This year’s Summer Festival was a very special one, as attendees gathered together at the bank in Zento and prepared to enjoy the day by receiving a Tokuno basket filled with special clothing made by Santa and the Tokuno Festival tailor. In addition to the summer clothes the festival goers also received a pre-charged runebook filled with event locations, a schedule of events, an origami, and of course, cookies and milk!

First stop was at Santa’s Waterpark where pillows were provided to help cushion bums while sliding down the steep waterfall. After a few turns down the slide participants received a special gift from Santas companions and they headed for the Mongbats to compete for the best dart thrower.

Congratulations to God Ra and Wild Flower for hitting the bulls-eye to win top awards. All players in the Mongbat darts contest didn’t head off to the CHAMP SPAWN empty handed, each participant received a Tokuno artifact gift.

Along the path to the Champ Spawn there were evil foes to conquer and the partakers showed their fighting skills in either running as fast as possible or fighting off the unfriendly opponents. Once they reached the Champ Spawn it was certain that the spirit would be given up as monsters tried their best to defeat the festival warriors. In the end, the warriors cheered victory ...

... and then headed for the Drunkin Nakee Buddha Race for more fun and excitement as they tried to rescue the Lost Survivor and friends.

Once drunk and naked they swiftly ran the maze to reach Buddha and receive their special boat then sail across the seas to find the names of those stranded on the outer islands.





All the rescuers received their new vessels as a reward and the first six to return with the names received additional prizes.

After the hot and heavy race, it was time to cool down for a bit on the bridge in Zento during the Net Fishing contest. The person who caught the most ‘dead’ fish would win an aquarium package consisting of north and south aquariums and accessories, including A Sea Horse. There was one catch in the end, a TIE! Shayla la Veaus and Aidan both turned in 18 dead fish. What would the event organizers do? The offered to duplicate the grand prize as soon as possible but the two winners decided to share the Grand Prize and divided the booty. Also during the net fishing, aquarium gifts were dropped on the bridge for all to enjoy. *A very special thank you to Angelina de Vega [THB] for supplying more aquarium fish nets for the fishers.

After the cool off, it was time to head to the beach for fun in the sun with the Watermelon Volleyball Walk.



Volleyballs (bag balls) were loaded down with the weight of watermelons and the goal was to walk your way to the other goal line and return for great prizes. The air filled with laughter as walkers diligently moved their heavy watermelons and returned to the home goal. Rumor has it that one watermelon volleyball ended up in the hands of a different walker but worked out very well for the owner because the player had moved the ball closer to the finish line.



Prizes were given to all players and then it was time for the gigantic net toss. Just a few steps away to the shoreline mayhem, chaos and annihilation awaited the adventurers. Healers, rezzers and net throwers stood their ground as monsters jumped out of the sea at them.



Then ... more nets went flying into the sea ….



Was anyone going to survive the carnage? With more than 100 Nets tossed it appeared dismal …

but they all survived!!

With sore bodies and plenty of booty they headed to the shoreline where more gifts of rare paintings, portraits, firework wands were waiting for them and to receive special Auctions R Us gift bags. Each gift bag contained the current auction list and a check for 10K. One bag also had a lucky ticket to play Lets Make A Deal at the auction, which ‘I HOLD STUFF’ later announced that he was the lucky recipient.

Before announcing the Winners of the MY UO TALE essay contest sincere gratitude were expressed to Love Spirit for donating the grand prize of the decorated home and to off shard judges, Thradia from Napa Valley, Lady Airmid of Lake Superior and Dolphoenix of Origin who graciously came to Sonoma to help with the judging of the essay contest. It was a difficult decision for them all and the lovely Gypsy Keja Mimi was on standby in case of a tie but after casting their votes, the judges arrived at the following decisions … You can read and copy their stories for your shards pleasure at UOForums in the Lycaeum Area. A gracious thank you to Dolphoenix from the Town of New Dawn for posting them for us.

• Scroll Ribbon winners of 25K each went to ...

The Birth of Sara by Lady Sara Caroline and UO Beginnings by Lady Arwen.

• 3rd Place winner of 50K gold to ...

Shayla’s Song written by Shayla LaVeaux

• 2nd Place of 100K gold to …

... The Devils Dog written by Teufals Hund.

• 1st Place winner of the beautiful decorated home donated by the Sonomas Angels of Light [SAL] went to …

A Tale of Justice written by Kryechton ...

Every entry also received 5K gold for their MY UO TALE submission.

Promptly after the essay winner announcements, gates opened up to the "Auctions R Us", event where more excitement was waiting everyone. I Hold Stuff walked away with enough cloth to Band-Aid a lot of pets from the Lets Make A Deal contest. The staff of "Auctions R Us" held another Lets Make A Deal contest where staffer Wendy Risks asked if anyone happen to have a fireworks wand in their backpack for eligibility into the game. Madam A who had worked the Summer Festival from start to finish yelled out that she did and began to shoot fireworks from her backpack and she won a nifty surprise!

Sonoma Community Coalition thanks everyone who volunteered their time, goods, gold and support to help make the Tokuno Summer Festival a great success. Many players helped during the festival and we did not ‘catch their names’ but they know who they are and to them we tip our hats and say THANK YOU!!

MANY Special thanks go to:

• Lady Dame Judi for always encouraging the team to move forward as well as designing the festival clothes for the tailor and Santa.
• FlashbaQ for making us all laugh in the midst of tears, for help in designing the Drunkin Nakee Buddha race, and running the gigantic net toss.
• Madam A, for being the right and left hand to many team members and for the wonderful picture taking.
• Alesha Lancermane for the fabulous Santa’s Waterpark house design
• Lord Darth Waynebo for doing many last minute errands for Mum and other team members.
• Elaine of LS for traveling to Sonoma and handing out prizes and pitching in where needed, as well as Shadow of Lake Superior and the adorable Lady Airmid of UCC who was everywhere when needing a hand.
• Lord Havok of S:S for the fantastic Champ Spawn adventure and to the healers/rezzers like Callel of Sosaria Live, Tevvin of PAS, and the many others whose names escaped us.
• Lady Jade of the Gardens for the endless runes and informational books supplied and dropped around Sonoma.

We also thank the promotional sites of: UO Home Calendar, Peoples Army of Sonoma [PAS], Sosaria Live Radio, Markee Dragon, Sonoma Stratics, and UOForums for helping spread the word about the Tokuno Summer Festival. Also, we are grateful to the donators of goods and gold from "Auctions R Us", The Lancermane Family [TLF], Peoples Army of Sonoma [PAS], and the Ultima Community Coalition [UCC] which helped provide the fantastic prizes and gifts for everyone.

If we left anyone off the thank you list please be assured that our hearts are flowing with sincere appreciation for helping to make the Tokuno Summer Festival a lasting UO memory for us all!

And last but not least, a big Mahalo to Santa for spending a part of his last vacation days with us before heading off to ….

Awesome post Mum, thanks for sharing.

Excellent event and post, but one thing missing no tray of cookies.

I had a fantabulous time Queen Mum as always when I get the chance to visit Sonoma. Thank you for allowing us LS travelers to be a part of your festival and for always being there, cookies in hand for us on LS *hugs*

Sorry I missed the event, I am getting ready for my Daughter's Wedding in Kansas City next week, and so many things to do.

I want to thank the judges for choosing my entry. I also wish to donate my winnings back for future events.

Mum, I promise to get back into the events when all this real life chaos is over. Thanks for being "The Great Coordinator" for Sonoma!

Awww! what cools pics loved looking threw them thanks for posting

Not to nit-pick, but this thread is 18 months old.

I thought i missed a Sonoma event =P

~M

That's why archives are so cool. returning players, newbies, anyone can go back and look around. Update themselves on the game and events in general.
Personally I like seeing things like this recieve a comment much later.

Me too...I remember this event and looking back am proud to have participated in it, and extremely thankful people like Mum and the Lancermane family, Dame Judi, et al, are still around and trying to keep the community spirit alive in UO