Can't Stop the Serenity, Salt Lake City 2017
Once again, the Utah Browncoats gathered for our annual fundraising event, Can't Stop The Serenity.
This year, we were able to kick off the weekend again with a special Friday night Cosplay Karaoke at the very popular fandom-friendly bar - The Union (Formerly Scofy's) - with a fun night of "Space Western" cosplay and Browncoat singalongs of "The Hero of Canton" and "The Ballad of Serenity". The Utah Browncoats are famous for our lavish prize drawings, and the night was no exception, with over 40 unique fandom and Firefly items given away.
We greatly appreciate Bill and Neff and everyone at The Union for their sponsorship and support of our Can't Stop The Serenity event.
On Saturday, we were once again splitting our main event between two locations, with a screening at Brewvies at 1:30 pm, followed by the very lively auction and prize drawing at Legends next door at 3:30.
We had some special extras this time around, with Utah Browncoat Mark Woodring of the My Own Little Shadow blog bringing his custom car "Mal the Mini" to the event screening for photo ops and admiration. Mark has put a great deal of work and thought into making his machine the Browncoat mascot to be seen with in Utah, and our attendees reported many fun selfies and photos with Mal.Another fun bit of interactivity came after the attendees had checked in, they were then able to be "sorted" into our Guilds of the 'Verse and received a themed swag bag and button matching their Guild assignments. And by "sorted" we mean that in the most fandom-mash-up way, as our talented co-organizer Anastasia had created a "Sorting Hat of Jayne" that everyone wore to be inducted into their Guild.
Once the Guild inductions were completed and everyone had gotten their food and drink, we filled the theater and enjoyed the event pre-show, starting with our sponsor slideshow, and our esteemed William in his traditional role as emcee. We also had the video singalongs of "The Hero of Canton" and the "The Ballad of Serenity" created by the very talented Maggie. Right before the Big Damn Movie, we showed the introduction videos showcasing Browncoats from around the world.
Following the movie, we continued the festivities next door at Legends, an option which we first tried out with last year's event, and which continues to be a popular way of extending the celebration.
We had prepared a special Big Damn Heroes tribute to our loyal Captain William Pace, that unfortunately had to to be rushed at the beginning of our after-party as he was called in to work. We presented him with a customized wooden plaque which had a carving of his very fine hat, and the famous lines from Firefly:- If you can't run, you crawl
and when you can't crawl -
when you can't do that,
you find someone to carry you
Following the tribute, the auction and prize drawings got underway, and more than a few ferocious battles ensued. The most coveted items included the beautiful wooden items created by Rebel Rousing Props and some Cargo Crate items generously donated by Geoff Mandel. We also gave away signed items and so much more.
At the conclusion of the event, we awarded the Guild Master medal to Keegan Briggs, who won the Guild Conclave contest we ran during the 2017 Salt Lake Comic Con FanX.We greatly appreciate all of our sponsors who helped make this year's event so very special. Please take a moment and help us thank them for their contributions.
Alamexo Mexican Grill
Brewvies Cinema Pub
Geoff Mandel / Firefly Cargo Crate
Karen Hallion Illustration
Legends Sports Bar & Grill
Rebel Rousing Props
The Union / Scofy's
Watchtower Cafe
Finally and definitely last but not least, we are so pleased to announce that our 2017 events have generated $4.800 in donations, split between Equality Now and Kids Need to Read.
Please note that while these are "check" graphics, the numbers at the bottom represent, in order - the date of the event, the attendee count and address, and finally 801 and 501c3 for our Utah area code and nonprofit status. They do not in any way tie in to our actual financial accounts. Thanks!