Gd Rapids, MI 2nd Annual Star Wars Night with the Griffins --March 29, 2008

2nd Annual Star Wars Night with the Griffins is on....

http://griffinshockey.com/

Where:
Van Andel Arena
130 West Fulton
Grand Rapids, Michigan

Location: http://www.vanandelarena.com/parking.asp

When:
Sat. Mar 29th, 2008
Game time - 7:00pm
Set-up either Friday night or after 10:00am Saturday

The event will consist of:

We will be raising money for "The Grand Rapids Griffins Youth Foundation"

The Grand Rapids Griffins Youth Foundation was established in 1995 to expand the opportunities for participation in ice skating and related sports and activities, and to encourage academic excellence, community involvement and healthy lifestyles among the youth of West Michigan.

http://griffinshockey.com/community/youthfoundation/

---------------------------------------------------------

After much discussions, the date for this event is official. We got the Saturday date we hoped for... Please check your calendars and try to make this event.. I'm aware it's two weeks after the Fury hockey event in Muskegon, but that just means March 2008 will be a great month for our club, in terms of raising money for charities...

More to come on this event once we start having meetings with the Griffins people...

Meantime, please sign up!!

UPDATE------------------UPDATE-----------------------UPDATE----------------------UPDATE
Hey everybody,

We had our first meeting with the Griffins on Tuesday, January 22nd and everything appears to be good to go for the event. We're pretty much going to follow the same template we had last year, with hopefully a few "new" elements the Griffins want to implement. Kevin Curnow is the Director of Griffins Fan Experience and will once again be in charge of this event from the Griffins perspective.

I will be breaking this update into two different segments. The first segment will consist of the event elements the Griffins and I say "WILL HAPPEN". The second segment will consist of event elements the Griffins and I say 'MAY HAPPEN". Kevin has to take a list of our requests back to his bosses and see what they approve and what they deny.

So here it goes.

*WILL HAPPEN*
1. The photo booth will be located in the same area as last year's event - at the top of the escalator on the concourse. Griffins will once again provide stansions and 8-foot tables & chairs for the printers and for our 501st display area. Donavon Larabel will once again be in charge of the photo area and how it will be set up. Donavon will be responsible for assigning his photo crew. Pictures with SW characters will cost $5 apiece, just like last year. Any questions pertaining to the photo side of this event should be directed to Donavon.

2. Set-up will begin at Van Andel Arena on 3/29 around Noon-1pm. Costumers should plan on arriving at the arena around 3pm. Your name will be placed on a parking list, allowing you to park for free in a lot to be determined by the Griffins. We will be using 'Banquet Room D' again as our dressing room. Griffins will provide us with several bottled waters throughout the night, however the big spread of food may NOT happen. Kevin needs to check with his bosses to see if that's in the budget again. An update about that will be forthcoming as soon as new info becomes available. Costumers may want to plan on bringing some boxed munchies of their own, to eat throughout the night, should the Griffins choose to not supply us with the spread like last year. On game day, Kevin will be addressing the costumers at a 5pm meeting in 'Banquet Room D'. THIS MEETING WILL BE MANDATORY AND EVERYBODY SHOULD BE THERE BECAUSE VERY IMPORTANT ELEMENTS OF THE EVENT WILL BE DISCUSSED. We need to be in costume and lingering near the photo area no later than 6pm, as that's when the doors will open and patrons will be coming our way. We'll be doing pictures from 6pm-9pm just like last year.

3. Once again, the Griffins will want to use clusters of troopers at random points throughout the game. First and second period timeouts and

 

You got my Costume Support bid on this. Already two things to look forward to in '08. (Counting the Fury game, which I shall ALSO be glad to lend a Support hand in!)

 

You know Count Dooku is 100% IN!!!!
Hockey and Star Wars... what's better....??

 

You can count on me too - great time last year.

 

I'm in!!!

 

Don't forget about the Fury game on the 15th of March.

 

First post has been updated.

 

Looks good..... PM sent...

 

Anything new on this event?

 

THIS INFORMATION IS VERY, VERY IMPORTANT FOR EVERYONE GOING TO THE GRIFFINS GAME BECAUSE THESE ARE THE RULES.
Hi everyone,

Now that the Fury event is behind us, it's time to go full-steam ahead toward the Griffins hockey event on March 29th. We will be having our final meeting with the Griffins gameday operations people this Thursday. The plan is to have the PDF created, finalized and ready to be viewed/printed by next Saturday (March 22nd). We will have extra copies of the PDF on hand at the event, but I would encourage everyone to print it off, if you can, and bring it with you, as it will detail everything you'll need to know.

As of Sunday, March 16th, I have updated the committed lists for this event. The committed lists are: 501st, Rebel Legion, Fan Force costumers and the Non Costume Support staffers. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE take time to view these lists closely. You can find them within this thread. If your name isn't on these lists, and you plan to costume the Griffins event, I need to know ASAP. If your name is on these lists, and you no longer plan to costume the event, I need to know ASAP. If you're planning on bringing kids who will be costuming, significant others who will be costuming and/or working Non-Costume Support, and you don't see their names on any of those lists, I need to know ASAP.

Shannon, I will need to lean on you to make sure that Rebel Legion and Fan Force costumers know this information as well. Please check with them and make sure they get names of people to me this week.

Anybody who shows up on gameday, who wasn't on any of the lists, will probably have to pay to park and pay for a ticket to get in no matter what their role is that night. That's why it's extremely important I get ALL names forwarded on to me this week sometime.

That brings me to this statement. If you plan on bringing a wife, girl/boyfriend, sister, aunt, uncle, etc.. to this event, they MUST be NCS staffers if they're not costuming - there will be nobody getting in free to stand around. If you're bringing these people, and they do NOT plan on helping NCS the event, they MUST buy a ticket as any Griffins hockey fan would do. That way we as a group are not responsible for them. Also, if you plan on bringing little kids, please make sure they are supervised at the event by somebody. I don't want NCS staffers, or costumers, also having to run a daycare at the same time you're trying to work the event. You're either NCS/Costuming.. or you're daycare - you can't be both. I have a 3 year old so I know how tough it is to get anything done when I'm responsible for her. The same thing applies here.

If you need to purchase a ticket for the event, please go to http://www.griffinshockey.com/webticketoffer/ and order your tickets online. You'll be able to pick up the tickets on gameday at the arena.

This is extremely important stuff, folks. Let's not "abuse" our privilages at these events. The word is really starting to spread throughout the state about our Star Wars nights. The integrity of our club is on the line everytime we costume one of these games so it's imperative we make a positive impression. They won't ask us back if we're not professional. If anybody has any questions or needs some clarifications on anything detailed in this note, please PM me and I will answer to the best of my ability.

Thanks,

Brent

 

HUGE UPDATE-just going to post it here.

------------------------ MARCH 19TH UPDATE ------------------------

I have begun breaking everybody down into groups for this event. Once you find your name, that's the group you're in for the entire night. The groups will be for the "In-Game Entertainment", Walking the concourse, Second Intermission Entertainment.. Tracey Amid will be the "In-Game Entertainment Captain for this event. To make things easier for her, when it's time for entertainment, Tracey will come to the photo area and just say, "Okay, I need the Tatooine and Kamino groups." At that point, it'll be everyone's responsibility to remember which group they're in. When you hear your group called, you find Tracey and her NCS and follow her to the designated location. If you're in the middle of a photo, finish the photo then catch up with your group.

There are certain costumers who won't be in groups. Those costumers will be 'tethered' to the photo area most of the night because, based on previous events, they are popular and unique and are requested to be in the majority of the photos. For example, Darth Vader, Boba Fett and General Grievous will remain at the photo area most of the night, with the exception of Fett who will be skating during the second intermission festivities. I've also mixed in some 'face' costumers to remain at the photo area as well. We ALWAYS need to be adequately staffed at the photo area throughout the night. That's another reason why we're keeping 10/12 costumers there at all times. We can't mortgage the photo area for the in-game entertainment or concourse walking; if there are no costumers at the photo area, people won't come, and consequently money won't be generated for the charity.

I have also broken out each role for all 16 NCS Staffers. The roles will be your "primary" jobs for the evening, however expect to wear many hats if needed. These type of events can take on a life of their own sometimes so all NCS need to be ready to do whatever's asked of them.

The hierarchy for this event is as follows:

Brent Ashcroft - Event Coordinator
Jon Leopold - NCS Captain
Donavon Larabel/Imperial Officer - Photo Area Captain
Tracey Amid/Imperial Officer - In-Game Entertainment Captain
Karen Larabel/Jocasta Nu - Costumers Captain

- NCS staffers, direct all questions to Jon Leopold. Jon will delegate to Tracey when groups can walk the concourse and which group will do certain in-game entertainment.

- Costumers, direct all questions to Karen Larabel. Karen needs to know when you plan to go on break. She'll make sure you get paired with NCS to take you to and from the break room.

- Costumers, listen for Tracey Amid to call your group names at random points. When she does, that means follow her and her NCS to the designated location for some in-game entertainment.

- Photo area NCS, direct all questions to Donavon Larabel. Whatever he needs to keep that photo area running smoothly, please be willing to do without hesitation.

- If the captains can't answer a question, they can pull me aside or 2-way me on the walkie-talkies and I will do what can to assist. I will once again have a radio to be in direct contact with the Griffins people.

As always, ground zero will be the photo area. Everybody should be there to start the evening. Jon will send NCS with groups of costumers to roam the concourse to interact with fans (something we didn't do last year). Don't wander off for too long; 10/15 minutes is long enough. It'll be up to the the coucourse groups' NCS to keep track of the time and get back to the photo area.

Here's the breakdown with groups. We'll start with the costumers who will remain at the photo area for most of the event:

PHOTO AREA COSTUMERS
-------------------------------
Dave Gates - Boba Fett
Greg Johnson - General Grievous
Phil Font - Darth Vader
Susie Leopold - Princess Leia
Rob Brang - Darth Nihilus
Joel Aldrich - Jedi Knight
Scott Scharke - Qui Gon Jin
Jennifer Rodriquez - Darth Revan
Lou Rodriquez - Tusken Raider

 

Another update

Hey everybody,

We had our last planning meeting with the Griffins today, and rather than fill up the original post I thought I'd place something brief here.

I won't know anything about the "In-Game Entertainment" or the second intermission entertainment until next Thursday or Friday. There's a chance I may not get any info until gameday about it. The Griffins don't plan that stuff this far ahead. They have two more home games before our game on 3/29.. so the focus is on coordinating those games first.

Next Wednesday is our promo night.. so once that game is in the books, Kevin and his team will begin working on our event in terms of "entertainment".

The PDF will hopefully be posted this weekend. In that, you'll find all the "Meat & Potatoes" for the event, directions, when to arrive, where to park, when the pre-game meetings will be, where we're going afterwards, finalized groups and lists, etc...

If I happen to learn anything about the "In-Game Entertainment" within the next few days, I will be sure to post it.

The following costumers need to remember to bring their skates:

Jason Ujvari
Dave Gates
Robert Amid
Matt Scobey

These four costumers will be skating during the second intermission. Beyond that, I know nothing about what the Griffins want us to do. I'm not worried in the least about it. Most of us are veterans at this and like always we may have to go with the flow. That's why I decided to put people into groups. That way we just have to call the group name and people will gather and be ready to go.

It's gonna be a good one, folks.

Brent

 

That sounds awesome! Unfortunately my sister is moving that weekend and I already agreed to go visit her near Detroit that day.

I hope its a huge success. I still smile about the Jeremy Bulloch event from a while back. Too cool.

 

OH MAN... so much to read...

Thanks for the updates... great stuff guys...

 

PDF-print it off and bring it with you to the Griffins game.
http://home.comcast.net/~richard-n-lisa/2ndAnnualStarWarsNight.pdf

 

HOLY COW... 13 pages.... That'll be some night time reading for me.

 

Hopefully this is the last update for everyone.

New attendance and group list as of 12:25am Friday, March 28th...

PHOTO AREA COSTUMERS
-------------------------------
Dave Gates - Boba Fett
Greg Johnson - General Grievous
Mike Arnold - Darth Vader
Rob Brang - Darth Nihilus
Diana Furget - Imperial Officer
Scott Scharke - Qui Gon Jin
Jennifer Bowden - Darth Revan
Lou Rodriquez - Tusken Raider
Janette Rodriquez - Jawa
Dean Woodard - Jedi Knight
Bethany Wagner - Padme
Tiffany Murphy - Shadowtrooper
Drew Ploskodniak - Clone Commander Bacara
Wendy Johnson - Princess Leia
Liz Rossien - Barriss Offee


PROMO TABLE
-----------------
Jon Leopold - AT-ST Driver & NCS Captain
Shannon Trombley - Rebel Fleet Trooper/Imperial Officer


GEONOSIS GROUP
---------------------
Mike Karp - Clone Trooper
John Blizzard - Clone Trooper
Amber Hetherington - Jedi Knight
Aron Hetherington - Jedi Knight
Jason Hetherington - Jedi Knight
Matt Scobey - Count Dooku


CORUSCANT GROUP
------------------------
Steve Mitchell - 327th Star Corps Clone Trooper
Anton Wagensomer - Clone Commander Deviss
Richard Bishop - Clone Trooper
Carl Nelson - Royal Guard
Andrew Weston - Jedi Knight
Joel Aldrich - Jedi Knight


TATTOOINE GROUP
-----------------------
Jason Ujvari - Sandtrooper
Brooke Merva - Sandtrooper
Phil Font - Sandtrooper
Josh Wells - Tusken Raider
Rachel Orange - Beru Lars
Jason Orange - Owen Lars


ENDOR GROUP
-----------------
Rome Ohnui - Stormtrooper
Robert Amid - Tie Pilot
Kelli Hepler - Biker Scout
Dave Raimondo - Biker Scout
Paul Spranger - Jedi Knight
Ross Tenelshof - Stormtrooper


NCS ROLES
-------------
Lori Ashcroft - Photographer/In-Game Entertainment Assist
Matt Cole - Photo Area Assistant, Printer
Pat Dawson - Costumer Assist, Lead them to and from break room
Mike Dawson - Costumer Assist, lead them to and from break room
Lisa Bishop - Official Event Videographer
Amanda Raimondo - Manage Photo Line
Lori Ohnui - Darth Vader's Personal NCS
Nathan Arnold - Darth Vader's Personal NCS
Albert Lombard - In-Game Entertainment Assist
Jill Wallace - In-Game Entertainment Assist
Jen Ivey - In-Game Entertainment Assist
Michael Peacock - Concourse Walking NCS
Michael VanderZant - Photo Area Assist, Photo Choreographer
Terry Kolhoff - Photo Area Assist
Sudie Pozarek - Concourse Walking NCS
Charlotte Hetherington - Concourse Walking NCS
Bryan Snuffer - Official Event Photographer (Two kids will be with him at all times)



Terrell Reber can't make it so I moved Ross Tenelshof out of the Photo area to replace Terrell in the Endor group. If anybody can contact Ross to let him know this, please do. I don't know who he is or how to get a hold of him.

Couple of other updates, Jason and Tiffany, the hotel rooms will be under your names respectively at the Courtyard Marriott. Check in sometime AFTER 3pm on Saturday. If for some reason you guys have any issues with the hotel rooms, please call Kevin Curnow at the Griffins on his cell: 616-822-1285. I have nothing to do with the hotel arrangements. Kevin is your contact on that, as he was the one who set it up.

If there's anybody else travelling from a long distance for this event who still needs a place to sleep Saturday night, please PM either myself, Donavon or Blizz.

I may have one more update here at some point tomorrow so be sure to check this thread at least one more time before Saturday.

Brent

 

WHAT A GREAT EVENT!!!!

A BIG THANKS to everyone that HELPED in getting people here and there...

THANKS to the fellow costumers.... it was by FAR the best time I've had!!

I can't wait until the next one!!!
I also can't wait to see the pics and vids!!!


EDIT:
My dad just sent this link to me... it's the griffin recap of the game... and we're in it now and then, pretty cool.
http://interface.audiovideoweb.com/gplnk/ld/4615/play.html

 

Thank you to everyone who came out to help at this event.