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It’s only fitting that the 1st Secret Garage Party took place in the little known country of Lithuania. Lithu-fucking-Wha?
We put the call out to some of our global retail and distribution partners and the team from Ecodumas Vape Shops based in Kaunas, Lithuania stepped up with a solid plan to throw the 1st Secret Garage Party. We were already booked to be in Europe for ExpoVape Spain as well as Ukraine Vapor Week so the timing was perfect for late November.
Lithuania is one of the three Baltic states, it is located along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, to the east of Sweden and Denmark. and is home to about 2.9 million people. Our retail partners in Lithuania, Ecodumas, have 30 vape shops located around the country as well as a few shops in Latvia. They also are part of a vape group called Debesu Lyga - which literally translated is League of Clouds. Debesu Lyga has now over 9,000 active members. While a relatively overall population, Lithuania's vape scene is thriving.
Secret Garage Party Concept:
Cafe Racer bike builders spend a great deal of time in their garages or work shops tinkering with their bikes - looking for ways to increase both the beauty and the performance. They are makers and the bikes are a way for them to channel their creativity into a physical form. Often times they create custom parts by hand - a time consuming labor of love that makes their bikes unique from factory purchased bikes and parts.
As a tribute to these makers, we are launching a series of events inspired the thousands of amazing cafe racer builders and other DIY makers of all things around the world.
Lithuania Steps Up:
The guys from Ecodumas pulled out all the stops. They found an incredible venue that was tucked away in an industrial area, put the word out to debesu lyga, local, story in the local newspaper and booked a top local rap act named Mad Money and went all in on making sure that the event went off without a hitch.
We had no idea how the event would go down but with the amount of energy the team put into every detail on production, we knew that it would be something special.
The doors opened at 7:00 PM and I have to admit we all suffered a little from to some pre-event jitters - would people show up? -That’s always a big question mark for event organizers. By 7:30 there was a line to get in and it was pretty clear that we would have a solid crowd.
Tasting Bar - Gas Station
One of the really cool ideas that the ecodumas guys brought to the table was to offer all participants free vape tank fill ups all night at the tasting bar. We had no idea how many vapers would show up so we brought 25 120ML bottles just in case. The Racer Bar was packed all night and we ended up giving out all the eLiquid from that stash - a pretty amazing stat!
Trick Comp + Tornado
Both the trick and tornado competitions were huge crowd pleasers with the top tricksters from Lithuania showing that their creative vaping.
MadMoney (Main Music Act)
MadMoney is three-person rap act based in Lithuania. They have the largest youtube plays and followers of any music group in Lithuania Based in Kaunsas, these guys killed it and brought the house down with a massive energy set.
When the lights came on at about 3:00 AM the venue was still packed with lots of smiling faces. The party went off without a hitch with the exception of a couple of lost items but that is to pretty par for the course. We'd like to say a HUGE thanks to Ecodumas, Debesu Lyga and all of the awesome folks that came out to the event.
Secret Garage Party Goes Global:
We will be expanding the Secret Garage Party events in 2017 with possible stops in Indonesia, China, Spain, Belgium, UK and and other countries where Cafe Racer has been on the market for some time and it's time to thanks all of our customers and partners for their help in making Cafe Racer a truly global brand.
Here's a little video we put together to capture the spirit of the party:
Post Party Sauna
Lithuania takes sauna seriously and after a long night of partying, it was just what the doctor ordered for the ecocumas team and a super cool way for us to experience this traditional custom. It also helped sweat out some of the alcohol from a 14 hour day/night.
National News Covers Electronic Cigarettes:
As we were getting worked at the Lithuania Sauna ( a guy literally beats you with a stick and leaves in the Sauna) the national news came and and I was able to film a short clip
This aired nationally in Lithuania in prime time on Sunday night just before X Factor - a top rated show there. Great to see that they were using Cafe Racer for the test.
That was awesome
kurt sonderegger
Author
Founder/CEO of Cafe Racer Craft E-Liquid