Mariposa Gala - August 2008

Ok, who is going?

I didn't think I was going to...
But then Jeff WON GOLD and is now the WORLD CHAMPION so I have to go!
It was at the Mariposa Gala that I watched Jeff for the first time back in 98 (I think?)

I'll be there! I don't usually go, as its on the other side of the country -- but I'll be on my way back from Europe, and Toronto is en route to Vancouver, so I am coming for like 24 hours lol It' s going to be realyl fun though I am sooooooooooo excited! Jamie & David are the guest skaters and they are trying to get Tessa & Scott as well. Now its really tempting isn't it?! Yea friends of mine have inside info lol There's a big group for JB.com going and hopefully all sitting together, its going to be soooo much fun!

I went for the first time last year and it was a real BLAST!! I am planning on going again this year if I can get it to work out for me!! I hope to see lots of you there

Yay Marla bought the tickets today for 15 of us from JB.com!! We have good seats!! Woo hoo I am sooo excited!!

Do you know where the seats are (SEction, Row). i want to get them with the group. I was away from jb.com for a few days and she didn't get my order request on time. However, i still want to sit with the group

Hey Sarah... the information I got was Row 6, Section 115

I hope that helps!!

I got tickets in that section..w00t..lol

YAY Sarah!!! We will meet!

yay..lol

sorry i saw that and it reminded me of jeffs mohawk..lol

skating_sarah11 wrote:

sorry i saw that and it reminded me of jeffs mohawk..lol

And so it does!! LOL!

I will miss this event yet again this year... I'm really running out of excuses since my parents live right in the city of Barrie. But alas I will be in South-east Asia until August 15! The timing didn't quite work out this year (yet again). Maybe next year...

you're like you can go there! I hope someone will post his performance on youtube, that's the only way I have to see Jeff! But I'm really really happy for all of you!

Oh man, they had to put it in the middle of the week. I'm in skating school and training for an up coming competition in Michigan, US while the Mariposa Gala is happening. Boo Hoo, I can't go see my pal skate live at the Barrie Molson Centre again this year because I'm skating myself. The costs of being a competitive adult skater who doesn't live in Barrie equals missing Jeff skate live. Not fair! Not fair!

I can't wait for our Windsor Family Credit Union Arena Centre to be ready to host the CSOI. Then I will not be missing Jeff skate because my club will cancel ice time to let us go be inspired by Jeff. By the way, it's a for sure thing that Riverside Skating Club is moving into the Windsor Family Credit Union Arena Centre this fall. I'll be skating there as I have left my former club and will be with Riverside Skating Club somehow. It's all in the works.

singerskates wrote:

Oh man, they had to put it in the middle of the week.

It's always on a Thursday night.

Its like less than 2 months away!! woohoo!!! Can't wait to see Jeff skate live again!! And of course to meet all the buttle buddies and jb.com fans that'll be there.

YAY!!!!

it's like a month away!! I'm so stoked!!! We're gonna have so much FUN!!!

damn, I wanna go sooooooo bad!

I got my photos posted:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/janetliz/sets/72157606622076485/

Thank you Janet! I had some personal things come up and I didn't end up going, so it was great to see these!

Janetliz -- where were you sitting? You probably saw us, as we were pretty obvious in our lime green shirts and glow sticks!

I have a review posted on my facebook and myspace pages, but for those of you who don't have those or who aren't my friends on them, I will post a copy of the review too. My pictures are on facebook as well - they are mostly of us Buttle Buddies, not alot of the skating, but there is one of us with Jeff and one of us with Joannie & Chris. Here is the public link:

https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=144408&l=b1312&id=510435054

and here's my review:
We got up the morning of the gala and after breakfast from Tim Horton's, we head over to Allandale Rec Centre (aka Mariposa School of Skating) to watch Jeff, Chris, and some others practice. We met our friends there and stayed for the whole hour long practice. We got to see some sneak peeks for next season! Then it was off to lunch and back to the rink for the second practice session. We got more sneak peeks there too and we got to see Jeff & Chris help each other and try to one up each other with their different jumps. It was funny, and rather entertaining to watch. Then we wandered around the rink for a while, bought the 2009 calendar before going to a friends for drinks. Then it was out for dinner and time for everything to begin!

We met the rest of our group at Casey's, which is attached to the Barrie Molson Centre where the Gala was being held. There were 16 of us total for dinner, and we were all very hyper and excited in our green shirts and outfits. We like to show our support! At around 630 we headed next door to the rink, found our seats and got ready for the show. It was a GOOD time. The MC, Kevin Frankish, saw us in our Jeff shirts and asked us if we liked him and we were like "yep" and we chatted with him for a while, and there was a man from the local paper there who asked if he could take our picture, so of course we said yes. We also saw Kurt signing some autographs, and spotted our friends across the way from us.

The show started with the novice and junior skaters, and progressed through to senior and pros, as well as the guest skaters. Kurt Browning closed the first act as a surprise guest, and did his Papa Was A Rolling Stone number, which was great. We were basically 4th row, so we had a really good view. Lesley Hawkers performance in the 1st act was good too, and she even incorporated her fall into her program. Chris Mabee started off the first act, and part of his skate even involved him skating dance with a girl. It was really fun to watch. Joannie was there and did her wicked awesome Die Another Day, which we gave her a standing ovation for, Michael Weiss did Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy), Marie & Patch did She's Always A Woman and Jamie & David did Thankful. It was just like Stars On Ice, except more skaters, so everyone only skated one number. Jeff was last to skate-- of course, cause you always gotta save the best for last - and the MC came out and told us to be really quiet to introduce the next skater. He then started talking about this group of Japanese girls that had come all the way to see Jeff, so I started making lots of noise and calling the MC over to our side where our big JeffButtle.com group was sitting so he would notice us too, which he did. Then Jeff came out and did Personal Jesus, and after giving all of us weaker hearts than we had before, we all stood up - like, the entire arena -- and gave him a standing ovation, and he did a little bit of an encore, but I'm pretty sure we'd all have been okay with more of one. Haha. I don't know what it is about that number, but it is just so --WOW! He really should make that his exhibition piece for the upcoming season. So then they did the cheque presentation and then the MC introduced all the skaters again and they came out to take their bows -- when Jeff came out at the end I couldn't even hear what the MC said it was so loud in there! Craziness.

After it was over we hung around for a while, spotting skaters, talking to friends, etc. We got a group picture of of all us that were there taken in our green shirts, and we did our cheer over by the skaters entrance -- everyone else was watching us, it was amusing. Then, as we were headed over to the doors to see if we could see Jeff, we spot John Zimmerman, David & Jamie (who waved and smiled at my friend Kristina & I!), and Marie on her cell phone. We never really gave up hope that Jeff had gone into the dinner and would come out to see us, but we walked out to our car anyway. As we're on our way, two fo my friends see a group of people all dressed up and flashes going off. They think that its Jeff, and sure enough, upon closer examination we find it to be true. So we walk over to him and when he sees us he says "Hi! How are you guys doing?" like he totally knows who we are and all that. I mean okay, so the shirts totally give us away, and we were sitting front and centre, but still. Joannie & Chris are with him too, and Joannie tells us that she saw us in the audience as we were kind of hard to miss. We mentioned to Joannie that her Die Another Day is awesome, and we told Jeff that we'd been at the rink and saw him practice his LP for next season, and that it was really good. Joannie said we got to see it before she did. I'm not sure when the skaters see each others new programs, but probably not normally until around training camp time in September. Anyways, so then we wanted pictures. There was no one else around to take them, so Joannie took one of us and Jeff, and then Jeff took one of us and Jo & Chris. It was a great moment, however brief it may have been. It felt just like hanging out with old friends. Then we went back to my friends parents house for our sleepover, and we all called our moms to tell them about our exciting night!

Friday morning we got up, had breakfast, then they dropped me off at the bus stop and we said our goodbyes, and that was that.

It was defintely a night to remember! Hurry up next year, we want to do this again!!

Does anyone recall what was said about Wendy McIntyre. I heard that the Mariposa Gala was in her memory.

Thanks for the review Charlotte.