Red Frog Events

Red Frog Events

Type	LLC
Industry	Event Planning
Founded	Chicago, IL (2007 (2007))
Founder	Joe Reynolds Ryan Kunkel
Headquarters	Chicago, IL, United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Joe Reynolds Ryan Kunkel
Website	www.redfrogevents.com

Red Frog Events, LLC is a privately owned (one member LLC with Joe Reynolds as the sole member) event production company based in Chicago, Illinois. The company's events include Great Urban Race, Warrior Dash, Iron Warrior Dash, Urban Warrior Dash, Beach Dash, Red Frog Bar Crawls, Firefly Music Festival, Farm to Fork, American Beer Classic, and Candy Cane Express.

History

Great Urban Race

Mirroring the television show The Amazing Race, Joe Reynolds organized and launched Great Urban Race, LLC and hosted the first race on September 15, 2007 in Chicago.^[1]

In December 2008, Reynolds brought on four Event Coordinator interns ("Tadpoles") and moved the business from his dining room into an office in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood to help keep up with planning and organizing Great Urban Race.^[1]

Birth of Warrior Dash and Red Frog Events

In 2009, Ryan Kunkel, joined Reynolds to expand Great Urban Race and develop new events. In the summer of 2009, the first Warrior Dash was held in Joliet, IL.

In 2009 Reynolds renamed the company Red Frog Events, LLC.^[2]

A New Office and New Events

In 2010, Red Frog Events moved from their Lincoln Park office to their current location on 320 West Ohio Street.^[3]

On November 13, 2010, the first Beach Palooza was held at Daytona Beach, FL. The running series was then re-branded as Beach Dash to maintain consistency with their Warrior Dash race series.^[4] The series proved to be a failure in the US and was sold to an Australian event company.

In 2011, Red Frog Bar Crawls were launched. The first event, a Halloween costume bar crawl called Nightmare on Clark Street, occurred on October 15, 2011 in Chicago. Snow Day in Washington D.C. was the next in the series, on December 17. Two more bar crawls were introduced in 2012, Bright 'N' Tight in San Diego, California, and Derby Days in Charlotte, North Carolina.

In 2012 the Firefly Music Festival was launched in Dover, Delaware, bringing in over 60,000 attendees for the three-day festival. The headliners included The Killers, Jack White, and The Black Keys.

In 2012 Farm to Fork, a 'farm style dinner,' took place on September 22 at McDonald Farm in Naperville, IL. Farm to Fork is now defunct.

In 2013 Red Frog launched three new events. These were: Iron Warrior Dash, which is a longer (12+ miles) version of their Warrior Dash race series, Urban Warrior Dash, which is an urban version of their Warrior Dash race series, and Illuminite Run, which is a night time run featuring lights and EDM music. The Illuminite Run proved to be a failure as their one event in Brooklyn, NY had low registration numbers. These three launches proved to be a failure and are now defunct.

In late 2013 and early 2014, Red Frog launched two new events: The Candy Cane Express, which is a train ride around the Chicago area that features milk and cookies, and the Bacon Chase, which will premiere in Atlanta, GA on March 22, 2014. It is a 5k and .05k untimed run that includes unlimited bacon, a Bloody Mary, and a tacky t-shirt.

Events

• Great Urban Race is an urban scavenger hunt that is held in cities across the United States. In a typical race, teams solve twelve clues and complete a variety of tasks while exploring the city. In 2011, there were 37 U.S. qualifying races and a qualifying race in Australia and Canada. The championship race was held on November 12, 2011 in New Orleans, LA. There was a total of 21 races across the country in 2012, with the championship race being held in Las Vegas, NV on November 10.
• Founded in 2009, Warrior Dash is an obstacle race and mud run. Participants compete in a three to four mile run through about twelve obstacles. All participants receive a free beer, if they are of legal age, and can participate in the after-party, which is involves music, food, and beer. Since the inaugural race in 2009, Warrior Dash has expanded to Australia and Canada. Their launch in the UK was cancelled in 2012 due to low registration numbers.
• The Beach Dash (formerly Beach Palooza) was launched by Red Frog Events in 2010. Similar to the Warrior Dash, this event is a 5K race with 12 obstacles along a beach. Red Frog Events has hosted 11 Beach Dash runs across the nation. Because of low registration numbers in the US, Red Frog sold the event name and concept to an Australian events company in 2012.
• On October 15, 2011, Red Frog Events hosted its first Red Frog Bar Crawl, Nightmare on Clark Street, in Chicago, IL. Nightmare on Clark Street visited six Halloween decorated bars in Wrigleyville that provided exclusive access and red beer to all participants. Snow Day in Washington D.C., Bright 'N' Tight in San Diego, CA, and Derby Days in Charlotte, North Carolina, were the following events put on by Red Frog Events.
• Firefly Music Festival is a music festival in Dover, DE. The festival lasts three days and features musical performances, dining and entertainment at the Dover International Speedway, which is transformed into a festival area featuring four stages called The Backyard, The Porch, The Lawn, and Firefly Stage. The 2012 lineup featured The Killers, Jack White, The Black Keys, John Legend, The Flaming Lips, Ok Go, Young the Giant, and Cake.
• The Farm to Fork is a (now defunct) farm dinner in Naperville, IL. Each course is prepared by a chef mostly using ingredients found on the farm and paired with alcoholic drinks (either beer or wine). The inaugural Farm to Fork featured chef and Chicago native, Valerie Bolon. Farm to Fork took place on September 22 at Naperville's McDonald Farm which is also home to The Conservation Foundation as well as the Green Earth Institute.
• Iron Warrior Dash is a (now defunct) longer version of their Warrior Dash race series.
• Urban Warrior Dash is an (now defunct) urban version of their Warrior Dash race series that takes place downtown in major metropolitan areas.
• Illuminite Run is a (now defunct) night time run featuring lights and EDM music.
• Candy Cane Express is a holiday themed train ride through various parts of Chicagoland that features milk and cookies.
• The Bacon Chase is a 5k and .05k un-timed run that features bacon.

References