When Constance Adamopolous, founder of Organized Chaos Events, tells you, “I’ve seen some stuff,” it’s immediately clear that “stuff” spans the full breadth and depth of the human experience.
Adamopoulos, whose career in the event production business covers just about every type of event you can think of, recently wrapped up the curation and creation, along with Lara Dela Cruz, of all the front of house programming for the inaugural the Mill Valley Music Festival, the Mill Valley Chamber’s one-day, multi-faceted, all-ages outdoor arts and culture event. The event, co-produced by Noise Pop Industries, was a massive success, with a slate of phenomenal food, drink, art and activities – all to the benefit of our amazing community.
But while live music from a group of amazing bands on both the main stage and the second stage served as the main events, MVMF featured a bounty of complementary components to ensure there was fun to be had for all ages.
“Front of house programming” doesn’t quite capture the thrill of seeing the entirety of Friends Field at the Mill Valley Community Center chock full of activities, born out in the images above, including gorgeous visual art from Life on Earth Art, Tam High students and many more, as well as kid-centric activities like hair braiding, face-painting, arcade games, skeeball and roller-skating from the celebrated Church of 8 Wheels. Not to mention the Wellness Sanctuary, which had an abundance of providers making sure that attendees were feeling comfortable and even pampered on site.
For Adamopoulos, it was the latest major event in a decades-long career full of work she defines as “chaos simplified, nervous breakdown avoided.” She took on the front of house programming piece of the event after Noise Pop President Stacy Horne, with whom she worked at The Battery in San Francisco, reached out. “When you do an event like MV Music Fest, you’re bonded for life,” she says.
Adamopoulos traces her love for hospitality and events back to the Musso and Frank Grill, a landmark and the oldest restaurant in Hollywood, which was previously owned by her uncle, with whom Adamopoulos lived. Her father came to the United States from Greece and opened a burger joint in Compton. “So my dad was slinging hamburgers in Compton during the riots in the 1960s and my uncle was serving stars like Jonathan Winters, Dean Martin and Red Skelton and I got to run around in both places.”
Adamopoulos later worked as a concierge in Palm Springs for a dozen years, and considers herself an “octopus of talents.” “I love the challenge of doing unusual and interesting things,” she says.
When she moved to the Bay Area 30 years ago, Adamopoulos worked for the largest caterer in Northern California, and later immersed herself in the nascent tech industry event space, operating behind the scenes of massive productions for the likes of PeopleSoft, Oracle, TechCrunch and Salesforce. She also organizes high-end executive retreats, fundraisers, product launches and more, and has done plenty of “adult babysitting” for politicians and celebrities. “I get to venture into people’s personal lives” and “be the go-to girl when you have too much money.”
Let’s circle back to the “stuff” that Adamopoulos has seen. She once had a client who asked her to install eight dump trucks worth of manufactured snow so that his two kids could wake up to a 150-foot sled run on Christmas morning, a project that tallied a $75,000 tab 15 years ago. “I do the wacky stuff that no one else wants to,” she says with a laugh.
“I’m the logistics queen,” she says. “I know my demographic. I know the way bankers behave as opposed to how hairdressers behave. I watch people get drunk for a living.”
MORE INFO ON ORGANIZED CHAOS EVENTS’ FOUNDER CONSTANCE ADAMOPOLOUS AND HER OCTOPUS OF TALENTS.
Constance was great! Her calm, helpful and joyful presence during set up was much appreciated.