Django in Western Mass. in June
In the wonderful small city where I live, Northampton Massachusetts, there’s a fun annual music festival called Django in June. It’s all about gypsy jazz – performances, music clinics, and jam sessions.
Last year it occurred to me that the festival would be a perfect time for a get-together of Django (web framework!) people in the region. Nothing fancy – some short talks, coding, pizza, beer. With open blocks in the schedule to go hear some gypsy jazz of course. The date(s) would be Saturday June 16th and/or Sunday June 17th, 2007.
A handful of people I’ve discussed this with have already expressed interest. Now is as good a time as any to float the idea and get a rough idea of how many people we might see. If there’s enough interest I’ll fire up a little site for it in the next couple months and discussion could begin about appropriate venues etc. June can be a busy time at work for me, so I’m hoping to keep it low-key, but of course I will accept help if offered!
Locale orientation and sales pitch: Northampton is two hours’ drive from Boston, 3.5 hours from New York City. It’s got a great pedestrian-friendly downtown, a vibrant music scene, art everywhere, five colleges within ten miles, and beautiful countryside all around. It’s a liberal place. It’s the kind of town that’s always getting those “best places to live” and “top arts destination” awards. It might just be the Lawrence, Kansas of Massachusetts. (Lots more, including the obligatory list of famous people connected with Northampton, can be found at Wikipedia.)
Post a comment to let me know what you think!
Adrian Holovaty commented on Thu Jan 25 13:45:49 2007:
Oooh! I’ve wanted to go to the Northampton festival the past couple of times but didn’t end up going. If there’s a Django Web framework meeting around the same time in the same area, I’d be much more inclined to go.
Paul commented on Thu Jan 25 14:57:05 2007:
Excellent! I had a feeling the gypsy jazz angle might lure you in. I’ll keep you posted.
Steven Lott commented on Thu Jan 25 14:59:24 2007:
You’re about two hours from Albany, NY, where I live. Sounds like a good excuse for a drive through the cultural Berkshires.
Jay commented on Thu Jan 25 20:45:48 2007:
Man I would love to be there. I haven’t been back to the old UMass Amherst area in quite a while. I might be able to fit a trip for CO to MA in June. Django + Django is a strong combination. Throw in some Antonio’s pizza and how can anyone resist.
David S. commented on Fri Jan 26 10:52:20 2007:
I’m in.
Paul commented on Fri Jan 26 16:23:31 2007:
This is great. In the last 24 hours I’ve heard from a dozen or more people interested in coming. Sometime in the next few weeks I’ll make a little site for planning etc. I’ll make another blog post at that point (which will show up in the Django community aggregator as well). If you want to be notified by email, just send me your email address.
Dave commented on Thu Feb 1 11:18:48 2007:
Sounds like a good time and Northampton looks like a great town. I’m going to try and make it.
Chas Emerick commented on Thu Feb 8 23:32:35 2007:
Hi Paul! Good to meet you tonight at the local developer’s meeting http://developer.nervestaple.com.
I’d be glad to come by, even though I’m a pylons kind of guy! ;-)
Jeff Hobbs commented on Sun Feb 11 07:26:44 2007:
Paul, I’m in. Drop me an email when things firm up.
K commented on Wed Feb 21 11:46:31 2007:
I’m in the area and am a big fan/user of Django and python, let me know when a date is confirmed, thanks.