This was an awesome event! Special thanks to those who made it out this year to make it a success (Ralph, Matt and Patrick)!
This was a really great event. The crowds loved us (there was a kid there from last year who was asking about Rick), the players loved us, the family was very appreciative of having us on-hand.
Surprisingly, as much as I am afraid of heights, the helicopter ride in was totally awesome! I was beaming - grinning from ear to ear! Then we hit some of those turbulent Gorge winds and then I would get spooked, but other than that, the helicopter ride was a real treat! Thanks, Curt for making all of this happen!
So, basically, what we did was Vader, Scout and our unofficial 1st Air Cav/spotter escorted the family to the field, via Jeep. Everyone assembled on the field, waiting for the game ball to arrive. (The premise was that Darth Vader commissioned a bounty hunter to obtain a game ball for this event).
Those Lifeflight guys were really great! They flew over the city, and around the field (a couple of times) before I touched down. I had a couple of wardobe malfunctions along the way (one of my side holsters popped off before I got to the airfield, and one of my plates came undone). One of the crewmen fixed me up before I exited the helicopter. As I got out of the chopper, they handed me my rifle and the game ball and I was off.
I ran straight to Vader, bowed down before him and gave him the ball. He then passed the ball off to one of the refs. Because of the limited space in the helicopter, my rangefinder was already in the down position. So I side stepped Vader, spotted the kid, cocked my head a little, and walked over to him. I handed my rifle off to Ralph to hold for me, while I reached into one of my pouches to give the kid a garrison challenge coin and a couple of patches.
Needless to say, this family was touched by the exhibition. To boot, this event raised $11,325 (just from the nights take of the admission and donations). I don't know if we can tack that on to our funds raised for charity, but we were on hand for the event.
From what Curt, and a few others said, there was even more money in the bank, already. This, being their 7th year doing this event (our 2nd), was the highest grossing event to date!
This is an event that can be expected to be a yearly event for Cloud City Garrison. I would hope that more people would show up next year, as this is a very worthy cause. Sure, it is a stretch to get there, due to its location. But it is a very worth-while and noble event. We are clearly wanted and appreciated there.
The after parties are usually pretty good, too. Lots of food and drink, to the hearts content - except this year. The party location was changed at last minute, so it wasn't as good as last year. But the intent was there - the District Attorney, himself, had opened up his place for the after party. There were snacks and beer... we had some snacks and stayed for a little while. We hit Taco Bell on the way home.
All in all, a great event. To use Rick's event rating system, I would have given this a 10 out of 5 Wookiee Cookies (just for the helicopter ride and fan appreciation, alone)!
- Bill
