The Tournament of Roses Bandfest featured the prizewinning bands of the 2010 Rose Parade performing the field shows that earned them an invitation to perform. Farmers’ was there also. Our volunteers handed out Farmers-branded goodies and information on our products and services to the spectators (about 3,000 people are expected to attend).

Bandfest is a Tournament of Roses tradition, held at Pasadena City College's Robinson Stadium on Dec. 29 and 30. Each band gets 12 minutes on the field to perform, showcasing their talent and prove why they were chosen to participate in this year's parade.

"We are honored to help these young musicians achieve a goal and create lifelong memories," said Chuck Browning, Farmers vice president of community banding. "As the official sponsor of the parade bands, we their partner, helping these bands raise money throughout the year to offset travel costs to get to Pasadena."

A Cut Above the Rest

"This year's Rose Parade theme was '2010: A Cut Above the Rest' and by stepping up to support these high school bands, Farmers is a cut above the rest," said Wendy Matthes, director of marketing at the Tournament of Roses. "As much as this is an honor for these bands to march down Colorado Boulevard, it gets very expensive to fly 100-200 band members, and their instruments, out to Pasadena."

Nineteen bands will march on Colorado Boulevard for the Rose Parade on New Year's Day. The bands come for 10 states, and one band is coming all the way from Guatemala.

Farmers gave each band $500 to help pay for travel expenses and Farmers agents and employees held fundraisers nationwide including a dodge ball tournament, a golf tournament, car washes, BBQs, and much more.

This is the 51st year Farmers has been involved with the Rose Parade. The Farmers float, titled "Salute to the Bands" helped kickoff the 121st Rose Parade on Jan. 1. The float payed tribute to the parade's marching bands and featured a 60-foot tall bugler dressed in marching band attire. The colorful float was surrounded by the "Farmers Insurance Band" members of the Riverside Community College Marching Band who also performed as part of the worldwide-televised opening ceremony.

Learn more about Farmers community outreach programs and auto insurance at www.Farmers.com.

Many of the bands who made it to the parade this year did with a little help from their friends at Farmers. In our first year as the Official Supporter of the Tournament of Roses Parade bands, Farmers gave each band $500 to kick-start fundraising efforts to pay for travel expenses, and Farmers just announced it would extend the same generosity to the 2011 bands. But we're not stopping there. Farmers agents, district mangers and employees across the country will be helping bands with fundraising and other support as they prepare for their big performance on New Years Day in 2011.

"We're doing this because we believe in the values and the traditions that the Tournament of Roses provides," says Kevin Kelso, chief marketing officer. "Our role as the official supporter of the Rose Parade bands gives us the opportunity to show that we support the youth of America."

Learn more about our auto insurance quotes and our Farmers community outreach programs and at www.Farmers.com.

Farmers’ High School Sports Partnership Program is a corporate sponsorship with statewide high school athletic and activity associations throughout several states in our operating territories.

Through the program, Farmers agents work with teachers, parents and administrators in their communities. This partnership is currently available in Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Utah, Washington, Colorado, Texas, Oregon and Illinois.

Tustin, Calif., agent Bob Ruddy began supporting his local school’s sports programs when his two boys (now college age) started kindergarten — and he never stopped. He’s well known locally his involvement in school sports programs that might otherwise have vanished.  Ruddy spends his Friday and Saturday nights announcing the games.  Ruddy’s active involvement made a difference for not only his own children, but the children of his neighbors as well.

When Farmers introduced its High School Partnership Program, Ruddy knew it would be a great way to get involved in his community. “Now during my announcements at the games, I’m proud to say that Farmers is a partner-sponsor of the California Interscholastic Federation,” Ruddy says.

Vootage.com

Farmers has partnered with Vootage.com as a partner in High School Sports. Vootage allows users to log on and view highlights of particular games, and even individual players. Once selected, users can download clips for a small cost.

Vootage also houses FSN PrimeTicket video clips of the Farmers Student Athlete Citizen of the Week Award. Each week, a Farmers district manager or agents presents a student with an award during a weekly televised program.

Learn more about Farmers community outreach programs and our commitment to auto insurance education at www.Farmers.com

Randy Rice, Farmers Insurance Education Programs National Manager, and Dan Winter, Farmers Director of Audio-Visual and Special Projects, received the Best Director Award for their documentary film Across the Waves, Voices from the Asian-Pacific American Community. The award was presented by the Chashama Film Festival in New York City. This year, the festival received more than 2,000 films from filmmakers in 32 countries. The Best Director Award category includes features, documentaries, animation, short and full-length films.

Across the Waves chronicles the emotional journeys of Pacific-Asian immigrants who fled their homelands to seek the American dream. Featured in the film are some of the most influential figures in the Asian-Pacific American community: Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, United States Congressman Mike Honda, NASA Space Shuttle astronaut Sunita Williams and famed civil rights activist Angela Oh.

Across the Waves is one of several educational DVD programs that Farmers agents provide to schools free. Besides showing community leadership, agents are also able to use the programs to develop relationships with schools and promote the Farmers brand.

The Best Director Award is Across the Waves' third film festival award this year. The documentary has also won the Platinum Remi at the Worldfest Film Festival in Houston in April and the Grand Festival Award at the Berkeley Film Festival last month in Berkeley, Calif.

Learn more about Farmers community outreach programs and auto insurance at www.Farmers.com.

Farmers has partnered with Vootage.com as a partner in High School Sports. Vootage allows users to log on and view highlights of particular games, and even individual players. Once selected, users can download clips for a small cost.

Vootage also houses FSN PrimeTicket video clips of the Farmers Student Athlete Citizen of the Week Award. Each week, a Farmers district manager or agents presents a student with an award during a weekly televised program.

The Farmers journey began in 1928, when two men who shared a dream of providing a quality insurance product at a reasonable price opened the doors to the Farmers Automobile Inter-Insurance Exchange in Los Angeles. In the eighty years that followed, we've grown and adapted to meet the changing needs of Americans - but one constant has remained. We have an unwavering commitment to upholding the ideals with which we began by providing industry-leading products and services to the customers we're privileged to serve.

Today, Farmers Insurance Group of Companies is the country's third-largest insurer of both private Personal Lines passenger automobile and homeowners insurance also provides a wide range of other insurance and financial services products. Farmers operates primarily in 41 states across the country through the efforts of approximately 20,000 employees. Farmers exclusive and independent agents, along with Farmers employees, are responsible for servicing more than 15 million customers.

For more than eight decades, Farmers has been helping Americans get back where they belong after life's unexpected events. Our story began with the simple goal of insuring the vehicles of rural farmers, but as the world changed, so did we. Our co-founder John C. Tyler once said, "The measure of our worth is not what we have done for ourselves, but what we have done for others." Farmers agents, district managers and employees make up what we call the Farmers Family, and as a family we're proud to give back to our communities.

Learn more about Farmers community outreach programs and our commitment to education at www.Farmers.com.

Farmers Insurance has launched this social site and blog at communityoutreachagents.com to showcase their agents involvement in their local communities. Farmers and its agents sponsor high school sports events, provide scholarships for students, hold safety seminars and much more. They would love to hear from you and how a Farmers agent has helped to make your community a better place to live. They will highlight events and examples of Farmers agents making a positive impact in communities across the country.

Any info at http://farmers-search.net/search?sitesearch=farmers.com&q=community&sa=Search&domains=farmers.com