5th Annual BeadQuest Mardi Gras Celebration to Take Place February 16, 2013 in Chicago's Wrigleyville Neighborhood

CHICAGO, IL, February 11, 2013 (Press-News.org) Festa Parties, a Chicago-based event planning company known for its festive events including TBOX, The Twelve Bars of Xmas in Wrigleyville, will be holding its 5th annual BeadQuest, a Mardi Gras themed pub crawl taking place on Saturday, February 16th, 2013. The 5th edition of this gala party and cultural event will once again bring a taste of the "Fat Tuesday" tradition to the north side of Chicago. Festa Parties has been planning and organizing great Chicago party events since its first TBOX way back in 1996.

BeadQuest originated in February of 2009 in collaboration with the iconic Wrigleyville establishment,Murphy's Bleachers. Following the success of the 13th TBOX in 2008, Murphy's owners approached Festa Parties with the idea of another event in the mid-winter timeframe to help fill the dreary void in the calendar after the Super Bowl ends and before the Chicago St. Patrick's and March Madness festivities begin. And thus, the idea for a bead-collecting scavenger hunt type event was born, one in which participants would collect numbered beads at each of nine stops, while reveling in a Mardi Gras type atmosphere, even if there's a foot of snow on the ground! "BeadQuest has become a great new Chicago tradition and something that many, many of our fans enjoy as a great mid-winter break. Back in the old days, we wouldn't see people for another year until the next TBOX, but adding BeadQuest and our other events, Cover Your Bases, and Everyone Gets Lei's, has really helped us make some great new friends and provide our customers with quarterly fun events to look forward to," exclaims Christopher Festa, Owner and Founder of Festa Parties. Dave Hause, the General Manager of Red Ivy was also enthusiastic about the event, "It's been a pleasure to work with Festa Parties over the last 6 years during their great events including TBOX, BeadQuest, and Cover Your Bases! They bring in a lot of business during some of the slower times or when there wouldn't normally be a lot of business. They do a lot for the community and we are really looking forward to BeadQuest."

Held in the Wrigleyville / Lakeview area, more than 33 restaurants and taverns will be participating in the event which will feature the distribution of over 40,000 beads, including the nine sets of numbered beads that the celebrators will seek to collect each hour. Also, Festa Parties encourages everyone at their events to dress in festive holiday-themed gab. Observers can expect to witness a panoply of outrageous Purple, Gold, and Green outfits, headgear, and accoutrements throughout the day. The event concludes with a Karaoke party back at Murphy's Bleachers where a photography station will be set up for those who successfully collect all nine beads to have their picture taken and enter a Facebook contest to win valuable prizes. Prizes include Cubs rooftop tickets and gift certificates to the local establishments.

Miller Lite has sponsored Festa's events since 2003, and will once again be a sponsor for BeadQuest. Beam Global Products has also signed on to be a BeadQuest sponsor. These events attract a very wide and diverse crowd, including suburbanites, and folks from across the country around the world! BeadQuest attendees can receive a 15% discount on the rates at Red Roof Inn in Downtown Chicago, a historic 15-story high-rise in a prime location, one block east of Michigan Avenue, 6 blocks from Navy Pier, John Hancock Observatory, and the Red Line "L" subway.

In line with its growing popularity and increased attendance at events, Festa Parties will be investing even more in safety, crowd control, and operations for BeadQuest 2013. Festa has contracted with established local firms Chicago Special Events Management and Safeguard Resoruces to assist with neighborhood cleanup and customer safety and comfort issues. Meetings with local police and city government have also been included in event preprations. Returning attendee Antoinette Romero stated, "BeadQuest was my first Festa Parties event. I have always found their process from beginning to end to be very efficient and organized. The staff has always been very informative with what I could expect from beginning to end. I enjoy the excitable festivities and creativity of their events all within a safe environment to spend time with old friends and also meet new friends."

In addition, in 2012, Festa Parties became a member of the Central Lakeview Merchants Association. The CLMA is an organization whose primary goals are to "stimulate the neighborhood's economic growth, enhance its natural beauty, and promote (the area) as a world-class tourist destination", fitting strongly with Festa's values. "In the past 5 years, over 20% of our event attendees have come from outside of Chicago, and many have told us that they've been frequent return customers to the Lakeview taverns, restaurants, and shops they discovered during our events," added Christopher Festa.

Besides sponsoring and participating in the CHICAGO Dance Marathon, Christopher Festa, has found an additional way to help the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. A table at O'Malley's Liquor Kitchen will be run by volunteers collecting donations. For those who donate $10, they will be awarded with a limited pair of TBOX glasses that were made and provided by Festa Parties. In addition, a special "2nd Chance Table" will hold a small amount of each of the numbered beads that were handed out throughout the day. With a donation to the CHICAGO Dance Marathon, BeadQuest attendees have the opportunity to get a numbered bead they may have missed earlier.

Festa Parties is looking forward to continuing producing the lively and popular events like TBOX, BeadQuest, and Cover Your Bases and contribute extensively to the local charities and community organizations.

Festa Parties is a Chicago-based company that produces lively and popular events like TBOX, BeadQuest, and Cover Your Bases. We also contribute extensively to local charities and community organizations.

For further information, please visit: http://www.festaparties.com