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Pan-Hellenism Weekend 2009 Wrap-Up November 30, 2009 Pan-Hellenism Weekend 2009 reminded us that sometimes all it takes is a couple of hundred out-of-towners added to the sizeable Greek young adult population here in DC, some great venues, and a couple of twists to make a great weekend. Over 475 Greek American Young Adults from over two dozen states across the country attended at least one of four great days here in DC earlier this month.
The first organized event of PHW 2009 took place early Friday evening a few blocks from the hotel at the Burke Theater at the United States Navy Memorial as Angelo Tsarouchas and Noel Elgrably took the stage for the first of two comedy shows that weekend. Despite the early start to the evening, with doors opening at 7:00 PM for a reception with a nice spread donated by AHEPA, quite a number of out-of-towners joined a few locals in making that first show a memorable one. With essentially an exclusively Greek audience in the room, Angelo Tsarouchas was able to follow Noel Elgrably with a free flowing on-demand set that was easily adaptable to that audience. With the comedy show as a lead in, Greek Night at The Muse got packed earlier than expected as the comedy show audience all cabbed or walked over to the club by 11:00 PM. Despite the fact that we had all three floors of the club and DJ Manolis and a surprise turn by DJ Mixalis both on the third floor, most everyone packed the first floor of the club to see DJs CnD from Detroit in action. With as diverse a crowd as we expected when we first envisioned opening PHW up to cosponsorship from any and all Greek-American young adult organizations, we were excited when DJs CnD launched into a mix they dubbed “Around the Greek World in 35 minutes” featuring Cretan, Pontian, and dances from all around Greece and the diaspora, each to their own pocket of cheers and dancers. It was a shame that the DJs couldn’t see that the space on the second floor allowed for even greater freedom in the line dancing that took place upstairs. By the time we stopped counting at the door we had over 400 Greek-Americans in the club making for arguably one of the best Greek Nights this town had seen in a while.
The marquee event of the weekend was the Saturday Night Semiformal Hotel Party back at the Marriott where over 250 people enjoyed the sounds of Zephyros which brought out seven performers to put on a great show that had the dance floor packed for most of the night. Our free drink promotion got people there early and those who stayed to the end walked away with a ton of leftover baklava and other Greek pastries. Sunday Night’s comedy show showcased the versatility of Angelo Tsarouchas as over half of his 75 minute set was completely different than his set of two nights earlier, treating the whole new audience (and us here at DCGreeks.com who were present for both of his shows) to a truly interactive and custom show.
We wanted to take a few moments to thank everyone who made PHW the success it was. We’d like to thank Stephanie the Intern who diligently sorted through hotel bids back in August and without whom we could never have locked down a ridiculously great deal at the Marriott for $95 a night and have been able to have the semiformal hotel party there as well. We want to thank our 14 cosponsors who did their part in promoting PHW to their friends, supporters, and alumni, particularly through adding them all to the Facebook invite, which at one point probably exceeded over 5000 people from around the country. (We hope to have twice as many cosponsors next year because it just helps add new faces to the party.) As a result of their efforts in bringing people to PHW who designated them on their registration form, we will be able to make $500 donations back to AHEPA, the Sons of Pericles, the Maids of Athena, St. Sophia’s YAL, and the Pancretan Youth of America. We want to thank AHEPA for sponsoring the receptions before each of the comedy shows, and would like to explain to everyone that the abundance of chicken on the menu in all its forms was our fault not theirs. Angelo Tsarouchas deserves a big hand for two killer performances that had both audiences laughing the whole time. We’re glad that Angelo trusted us to not promote this show like we would any other Greek comedian and that as a result he was able to just “Be Angelo” and not have to water-down his act. Noel Elgrably also deserves a hand for opening both shows and setting the mood for the night. We’d like to thank our friends at The Muse for allowing us to go all Greek all night on all three floors having to turn away their regular non-Greek clientele for the evening. We’d also like to thank ultrabar for opening the club for us on Sunday night and for letting everyone on Sunday night feel like a VIP. (We overheard the instructions given by one of the owners to his staff – “Tonight, everyone gets to sit where they want and dance where they want as well, and that means on top of tables, couches, wherever.”) We want to thank Zephyros for doing a great job as always. DJ Manolis not only played on Friday Night but during band breaks on Saturday night as well. DJs CnD deserve our thanks as always for truly loving what they do and doing it well. These guys bring energy to a weekend that is truly contagious. But we especially want to thank everyone who came out and supported our cosponsors, supported this weekend, and went back and told their friends about it. We hope to have even more people here next year as we truly were able to expose a whole new generation to all that the Greek community in DC has to offer.
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