Niagara Grape & Wine Parade / FanForce Party

For the third year in a row members of Young Jedi Niagara are going to be participating in the Niagara Grape & Wine Festival Grande Parade. This is one of the largest parades in North America with over 200,000 people lining the streets of St. Catharines.

This event is slowly becoming Y.J.N.?s signature event every year. Each year we expand our ranks and this year is no different. We are anticipating doubling the amount of people in costume and we have also entered a truck for this year.

We have invited the participation of Star Wars fans everywhere including FanForce, the 501st and Rebel Legion. Already we expect people from as far away as London Ontario to Syracuse New York, and all points in-between. This has the potential to be the largest gathering of fans outside of a convention or movie event in all of Canada!

Here is the basic information:

The parade takes place in St. Catharines, Ontario on Saturday, September 27th, 2003, with a start time of 11:00 am.

If you want to join us, you will need to meet us at our gathering spot, 16 Gerrard St. (directions to follow) for 9:00 am. There are facilities to change into your costumes; at it is only a 5-minute walk to the parade route.

The route is about 3 km in length, and takes about 60 minutes to do once we start. You will need lots of water (that can be stored in the truck)! Children under the age of ten are not permitted to walk in the parade, but are permitted to ride in the back of the truck.

You will need a costume, to walk in the parade. If you do not have one, but still wish to walk in the parade please contact us, we do have some extras and they will only be available for fitting the morning of the parade.

Of course anyone without a costume is still invited to watch the parade and then join us afterwards for the post-parade FanForce Party. After the parade, FanForce members and the 501st/Rebel Legion is invited for food and fun held at 12 Hutchinson Court, about an hour after the parade is over. There is going to be access to a pool, and we'll provide a variety of games and munchies for you to enjoy.

We are still looking into what kind of food will be offered. If we get the number of people we are expecting to come we will most likely have dinner semi-catered. If that is the case we will be asking everyone to bring $2-$5 to help cover the cost of the food.

Please let us know if you are coming as soon as you can. This will allow us greater ease of planning for your arrival and we can try to make your participation that much more enjoyable. There is already a thread in the Niagara FanForce Forum that has a list of people that will be attending. Please head over and add yourself to the growing list, along with your real name and the costume you will be wearing. (I?ll have nametags made up for parade day.)

As of right now, I'm still only a "maybe" for the event, and as such, I haven't posted in the Niagara Forum yet.

I will if anything becomes definite.

Thanks for the invite!

You'd better come Jake

I've decided that whether I get Saturday night off or not, I'm going. I'll just have to leave earlier.

I think I may have a ride.. still unknown

Chris

Alex here from the Fan FIlm. Just sent you an email. Hopefully that will go through. Very interested in attending (with R2)

Trying to get Heath to come also.



Alex
Styrofoam Guy
ask@interlog.com

SWEET!!!

I'm at work right now, I'll get the email when I get home.

!

R2! I mean...R2s!

Comeon 1st prize!!

Well.. I'll have a costume for myself. Getting help to make Padme's Battle Outfit from AotC. Not really my favorite outfit, yet it's a good place to start. And it's the easiest one I can think of.

Thats the one Steph wants for like C3 I'd prefer Slave Leia...but...

LoL.. well, Slave Leia is a nice costume... yet it could get cold, don't you think?

maybe...maybe not

Eh if your wearing it i'm sure you could find some guys to warm you up.

And that's under estimating their reaction

Nah... no slave leia costume for me. Starting with the basics

oh, I have my Anakin style cloak almost done, I just need to hem it and a few other small bits of hand sewing and some ironing. I didn't do a lined hood though, I ran out of material. I wore it most of last night at Camp, and the tabbards do help it stay on! Now I just have to pull all the burrs out....

OOOOOhhh can't wait to see it!!!!

I'll try to get a picture for you.... Guess what Peter got me for my birthday... He had to tell me so I wouldn't go and get it on Friday when I get paid.....


I'll give you a hint, it's a book.

yes picture! picture!

Um.....Life and Times of Forest Witaker?

Which book? Visual Dictionary?

yeah, visual dictionary for Episode II. I haven't gotten it yet though, I just know that I will get it.

Hi Everyone

It looks like we are going to have a HUGE turnout for this event, which is totally awesome. We never expected this many people to come, so we are totally blown away by the postings!!

I am trying to keep up to date on the head count and making sure I have everyone's names right and costumes. Can you please check the list I have posted in the Niagara Forum, and if I am missing someone, or I have a name wrong (which I am sorry if I did but I am only human ) or if you know what you are wearing now, could you please PM me with the correct information and I will get it updated ASAP.

Here is the list I have posted so far in our forum:
Janet (Rabellaka) - Jocasta Nu
Peter -
Deb (Lelila) - Padme
Matt (Wolf) -
Alex (styrofoam_Guy) with R2 -

Thanks for your time and we look forward to seeing you!!

Debby

OK. It's official! I'm coming!

Alex talked me into it. I'll be bringing my R2 to pull along. I just need to make a cart. I don't have a costume so hopefully something will fit out of the extra pile.

I've emailed Chris, hopefully he gets it. Do I need to post in the YJN forum for it to be official?

Heath

Woohoo! Yup, it's probably best to post there
Also, Justin's girlfriend Steph is probably going to be there wearing my Jedi Costume.
I'm still set on coming, but I'm getting a lot of grief from my dad because of the holiday

Ok Thanks!

I'm doing that now

Heath

Awesome Heath!!

Just emailed you BTW