NEW YORK and PHILADELPHIA—The Long Reach Long Riders and the ESTA Foundation will once again hold their annual raffle to benefit Behind the Scenes at the USITT conference. This drawing will be held on March 21, 2009 at the Behind the Scenes booth (#1321) on the trade show floor of the USITT Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. Tickets, which are $5 each or 5 for $20, may be purchased at the booth throughout the show. Twelve raffle prizes have been donated by: Altman Rentals (ghostlight), Barbizon ($250 gift certificate), Field Template (SoftSymbols and Field Templates), Le Maitre Special Effects (Radiance Hazer), Live Design (Broadway Master Class), Nolan Engineering Services (Seminar by Shawn Nolan), Sapsis Rigging (Safety Seminar by Bill Sapsis), USITT (2010 Conference registration), Utah Shakespearean Festival (three pair of theatre tickets), Vectorworks (Spotlight with Renderworks), and Vincent Lighting Systems ($250 gift certificate).
All proceeds of the raffle go directly to The ESTA Foundation's Behind the Scenes program, which provides entertainment technology industry members with grants for emergency situations, such as serious illness, injury or death. For more information about Behind the Scenes, to donate, or to apply for a grant, visit: www.estafoundation.org/bts.htm .
Additionally, the Long Reach Long Riders welcomed new additions to the roster of riders for their 2009 charity motorcycle ride. Sam and Kacey Fisher, of Fisher Theatrical in Hanover, Md. will be joining returning veterans and the other new riders to help raise funds for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and the ESTA Foundation's Behind the Scenes program. This will be the 6th annual ride for the group. What started out as a one-time ride has blossomed into a yearly event which has raised over $170,000.00 in the past five years.
This year's ride begins on July 31 in Richmond, Virginia and ends August 6th in Dahlonega, Georgia. In between will be a leisurely ride through the beautiful Smokey and Blue Ridge Mountains as well as trips on the Blue Ridge Parkway and the famed Dragon's Tail in Robbinsville, NC.
To date there are 14 bikes and two chase cars registered for the ride. There are eight Harley Davidsons, three Hondas, one BMW, one Kawasaki and a Buell. The riders hail from Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky, Washington DC, Maryland, New York, British Columbia and England. David and Brenda Edelstein, of London, England, are making it a family affair by bringing their kids, Henry and Lucy along for the ride. Rumor has it they'll all take turns riding behind David on his Electra Glide.
Greg Williams, who shares this years' Ride Marshaling duties with Alice Neff, and Moe and Christine Conn, noted "We're thrilled to have Sam and Kacey on the ride and hope that more people will also decide to ride with us. The more people we have the more money we raise. It'll be more fun too."
For more information about the Long Reach Long Riders and joining the ride, making a donation or sponsoring an event along the route, please visit www.lrlr.org,
