Last summer Marcus and I introduced ourselves to an entire new state. We decided to bring together 1,250 people. Not just any 1,250 people, but 1,250 people who liked Gilmore Girls. We thought we'd host a little event in the place that's legend to be the writers' brain child, Washington Depot, CT. This was obviously no small feat in just 7 weeks but it went off without a hitch. Star-studded, fan-filled and at the height of this quaint New England town's busiest month of the year. It was a whirlwind which is why we're just now telling you about it. Once we pitched it to media and made the site, www.gilmoregirlsfanfest.com live, the festival sold out in a matter of hours, before the sun set to be accurate. A party planners dream, people wanted to come! We made new friends, other people made new friends and the town smiled on the hoards of fans that took interest in Washington that weekend.

Why would I share it now? Well, partly because I totally forgot to tell you about it on our own platform when it happened and also because we sort of just woke up from the dream that it actually happened. But, mainly because I think 2017 has a lot of potential. For you, for us, for anyone who believes it could be a great year. What started as our third (what we call) "napkin" idea turned into one of the wildest journey's of our life (no, kids don't count--that's even wilder). The full story is on the festival website, but the concept of our "napkin ideas" are the culmination of thoughts we've had that have turned into something big. Over the years, we've reached for a napkin a few times when we're out, when it was the only thing resembling paper within reach. At that point we've always jotted down our thoughts until there's more time and resources to outline something more tangible. Our first napkin idea was actually Seedling Communications, over lunch, in early 2010. As we hit year seven we're reminded that we're (all) capable of a lot more than we think.

So, let me encourage you to start the year off right. If you're reading this over lunch grab a napkin. Write down a few dreams and if they are still keeping you awake in a few days, take a little more time to outline the reality of your thoughts. You never know what might come from it. In our case, we weren't the only ones who thought the festival was a good idea. In fact, the desire for something we sort of thought was a pie in the sky idea was so far reaching that we had people there from several continents and almost 100 different media outlets. Here's a few stories some of our new friends wrote during and after the festival, it's pretty good stuff. It made us proud. But most of all it gave us confidence to tell you that just about anything is possible. Make 2017 your year. We'd love to cheer you on.

Gilmore Girls Fan Fest Media Highlights

TIME

http://time.com/4544932/gilmore-girls-stars-hollow-election-hillary-clinton-donald-trump/?xid=homepage

Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/gilmore-girls-revival-how-a-tv-reboot-goes-from-idea-to-reality/2016/11/03/5c241150-94d3-11e6-bb29-bf2701dbe0a3_story.html

Broadly (VICE)

https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/i-spent-a-weekend-in-stars-hollow-with-thousands-of-obsessive-gilmore-girls-fans

ABC News

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/things-learned-gilmore-girls-fan-fest/story?id=42987803

New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/27/fashion/gilmore-girls-fan-fest-stars-hollow-washington-depot.html?_r=0

Yahoo! (HelloGiggles as the original source)