SATURDAY, AUGUST 4TH: 11 AM - 8 PM  

Lucy World Games: Grape Stomping

Each participant will have 2 minutes to stomp as much juice as possible. The individual that produces the highest volume of juice wins.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 3RD: 11 AM - 8 PM
SATURDAY, AUGUST 4TH: 11 AM - 8 PM  

Sign Up Today at LUCYCOMEDYFEST.COM!

Lucy-Desi Center director Gunderson makes case for comedy at Chautauqua Speaks

From The Chautauquan Daily by Lori Humphreys, Staff Writer:

When Chautauqua County native Journey Gunderson began her tenure as director of the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center for Comedy in Jamestown, N.Y., in 2011, Jamestown Post-Journal reporter Stacy Stauffer described her as “a fresh breeze.”

Considering the success of the 2011 celebration of Lucille Ball’s 100th birthday and the plans for the August 2012 Lucille Ball Festival of Comedy, Gunderson is an imaginative and efficient breeze — perhaps a strong wind — blowing away cobwebs and generating new energy for the Center’s future.

On Thursday at the 9:15 a.m. Chautauqua Speaks program at the Chautauqua Women’s Club, Gunderson will be “Making A Case For Comedy.” She will not discuss the art of comedy, though that is the art the Center cultivates and preserves. Rather, she will describe the vision for the Center as it strives to become an incubator for comics, an entertainment venue and eventually the National Comedy Museum and Hall of Fame.

“We want to be the Cooperstown of Comedy,” she said referring to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Gunderson described Ball as a shrewd businesswoman. She said the Center’s goals are a translation of Ball’s perception that the Center would have to be more than a museum attraction.

Born and raised in Chautauqua County, Gunderson grew up in Bemus Point where she lives now with her husband, Jason Toczydlowski, director of marketing and guest services at the Athenaeum Hotel. She enjoys a long connection with Chautauqua Institution. Her grandmother Winnie Lewellen was for many years Wensley House housemother.

A graduate of Ithaca College, Gunderson majored in sports information and communications. She was editorial director and web producer for the Women’s Sports Foundation in New York.

In 2010, Gunderson received the Alumni Leadership & Service Award from the Ithaca College Department of Sport Management and Media. She is a two-time National Health Foundation Information Awards Gold Award-winner.

So often young women and men leave their smaller hometowns and bring their talent and potential to bigger cities. There is something reassuring about Gunderson’s return to the Jamestown area. Perhaps she is part of an avant-garde of young men and women who will bring their substantial ability home.

Lucy Desi Center To Unveil New Audio Tour

As printed from The Jamestown Post-Journal by Dusten Rader:

A new museum experience will be narrated by Lucie Arnaz, daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

The Lucy Desi Center for Comedy has added an audio guide tour to the existing attractions at the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum. The project will launch during Lucy Fest, Aug. 1-5.

Spearheading the project is Journey Gunderson, executive director of the Lucy Desi Center for Comedy. Gunderson felt that the tour needed an update that would compliment the existing experience at the museum.

"I noticed that when I brought my friends, family or colleagues here that I ended up narrating the tour for them to make sure they got the highlights of the legacy," said Gunderson. "So, I figured that (an audio tour) would be a good way to invest in the attraction, and take it up a notch."

The project was made possible through a grant written by Gunderson to the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation. The CRCF matched the $10,000 that the Lucy Desi Center put forward for a total of $20,000. Gunderson then commissioned renowned exhibit designer David Weiss to oversee the production and installation of the new audio tour. The project was a collaborative effort between the production efforts of Desilu, Too and Weiss.

Weiss' resume includes the world-touring "Harry Potter" and "Chronicles of Narnia" exhibitions, "Jurassic Park: Singapore," and NASA's "Space: A Journey to Our Future" among other educational, immersive and entertaining experiences in museums, theme parks and destinations worldwide. Weiss frequently works with Jack Rouse Associates, one of the most well-known exhibit design studios in the world.

"He came and toured the museum, took video of everything and layed out the plan for the guide," said Gunderson. "Then he said, 'It would be very cool if we could get Lucie Arnaz' (to narrate)."

Gunderson contacted Arnaz to ask if she'd be on board, and she quickly agreed to take part. Author Elisabeth Edwards also got involved, and according to Gunderson, she brought the story together in a way that made it exponentially more special and insightful.

"It ended up that she put it in her own words, which made it so much more valuable," said Gunderson. "She was telling us things in the script that we wouldn't have known otherwise. So, to have the ability to walk through the attraction narrated by the daughter of two of the most famous people ever to have lived is pretty cool."

According to Gunderson, the experience hasn't changed in a dramatic way, but is more of an addition to something that was already a gem of an attraction.

"It brings it to life," said Gunderson. "We get people in all the time who say they didn't even know they (Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz) were married in real life. Or, that Desilu Studios produced "Star Trek," "Mission Impossible," and "The Andy Griffith Show." Those are things we don't want people to miss, and now we can tell them in the story."

The audio tour also allows guests to engage at the level they want to based on how much time they have. Guests will be given a handheld device that holds a series of audio cues which flow through the whole attraction. Or, they can opt not to use it at all. But, for those who do, a total of 26 audio queues are available with a wealth of information to discover.

"When you're ready you can listen to the chunk of the recording that has information which otherwise is not here, or is five paragraphs deep on a panel that people don't read," said Gunderson. "I think it will connect the dots for people that are not already super aware of the legacy, and I'm excited about it."

In addition to narrating the audio tour guides, Arnaz will be the musical host at the comedy showcase which includes Tammy Pescatelli, on Friday, Aug. 3. Tickets are on sale at LucyComedyFest.com.

For a tax-deductible donation of $100, fans and supporters can enjoy the unique opportunity to attend a reception with Arnaz held in the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum immediately following the Friday show. The reception will begin at 10:30 p.m. at 10 W. Third St., and tickets are available at 484-0800 or LucyComedyFest.com.

The Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum and Desilu Studios are open seven days a week, Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Lucy Desi Center to Unveil New Audio Guide Tour Narrated by Lucie Arnaz

The Lucy Desi Center for Comedy is excited to announce that it will debut a significant enhancement to its dual museum attraction at the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival this August 1-5.

Thanks to a grant from the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, matching funds from the Lucy Desi Center, and the generous collaborative production efforts of Desilu, Too and exhibit designer David Weiss, the Lucy Desi Museum and Desilu Studios attractions will soon offer a narrated tour experience option in addition to the regular admission.

Now, visitors may opt to be guided through the exhibitry and incredible story of the Lucy and Desi legacy by the voice of none other than Lucie Arnaz, daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

"This gem of an attraction and the fans who visit it from all over the world were deserving of an update to the experience.  I wrote a grant to the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, matched it with an investment of our own, commissioned renowned exhibit producer David Weiss, and he visited and said, 'It's got to be Lucie.'  She [Arnaz] and author Elisabeth Edwards got involved and brought the story together in a way that made it exponentially more special and insightful.  It's exciting," said Executive Director Journey Gunderson.

Lucie Arnaz will be in Jamestown for the debut, as she is the host and musical guest of the Friday night showcase of rapidly-rising comedians including Tammy Pescatelli, 8:30 pm August 3 during this year's Lucy Fest. Tickets are now on sale at www.LucyComedyFest.com.  Coincidentally, Arnaz's father, Desi Arnaz, was the first-ever to be both host and musical guest of Saturday Night Live in 1976.

Production and installation of the new audio tour has been overseen by David Weiss, whose credits include the world-touring "Harry Potter" and "Chronicles of Narnia" exhibitions, "Jurassic Park: Singapore," and NASA's "Space: A Journey to Our Future" among other educational, immersive and entertaining experiences in museums, theme parks and destinations world-wide.

Tammy Pescatelli Joins Lucy Comedy Fest Line-Up

The Lucy Desi Center for Comedy is proud to announce that Tammy Pescatelli will be joining an already star-studded lineup that includes Billy Gardell and Paula Poundstone for its annual Lucille Ball Festival of Comedy, August 1st-5th. Pescatelli, winner of Comedy Central's 2010 Stand-Up Showdown, will be performing at the Stand-Up Showcase on August 3rd. Lucie Arnaz, daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, will be the host and musical guest of the showcase Friday. Tickets are on sale at LucyComedyFest.com.

Being one of the Final Five on NBC'sLast Comic Standing 2 catapulted Pescatelli's career. She has appeared twice as a guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and has also appeared on National Lampoons Funny Money, NBC's Last Comic Standing: The Best of the Best, and Comedy Central's The World Stands Up!

Pescatelli also recently appeared in her own half-hour special for Comedy Central, Comedy Central Presents: Tammy Pescatelli. More recently, she has performed on TBS's Evening at the Laugh Factory, Last Call with Carson Daly, and has been a guest a number of times on the syndicated show Comics Unleashed, and was chosen for their Best of the Best worldwide top selling DVD.

The Lucille Ball Festival of Comedy takes place August 1-5 and features Billy Gardell, star of the CBS hit Mike & Molly and his own 2011 Comedy Central Special: Halftime, Paula Poundstone, named one of the Top 100 Comedians of All Time by Comedy Central, The Story Pirates, a critically-acclaimed kids comedy show that recently performed live with Conan O'Brien, and much more in addition to Pescatelli and Arnaz.

Tickets for Live Lucy Radio Plays, Dinner Theater with The Ricardos & Mertzes, the first ever Lucy Olympics, a "Party on the Plaza" which features live music & spirits, museum & town tours, Late Night Comedy shows in the Tropicana Room, and more are available at LucyComedyFest.com or by phone at (716)484-0800.