Organizers hope for world record at FRY Fest

CORALVILLE - Last year's inaugural FRY Fest was billed as a singular event to celebrate former Iowa football coach Hayden Fry and all Hawkeye traditions. But FRY Fest exceeded expectations and now will become an annual event.

Coralville again will host FRY Fest in conjunction with the Hawkeyes' season opener. The event is planned for Sept. 3, the day before Iowa competes against Eastern Illinois at Kinnick Stadium.

“We marketed it as a one-time event because we wanted people to show up,” said Josh Schamberger, president of the Iowa City/Coralville Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We thought people would because it's Hawkeye football, and it's the day before the opener. So we didn't want to lock ourselves into saying we're doing to do it every year. But everything was so successful last year, and it's going to be an annual event. We just needed one year to see if A) if we could pull it off and B) whether or not the base would be the be there, the Hawkeye nation base.”

Schamberger said Iowa City/Coralville hotels reported a 200 percent increase in revenue per available room from the 2009 opening weekend when compared to 2008, in part because of FRY Fest.

This year's event includes a celebration for former football coach Forest Evashevski, who died Oct. 30, 2009 at age 91. There will be trade and car shows, plus meet-and-greet events with players from the 1960 and 1985 football teams.

Event organizers hope to break the Guinness World Record for the largest Hokey Pokey Dance. The current record of 4,431 was set in 2003 in Toronto.

“We had over 20,000 show up for Fry Fest last year,” Schamberger said. “We expect at least that, if not more because we would like to get a minimum of 7,500 people for the Hokey Pokey. We feel pretty optimistic we can get more than that, but 7,500 is our base.”

The nightcap includes a pep rally with Iowa men's basketball coach Fran McCaffery and women's basketball coach Lisa Bluder plus concerts by The Nadas and 1970s band Three Dog Night.

“I don't want to wish my summer away, but it is going to be magnificent,” Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta said.