07/29/2024
Napoleon Dynamite Fest, A Love Letter
Preston, Idaho didn't choose to be a part of Napoleon Dynamite, Napoleon Dynamite choose Preston and I for one, am here for it. If there is one word to describe Napoleon Fest in honor of the 20 year anniversary of the cult classic movie, it would be Happy. All over town for 2 days I witnessed pure joy, smile after smile, tears and loving hugs from Shondrella Avery who played Lafawnduh, as she uplifted everyone she met with her tangible words of love.
Tater Tot, the llama, came all the way from Oregon to be a part of the festival and wethered the Idaho fires having to find alternate routes of travel, breaking down, and hitting a storm. She took a mental health day on Friday, but showed up Saturday ready to bring the joy and meet all her fans. Every single guest that wanted to meet Tater Tot on Friday was so understanding of the situation, it was heartwarming and full of grace. One fan put it perfectly when she said if something didn't go as planned she just exclaimed, "Gosh!" with a smile on her face and went on her merry way.
With Olive + Jo as headquarters you would find me each morning with the biggest smile on my face as I asked each fan where they were from and if they would put a pin on my map. We even added post-it notes with handwritten countries on them for our international guests. To see so many people travel so far to experience "Napoleon Dynamite's fandom" was surreal. My 17 year old daughter who worked the store while I chatted with fans said the next day, "Did you have fun? You looked like you were having so much fun." At home my family sees me suffering with severe depression that I push through each day and to know that she witnessed true joy in me those two days is something to cherish.
"Vote for Summer" was the theme at Olive + Jo Saturday morning as Trevor Snarr who played Summer's boyfriend and Napoleon's bully hung out with Cache Arts' pinata of Summer (yes, just like in the movie) and had everyone smiling with photos, Napoleon quotes, and the sentiment that only the jock of Napoleon Dynamite could bring.
The rest of my family took turns being Shondrella and Adonnis' (her brother/manager/little boy In wedding scene) chauffeurs and chatted and joked through the day even adopting Adonnis' nickname, Donny. We found a small world connection when we learned that we all live/lived in "The Valley" in Los Angeles. We reminiscing about all our favorite hang out spots, but the best part was feeling her love for Napoleon Dynamite and it's fans. Her love was tangible, and that is huge.
Our planning committee had the honor of walking the Preston High School hall of lockers (yes, they are still the same colors as in the movie) with Shondrella Avery as she talked about her love of Napoleon Dynamite. Jerry Seinfeld once did a study on how to recreate the formula of creating a movie that was shot in 22 days, cost roughly $400,000, with a to-date gross of $46.1 million. The answer: you can't. Shondrella believes that is because the movie was "touched by God" a clean movie with no bad words, no s*x scenes, a true family friendly movie about love and being your authentic self. She spoke about the underdog prevailing, crossing the lines of discrimination with both Kip and Lafawndah's love, Pedro prevailing as school president. "The nerds won and hot chicks rule!" Shondrella laughed.
Watching the participants who never once broke character was iconic. Amanda Conley Photography, our photographer for Glamour Shots by Deb, spent two days shooting photos playing the character perfectly, from the f***y pack she wore all day and hilarious exclamations of "you're a star", "just beautiful", "so glamorous" in Deb's voice. I was blown away by the fans who played Kip and Deb throughout the weekend who never once broke character. As a matter of fact, they won our Best Look-A-Like contest where they received a sweet gold trophy!
"The world needs more Happy, look around, everyone here is happy." said Nadra Heffer, our very own gracious llama owning Napoleon Dynamite fan. It was an emotional weekend, something I have never before experienced in the world of fandom. As Pedro promised, "all your wildest dreams will come true" and they did, in a happiness I never could have predicted.
