I absolutely don’t know anything about this. Here, Trish Gannon/River Journal — she of the infamous condom dress that drove Any Mouse to the sidelines several years ago — is seen with an unknown man who claimed to be a blurker (probably for the free pizza & pop) and attended Blogfest ‘09. You can see more of Trish’s photos of Blogfest ‘09 here.

Trish Gannon/River Journal just posted more Blogfest ‘09 photos here. Above, Christa Manis & Taryn Hecker underscore the claim by many that this piece of the blogosphere would be a classless place without The Women of Huckleberries Online. You can read the entire comments thread from Blogfest ‘09 here. You can find a list of the award winners here.

In this photo by Bayview Herb/Bay Views (other blogfest photos here), I’m explaining something to Gary Ingram. Do you have any idea what it might be?

A number of tongue-in-cheek awards were handed out at Blogfest ‘09 Saturday, including:

• Best Nom de Plume - Best alias moniker on HBO - Digger
• Peace-Keeper Award - Goes to the HBOer who breaks up the most blogfights - Stickman
• The Do-Your-Job Award - The HBOer who posts more at work than at home - Jeanie (confessed)
• Most Creative Avatar - The poster with the most unique avatar - Frum Helen Back
• Cutline King (or Queen) - the HBOer with the most/best cutlines in Dave’s cutline contests - John Austin
• You can read the rest in the box below
  

I promised you a condom dress if you attended Blogfest ‘09, and Trish Gannon/River Journal delivered for me. I’d guess the dress is 3 years old — first surfacing at a Halloween Party in Bonner County. It still receives second and third looks. Frum Helen Back/Hauser Thoughts posted this photo of today’s Blogfest and another on her blog this afternoon here. S&S Herb has five more photos of the Blogfest here.

… for Blogfest ‘09. Alison McArthur, the behind-the-scenes gopher for Blogfest ‘09, told me a few minutes ago that J.D. Dickinson’s Moon Dollars (609 North Syringa/Post Falls, directions here) is almost ready for the Huckleberries Online crowd for Blogfest ‘09 Saturday. Allison was on her way to Moon Dollars to set up the microphone for the “awards” ceremony that will be presided over by JeanieSpokane & CindyH about halfway through the gabfest. Which will run from noon to 3 p.m. She’ll also have a laptop hooked to a giant screen available if anyone wants to live blog the blogfest. As she was going out the door, Allison’s handed the phone to her dad, Mayor Clay Larkin, who said he’ll try to drop by blogfest and offered this opinion of Moon Dollars: “The buffalo burgers and sweet potato fries are to die for.” Meanwhile, Toadman (shown above with that old feller in unfashionable plaid shirt) sends his regards b/c he won’t be in attendance this year. He has a family conflict.

“A trio of wild turkeys graze in a Fernan Village yard. Wild turkeys abound in this small community on Fernan Lake at the east end of Coeur d’Alene,” writes Kerri Thoreson/OnLocation North Idaho.

17. Danofthecounty, 18. Dennis (Radar icon), 19. DFO, 20. Digger, 21. Dining Dad, 22. Dogwalk Musings, 23. Doug Thompson, 24. Duffer – Original, 25. Eagle Eye, 26. Escapee, 27. Family Phil, 28. Florined, 29. Frum Helen Black, 30. Gary Ingram, 31. Herb Huseland, 32. Hmoffsuite, 33. Idawa, 34. Inlandempiregirl, 35. James Bond, 36. Jazzyvandal, 37. Jbelle, 38. JeanC, 39. JeanieSpokane, 40. Jen, 41. Jimmymac, 42. JohnA — JeanieSpokane. More here.

• Businesses can serve the community, too/Accidental Rabbit Trails
• Time Away/A Family Runs Through It
• A Word A Day: Coeval/Community Comment
• ‘Food’ for thought/Dogwalk Musings
• At least he’s trying/Simple Mind
• 4th Street is getting all prettied up/Kootenai MPO
• A pox on thee, Dav Pilkey/Notes On A Napkin
• 200 questions/Slight Detour

HBO Numbers (for Thursday, Feb. 26): 7290 page-views/3998 unique views

This little old blogger, so witty but slow,
I knew in a moment it must be DFO.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

“Now JBelle! now, Stickman! now, Nic and MikeK!
On, Idawa! On, JeanieSpokane! on Aliasjax and Mamajd!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!”

Clerk Of The City (Complete Poem here)

Moon Dollars is a very unique feel to it. I can only describe it as a coffee shop/cute cafe/sports bar/nice restaurant. I know that the sign refers to itself as a “Coffee House”. But that just doesn’t seem right. This place is so much more. The place was spotless, had that “new” feel to it, and was well managed! The young ladies that I talked with were friendly, helpful, and willing to ask questions that any “newbie” customer might have. And you might know by now that that’s a big concern to me!/Dad’s Diner. More here.

 Question: Had you heard of Moon Dollars before it became the site of Blogfest ‘09?

Noah Kroese/Special for Huckleberries Online

Question: Noah Kroese, ex-UIdaho Argonaut cartoonist, drew the cartoon above for the Blogfest ‘07. One phenomenon I’ve noticed at Blogfests is … bloggers and commenters seem relieved to finally step from behind their pseudonyms. So here’s the question: How much are you, in your real life, like your online persona?

I’ve been pondering a comment made by Idawa (I believe) a week or so ago. He said that Huckleberries Online lost a little of its magic when bloggers, commenters & blurkers met one another at the earlier blogfests. (There were two unofficial ones — at the SR building & Bayview — prior to the previous two at Capones.) Idawa felt that the dynamics and passion of debate were better served when no one knew who the other bloggers and posters were. What do you think?

Question: Did Huckleberries lose or gain something as a result of blogfests and other interaction in which Berry Pickers willingly revealed who they were to others?

CindyH, JeanieSpokane & Co. are in charge of the, ahem, Awards Ceremony, for Blogfest ‘09 — to celebrate the 5th anniversary of Huckleberries Online, scheduled for Feb. 28 (although the actual anniversary is Feb. 16). As part of the informal festivities this year, we’re planning an awards ceremony of sorts. Tongue-in-cheek stuff, of course. So the gals are wondering if you could name some categories and possible nominations for the first Huckly Awards. Anyone?

TUBOB: But based on what I experienced last year, Capone’s is too small, you need a place with a conference/banquet type room to reserve just for this gathering and perhaps have something fun like a little awards ceremony and give out dorky little plaques/certificates for funny HBO-related awards (Best Wingnut, Best Flaming Liberal, Most Likely to get Coolered, etc.)

Digger: I know that DFO isn’t excited this year for BlogFest since we’ve had some stomp-offs and blogfights this year but I think that BlogFest will provide him with a new and rejuvinated view of his Merry Hucksters as the majority of us get along

DFO: Bob’s right. I enjoy Capone’s atmosphere. But Blogfest ‘08 was too cramped for 75 or so people. So we need to move it elsewhere. I’ll chat with Bond Girl about a possible location in Post Falls. But I have another one in mind in Coeur d’Alene. I don’t want those who want to partake of Bent’s brew at Stickman’s to have to drive too far. I like the Feb. 28 date, too. I need to check to see if it’s in conflict with any major sporting events. Also, I want to assign a coupla you to take charge of HBO-related awards — mebbe JeanieSpokane & CindyH. Mebbe someone to oversee the event. Digger makes a good point. The last 6 to 8 weeks have been tough on me, mebbe the toughest stretch since I started the blog. Not only has the switch to the new blogware been taxing, but the simmering feuds in the comments section have sucked some of the fun from what I do here. Mebbe Digger’s right. Mebbe Blogfest ‘09 will rejuvenate me. It’s not every day a blog turns 5.