As Paradoxos came to a rousing close with the End of the Universe Dance Party at the Pinhook last Friday evening, downtown Durham felt a bit more connected.

Or that was the plan, at least.

For the second year, Paradoxos attracted more than 1,000 people to participate in more than twenty established cultural events in the heart of downtown Durham.

Organizers were targeting more than 2,000 people across the twenty events, and seem to have missed that mark by quite a bit.

Some events barely attracted an audience, such as the “BUILD-A-PARTY” event on Thursday evening, which struggled to attract 70 participants over the course of the evening. The opening band played to what was essentially an empty tent.

“Paradoxos is still an open question,” said Chris Heivly, an organizer of Paradoxos and co-managing director of The Startup Factory.

“We would have liked to see more people for specific events,” said Heivly, “but we are obviously still building the brand.”

The big draws included Wednesday’s Jobs Under the Big Top and Thursday’s Startup Talent Show, said event organizers.

Jobs Under the Big Top, an event organized by Heivly, pulled in more than 300 job seekers and startup employees to match talent with open positions at many of Durham’s growing technology companies.

“Feedback from the Big Top event has been extremely positive from both job-seekers and employers,” said Heivly, who sent out feedback surveys on Sunday.

Employers have yet to report any hires – though many have indicated they plan to interview candidates met at the event.

Startup talent show

Thursday’s startup talent show, where ten acts competed for top honors, drew a large crowd, said event organizers. It’s an impressive feat, especially as the event started at 2:30 PM.

Performances included an attempt to break the Guinness Book of World Records mark of balloon popping by sitting on them in rapid succession, a dog-and-Frisbee show, and an individual dance performance that brought down the house.

Top honors went to Joshua J. Mills, director of Relevant Games, whose dance mashup was captured on video and quickly published to YouTube. (Can we embed the video? The link is: http://youtu.be/I448zi6Z9FY)

Other notable events

One of the best parts of Paradoxos was the High School Idea Pitch and Hackathon, said organizer Adam Klein, who also serves as chief strategist at the American Underground.

“While it wasn’t a major draw from an attendance perspective,” said Klein, “it was a huge hit.” About 70 people attended the event, which showcased nine high school teams from the Triangle and Rocky Mount, NC.

Teams pitched to an audience and were then paired with 15 entrepreneurs from the American Underground that volunteered their time and expertise to help the high school teams refine their ideas.

“The high school teams were very impressive,” said Klein, “you can tell area high schools are focusing on entrepreneurship and equipping students to pitch and present their ideas.”

Friday night’s Collider party served as an end-of-week event celebrating downtown Durham’s recent successes, and pulled in a variety of members from the community. The Collider party merged into a dance party at the Pinhook to close out the cultural festival.

Despite low numbers, a success?

But was the festival successful, given that attendance numbers were far less than desired?

The organizing team included Heivly and Klein, as well as representatives from CED, Downtown Durham, Inc., the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce, NC IDEA, the PARAGRAPH Project, and Shoeboxed.

The team plans to regroup in the next week, said Klein, “to assess and determine where we take Paradoxos.”

“The event is an important chance for the community to gather, for entrepreneurs to have visibility outside of their own bubble, and I think we’ve got some good opportunities to make tweaks and boost attendance figures next year,” said Klein.

All signs point towards a third year of Paradoxos. Organizers will go back to the drawing board to discuss strategy and implementation.

“Paradoxos feels a little like running a startup,” said Klein. Now, it’s up to organizers to iterate on the concept.