If you are familiar at all with the Queen City Roller Girls, you have surely heard that our league knows how to throw an after party – and the “Queen City Roller Girls’ Birthday BASH!” held on April 2 certainly lived up to the reputation of stellar parties!
This special occasion was held at the historic Riviera Theater in North Tonawanda, NY. What an amazing backdrop for the celebration of our league’s 5th birthday! Guests to this free event were able to find a comfortable seat, munch on popcorn as well as other traditional movie treats and enjoy a cold beverage while watching five years of QCRG highlights as they played on the silver screen! From the reaction of the crowd, it was easy to tell they really enjoyed seeing the hits of the past as they played out to the rockabilly sound track of The Lower Town Trio. Fans and teams cheered and pointed to the screen as they relived all the glorious moments of the league’s past and present. League members experience the thrill of finding Keith Hughes’ (aka Mr. Fit) highlight reel online the week after a bout and watching to see who “made the cut” and is memorialized for all to see … and seeing those highlights projected onto the big screen was a definite highlight of the evening! Many of QCRG’s retired skaters had attended the bout in their uniforms and came to the birthday bash too. Hearing the excitement of fans getting to see new and retired skaters was wonderful. As was hearing the occasional bursts of applause when a big hit happened or seeing the celebrations of past victories on that larger-than-life screen made the venue the perfect setting! Being in the crowd watching those highlights was much like welcoming back an old friend and it gave us the opportunity to thank everyone for all they have done.
League members got to again enjoy food donated by JJ’s Pizza Planet located on Payne Avenue in North Tonawanda. Justin, co-owner of JJ’s, has been a sponsor of QCRG’s for over a year – making food donations to several past events including our 2010 Halloween Party and after parties. His pizza is always a hit with our league members as well as our fans! All of our sponsors are fantastic and we are so thankful for their help for this event, all of our past events and all the future ones too!
Sprinkled into the evening was Eye Candy, a local contemporary burlesque troupe, who provided entertainment during the party – dancing to several Lower Town Trio songs. Rockabilly music never looked and sounded so good, especially when league members took to the orchestra pit to sing and dance with the trio too! Of course, whenever they play they have a member of our league right up front – our own Statman is 1/3 of trio! They have played during halftime at bouts, played last year after our championship bout and other parties for a couple of years – they are definitely a league favorite as well as a favorite of our fans!
But the highlight of the evening would be the speech given by Jason Isla – the man who literally keeps our league rolling. He spoke of the trials and tribulations, victories and learning opportunities that have shaped our league. Jason tirelessly works for the betterment of our league – whether that is updating our website, making sure things are running smoothly at all of our bouts or enforcing the bylaws voted into effect by league members – he has been helping since the beginning to guide the league as it has grown and evolved. His speech revealed that his involvement started innocently enough when his wife, Red Fox, started skating with the league and they realized they needed more help. When asked if he would become a skating official, Jason said – well, we can’t quote him directly on what he said – but lucky for us when he knew his skills weren’t on skates, he didn’t shy away from diving into the much tougher world of being involved in all the behind-the-scenes, never ending jobs that need to be done when it comes to running a league. In his speech, he mentioned how lucky his is to be involved with us – but this is the one point he got wrong. In this skater’s opinion, we are the lucky ones. Jason always strives to be fair and impartial for the league and its members – being in the position he is in, he could easily push the league to follow what he feels is the direction we should go, but instead he advises, listens and follows the lead that the league votes on going in. We are extremely lucky to have him as one of our own – just like we are lucky to have Diamond ChrushHer and Sissy Fit sitting on our board too. They are the force behind QCRG that keeps us moving and growing.
And, we are also extremely lucky to have Kari – aka Mama Chops. As most know, Kari came to the league as the loudest supporter of her kids – Lamb Chops and Senor Weiner. She is the lovely lady, who with her lamb chop in hand, sits front row and screams above everyone else in the crowd whenever her daughter is playing for either the Nickel City Knockouts or the Lake Effect Furies. But even when her daughter is playing, she is the loudest supporter of every girl or guy who laces up skates. And, she is the reason we are known for our stellar after-parties! Kari’s tireless work as our Events Committee Chair is why our after parties are so well known! She may not skate, but her heart definitely belongs to QCRG! If you think attending one of our bouts is fun, you should definitely check out a Mama Chops after-party!
Photo compliments of B-17 – member of Nickel City Knockouts and photographer extraordinaire! To see more pictures visit: https://www.qcrg.net/qcrg-5th-birthday/