Thursday night the rain stayed away and the crowd didn't. Approximately 300 attended the Brooklyn Blogfest at powerHouse Arena. At 6:30 the bookstore/publicspace was already getting crowded and by 7:30 when the houselights were turned off, the room was packed.

The show began with an Video Opener by Blue Barn Pictures, a fun montage of last year's event. That was followed by a somewhat nervous welcome from me (Louise Crawford). I described the past three blogfests:

Brenda Becker, ayearinthepark.typepad.com; Tim Becket, cityofstrangers.wordpress.com; Adam E
bigskybrooklyn.blogspot.com; Andrew Gardner, street-level-nyc.blogspot.com; Meg Groome
libertyontenth.blogspot.com; Sharon Kwik, bedstuybanana.com; Amy Melson, brooklynometry.blogspot.com; Lisanne McTernan, foundinbrooklyn.blogspot.com; Janah Terese, eatbrooklynfood.blogspot.com; Lola Zarus, cherrypatter.com; Jonathan Barkey, nolandgrab.org; Tracy Collins, freakinblog.com; Hugh Crawford, onlytheblogknowsbrooklyn.com; Jake Dobkin, bluejake.com; Nathan Kensinger, kensinger.blogspot.com; Lorna Keuning, lornagrl.com; Adrian Kinloch, britinbrooklyn.com; Chris Kreussling, flatbushgardener.blogspot.com; Robin Lester, clintonhillblog.com; Lara Wechsler, larawechsler.com

As a video intro to the Why We Blog panel three short vignettes made by young filmmakers at Blue Barn pictures were shown. The first one directed by Max Kelly, son of Katia Kelly, was about Katia and her neighborhood blog, Pardon Me for Asking. The second portrayed a young woman who has cancer, who writes an inspiring blog called Why Not Me. The third one was about a woman who blogs about life in Brooklyn, in Spanish, for an audience in Barcelona. All three videos were incredibly well done, spunky and very interesting.

The panel was up next. Hip Slope Mama, Bed Stuy Banana, Jake Dobkin of Gothamis, Anne Pope of Sustainable Flatbush and Tracy Collins of Another Friggin Blog. A very pregnant Megan Donis was the moderator.

The panelists introduced themselves and it was really fascinating to hear the different reasons why people blog. Here I will quote from Josh Frank's report on the Blogfest in Time Out:

There was one common thread: None of these bloggers write about
themselves. “It’s not about you,” Dobkin claimed, adding that
successful blogs are about something that other people are interested
in (e.g., Tracy Collins‘ photo blog about the Atlantic Yards project, or Bed-Stuy Banana’s blog about her neighborhood).

Anne Pope told the crowd that the 2007 Blogfest inspired her to become a blogger and she talked about the way her blog and her environmental activism are linked.

I enjoyed hearing from Bed Stuy Banana about the sometimes contentious relationship between the blogger and the community she lives in. "Some people want to see this neighborhood as a place of beautiful brownstones and trees. So if I write about a bullet hole in the sidewalk people hate me. I just write the truth of what I see."

Jake Dobkin, whose Gothamist blog is enormously successful thanks to Dobkin's business school smarts and Jen Chung's talent as a reporter, told the crowd: "No more new blogs. Not another small neighborhood blog. You guys need to come together, figure out ways to work together," he told the crowd with purposeful provocation. He also announced that he was going to do a guerilla Blogs-of-a-Feather if people wanted to learn more about monetizing their blogs and advertising."

Needless to say that group was well attended.

The second part of Picture Brooklyn followed and then came the Blogfest dedication to Robert Guskind. Brenda Becker, who writes,  A Year in the Park, spoke eloquently about Bob's influence on citizen journalism and shared an interesting thread in Bob's work:

"With his emphasis on
Coney Island and the Gowanus, strange cats and stray pit bulls
something connects all of it," Brenda told the group. "Bob could see
beauty in that which was broken. And he could see what could be in it
again. How a polluted canal could be Venice. A street couch could be
absurdest theater. A broken, miserable Coney Island  could be turned
into something great."

The Robert Guskind video by Blue Barn pictures featured an interview with Bob created for last year's Blogfest. There was also footage by Bob of the Gowanus Canal and audio from an interview Bob did with Brian Lehrer  all edited to Jesus and Mary Chain's "Dirty Water."

Throughout the program I announced the Top Ten stories that captured the attention of Brooklyn blog readers. This list included: Target, Trader Joe's, Park Slope, the Toren Building, the Atlantic Mall…When I find that list I will post it here.

Finally, it was time for the Blogs-of-a-Feather, a new concept that was rolled out this year. It was a chance for attendees to get together in small groups throughout the powerHouse space to come together with others who blog about similar things.

This concept worked even better than I expected. People did gather and talk and talk and talk; it may have been the best part of the show. I'd love to hear from people who participated in one. How did it go? Did you meet interesting people? How could these groups be better, etc.

At 9:30 or so the crowd moved to Galapagos where, I hear, there was an incredible skirt steak hero from Fairway (it wa completely gone by the time I arrived at 10 p.m. There were also hot dogs donated by Wilie Dawgs, 20 pizzas from Pizza Plus, Middle Eastern Specialties from D'Vine Taste, and more from Fairway.

We tried to do the Shout-Out over there but it didn't work out because people wanted to talk and party and the Blogfest tradiition didn't really work in that particular setting. But a few brave Shout-Outers did get up. The raffle winners were announced and the party went on until mid-night.

The rain never came. And Blogfest 2009 was a great night in Brooklyn down under the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges.