On Sunday 5th May 2019 fans began to gather at the holiday Inn for the Events day of the Fame Family Experience. A great day was planned with the Cast Q&A, Loretta Chandler Q&A, Erica Gimpel video Q&A, Carol Mayo Jenkins video Q&A, a live link up with David Greenlee and the Fame Quiz.
The first event was the cast Q&A but they were running late so we could start on time. This caused problems as some people were only attending certain events and the schedule was out the window from the very start.
When the cast arrived host Tom Urie had us sing "Starmaker" to welcome the cast into the room. Sadly Lee who had been ill all week messaged me the night before to say he wasn't going to be able to attend. He was resting his voice so he would be able to perform ion the concert later that day. Also Valerie was running a little later than the rest of the cast and arrived a few minutes after them.
Still it was great fun as the cast answered the fan questions and giving us a chance to get up close and personal. There were laughs and tears throughout the Q&A. Some fans were a little overwhelmed and when Paul and Carlo said their fondest memory of Fame was being with the fans that morning.
As the rest of the cast left Loretta stayed so we could get a one on one chat with her and get to know her better. For many U.K. fans Loretta was perhaps not that well known as her episodes weren't shown by the BBC but I have to say she is such a warm and bubbly person who quickly won the fans over. For me personally meeting Loretta and watching her perform was the highlight of the whole weekend. I'd met the rest of the cast with the exception of Paul before. Loretta was just so thankful to have been part of the reunion and it was lovely to see. After the Q&A she and I had a moment where we just hugged and cried.
We were plagued from technical problems throughout the day and our Audio and visual person decided just not to show up so that certainly added to my stress. Erica's Q&A was next and there were issues with the play back of that video but it was really informative and great to have Erica part of the day. Everyone who attended should have received the links to watch Erica's video without the video playback problems.
Then was Carol's Q&A which we actually ran twice, once during the lunch break for the people who were only attending that event and then after lunch for everyone else. Carol is wonderful and her Glitter wars story is just so funny. People can access both Erica and Carol's videos by making a donation tom Claire House. Contact me for details.
We also had a video from fame dancer Rocker Verastique which was great fun and out memorial video dedicated to the fans, cast and crew that we lost. Plus there was little promo we made with Debbie Allen. Sadly we weren't able to get Debbie to do it especially for us but this was the next best thing and Debbie's cardboard cut out was on hand throughout the day for people to pose for photos with.
Due to the schedule going out of the window our quiz was cut short but we still had fun testing the fans knowledge.
We then went to David Greenlee's live link up. Which sadly again we had issues with the internet connection freezing but we were so happy for him to join us.
After the answers to quiz questions the event came to a close. With everything that had gone wrong I was stressed out beyond belief and in desperate need of a drink but so many people thanked me saying they had had such a good day that made me feel so much better.
I'd like to thank all the cast who took and helped make it a great day. A special thanks to Tom Urie for hosting the events and just being a wonderful person. Also to Michael Kane my wonderful partner, right hand man and my rock. I'd have fallen completely apart without you guys. Most of all a huge thank you to the fans who supported the event, who hugged and brought me tears with your kind words.
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