New Year's Prim Drop in Bay City

Bay City is one again preparing for their annual "Prim Drop" on 31st December, with festivities commencing at 11:30 pm SLT. Festivities will take place at the Bay City Fairground in North Channel (SLurl) with a brief music set presented by Marianne McCann as well as fireworks and other fun. Food and drink will be provided.

The event is themed as an outdoor, wintertime soirée, and black tie attire is recommended. Nevertheless, all Second Life® Residents are welcome to attend and mingle with Bay City's high society.

This will also be the last event in Bay City this year for donating to Child's Play Charity (www.childsplaycharity.org). Child's Play is a 501c3 non profit organization offers online communities such as ours an opportunity to help seriously ill children around the globe during their hospital stays with the purchase of games and gaming equipment.

As of the 24th of December, Bay City has raised a staggering L$355,273 for Child's Play Charity through their annual silent auction and tree lighting concert, a Christmas tree sale, and other events (emphasis added).

Bay City is a mainland community, developed by Linden Lab® and home to the Bay City Alliance. The Bay City Alliance was founded in 2008 to promote the Bay City regions of Second Life and provide a venue for Bay City Residents and other interested parties to socialize and network. It is now the largest group for Residents of Bay City.

For more information, or to participate in the event, please contact Marianne McCann.

Happy Christmas Eve!

Santa wishes everyone in Bay City and all of Second Life a Merry Christmas!

I had fun posting pix of the jolly elf in Our Fair City to the Bay City Post Twitter account (@BayCityPost) through the last month and I hope you enjoyed seeing his travels.

Merry Christmas from Angela & Uccie

What A Difference

December 12, 2006 

December 5, 2014

Bay City Activity Center Gingerbread House Competition

The following is a Press Release from the Bay City Activity Center:

It is believed that the tradition of decorating gingerbread houses started in Germany in the early 1800's and is often attributed to the famous Grimm's fairy tale story of Hansel and Gretel. Join us at (SLurl) for a fun holiday tradition!

SCHEDULE:
Dec 15th-20th - Contestant Submissions Accepted
Dec 21st-23rd - Judging
Dec 24th - Reading of "Hansel & Gretel" + Winners Announced!

RULES:
-Houses cannot be scripted. -Houses must fit into standard prim.
-Houses must be under 15 land impact.
-Texture size must be 512x512, or under.
-Only one entry per avatar.
-Last day to submit house is December 20th.

PRIZES:

Three Categories with prizes of L$500 for 1st Place, L$250 for 2nd Place, and L$100 for 3rd place
Most Creative
Most Original
Most Artistic

Best Overall = L$1000

All contestants will receive a special gift from the residents of Bay City!

Send entries to Ayame Kintsugi (Zombiegal Resident) with a notecard specifying the name of your creation to be displayed on an index card alongside it. Please note that this means your entry must be transferable. 

Winning houses will be announced on Christmas Eve, with prizes distributed to the winners following announcement. All contestants must submit their finished Gingerbread Houses before December 20th to be eligible for winning prizes.

Just want to see all of the lovely entries? Stop on by (SLurl)!

More information about the Activity Center can be found in our FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BayCityActivityCenter/

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Santa, Ever, and That Poem

While I was walking back from the Real Life pharmacy it seems that I missed another visit by Santa to Bay City but a reporter for The Post was hot on the jolly old elf's trail and posted the appearance (original here) at Ever Dreamscape's memorial in Bay City - Dennis (SLurl), giving the big guy some private time.

Readers of this blog probably remember that Christmas 2013 was Ever's last with her friends and family in Our World and in Real Life so they probably can imagine that this holiday season is that much less festive without her. It was also last year that Ever let me post a copy of her special adaptation of "A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement Clarke Moore. I ran across it the other day and thought of sending a copy to the Bay City Alliance group (and still might) but after talking with a few people I thought it would be okay to freshen Ever's work a little to reflect the changes in Second Life over the last year. So here goes ...

A Visit from St. Ebbe 

Twas the night before Christmas and all thro' the lot,
Not a creature on radar not even a bot.
The stockings were rezzed by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Ebbe soon would be there.
The moles were nestled all snug in their dens,
While visions of mesh danc'd in their heads.

 My alt, who was ruthed, and I in bald cap,
Were just logging off for a long restart's nap.
When out on the sculpty lawn there arose such a clatter,
I stood from my totally G-rated bed (“honest”) to see who was griefing with pixellated matter!

Away to the teleport I flew like a flash,
Clicked on my mini map, and waited to crash.
I turned up my draw distance and opened an AR,
With graphics on high I could really cam far.
When what to my V3.67891-2a did soon rez,
But a sleigh full of prims and eight noobs (one wearing a fez)

With a prim-endowed driver, probably named Luv4Debbie,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Ebbe.
More rabid than vampires his coursers they came,
And he gestured, and shouted, and call'd them by name:
"Now! dasher101 now! dancer22 now! prancertheromancer13 and hotchickvixen24
"On! cometcutie92 on! cupid4U69 on! donder95 and blitzenishawt;

"To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall!
"Now animate! Animate! Animate all!"
So up to the skybox the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of premium gifts — and St. Ebbe too:
And then in a frame, I heard on the roof
The freebie clicky heels of each little goof.
As I opened my pan zoom, and was camming around,
Down the teleport St. Ebbe rezzed with a bound:

A new shopping bag was rezzed on his head,
And he look'd like a newbie confused and full of dread:
He was skinny and tall, sliders raised to the max,
And I activated my laugh gesture, then waited for rez of my new mesh slacks;
A wink of his eye, wow he must have a face animation
Made me wonder if I 'd be better off gaming on Playstation.

Not a chat or IM, he went straight to his work,
And rezzed freebie crap all over; wow what a jerk,
And after his avatar had seemingly froze
He walked into a wall, then up the teleport he rose.
He sat on his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew, like the down of a thistle:
But I then heard him shout, ere he drove off the sim,
"Happy Second Life to all, don't leave for Skyrim!"

Best of the season to everyone from The Poultry Report. Treasure your family and friends as they are they best gift you can ever receive in any world.

Linden Portal Park in Winter

Hot on the heels of a spectacular re-dressing of the Linden Portal Park for Halloween, The Lab has let it snow, let it snow, let it snow (SLurl). The whole region has been draped in the cold stuff and accented with some of the best decorations from Resident creators and some great stuff from the Linden Department of Public Works (LDPW) Moles. The latter's wicked sense of humor can be found everywhere you look, too.

Of course The Grid Hunt area was snowy, but the current snow fall hit every corner off the region. Check out these pictures:

The Cornfield section has some humor keeping with the in-world game's theme.

I can't decide if these mice are building a snowman or decapitating one. Mice are all over the region and they have these mysterious little crowns. Makes you wonder.

Even the un-named area got hit by the snow storm. This is probably for an up-coming game experience the Moles are working on, but it has been here since the big portal park upgrade that made it a hub for a number of activities, not just Linden Realms. Looking at this do you get the idea that the Moles have a violent streak?

The Gnome Village has turned into a gingerbread wonderland but I enjoyed the warm fire in the cave after eating the roof off of a building (Sorry, Michael).

 Speaking of Wonderlands ... the Halloween area is gone, obviously, but the Winder Wonderland area is still blocked off. With a little Resident magic (a firm Page Up smack and a bit of Up Arrow) I was able to get a sneak(y) peak at what lies beyond the fence.

Two doors on this cottage so I expect something like the Halloween fun ... one entrance for a fun experience and one for a fun experience with Occulus Rift.

I took more pictures (click to embiggen these or see them on Flickr), but decided just these few should do for now and I encourage you to head out and explore now!

The Tree Lighting Report

BAY CITY ANNUAL TREE LIGHTING A SUCCESS

Fifth tree lighting raises an amazing L$277,371 for charity

BAY CITY, SL (7th November, 2014) - The annual Tree Lighting event held by the Bay City Alliance on Saturday, 6th December 2013 was a huge success, with the silent auction raising a whopping L$159,271. This, coupled with donations into the bins of L$43,100 gives the event a grand total on the day of L$202.371, and a new record for the event. Another large donation on the 7th raised the total up to L$277,371.

The winning bids are displayed at the Bay City Fairgrounds in in North Channel (SLurl), and the donation bins are still out an active at that location for additional late donations until the 1st of January. A lighted boat parade and skate party, as well as the New Year's Eve Prim Drop, are still forthcoming at the venue this holiday season.

All proceeds from the silent auction and from donation bins will go to Child's Play Charity. Child's Play is a 501c3 non profit organization offers online communities such as ours an opportunity to help seriously ill children around the globe during their hospital stays with the purchase of games and gaming equipment.

The Bay City Alliance wishes to thank all of those who donated goods and services to the auction: Vick Forcella, Robin Sojourner, Flowey, Pygar Bu, Whiskey Monday, Uccello Poultry, Benjamin Wahl, Zen Creations, %Percent, Lightning Video, Echelon Sands, ADudeNamed Anthony, and Black Tulip, as well as Apple Fall for their generation Linden donation.

Thanks also to our performers, Beth Odets, Christov Kohnke, and GoSpeed Racer of KONA Stream, Marianne McCann for organizing the event, Kinnaird and Rachel Seelowe for helping arrange for donation items, to Kriss Lehmann of Botanical for providing the tree and lights, residents of Bay City for their tree ornaments, and finally, thanks to to each of you who donated, participated in the silent auction, and came out today to participate!

Bay City is a mainland community, developed by Linden Lab® and home to the Bay City Alliance. The Bay City Alliance was founded in 2008 to promote the Bay City regions of Second Life and provide a venue for Bay City Residents and other interested parties to socialize and network. It is now the largest group for Residents of Bay City.

For more information please contact

Marianne McCann
Bay City Alliance
marianne.mccann@gmail.com

Bay City Charity Auction

Readers of this blog may recall that around the time of the American Thanksgiving holiday I posted a press release for Bay City's annual tree lighting event and charity auction (see here). The party will take place on Saturday, 6th December 2014 from 1-4 pm SLT at the Bay City Fairgrounds, in North Channel (SLurl) and will feature DJ GoSpeed Racer and live performer Christov Kohnke. Additional activities will include ice-skating, dancing, refreshments and lots of other fun.

Did you see the word auction up there? Here are the items that you can bid to win!

You can visit the fairgrounds (SLurl) anytime starting NOW to see the prizes and bidding should start shortly.