When the Eleven Dubgate's tailgating plot unexpectedly fell victim to a Columbus City ordinance late this summer we were left scrambling for any way to properly hold our signature annual event.
After all, it was the Penn State game, a night game - and an alternative uniform game. The spots anywhere near campus that could accommodate a function the size that we were accustomed to throwing were all taken months earlier. Fortunately our friends at Hamptons on King opened their doors to us and the Black Saturday Banger was born.
The food and drinks were discounted for 11W readers with that money - as well as donations at the door and raffle ticket sales from our event hostesses - going toward our long-time partner DownSyndrome Achieves. You raised over $3,000 in total, mostly in dollar bills, with every cent going toward the charity.
And we all had a blast doing it.
So @KarateCowboy came by the Banger with a samurai sword that has shots in it pic.twitter.com/P6RPKLTbiq
— 11W Events (@11Wgate) October 17, 2015
We would like to thank Matt McLeod - that's Gray Box to users of the site - for opening Hamptons doors to our readers. Our hostesses Ana, Morgan, Rachel, Katelyn, Andrea, Aloiya, Carrie and Kasie (who dominate the photoset above) did most of the heavy lifting from a fundraising standpoint on Saturday. That team was put together by Alisha Hanks and Allison Wiley.
The 13th Warrior filled the bar with great live music. Thank you, Joey Sexton and Shane Arnett.
Thanks to our gracious sponsors Hamptons, New Belgium/Fat Tire, Chillwave Energy Drink, Cellar Dweller, Karate Cowboy, Land Grant Brewing, CaJohn's Fiery Foods, Ohio Taproom and US Bank. Also big ol' shout-outs to Buckeye greats Dick LeBeau, the KKPsi Eta Chapter and The Best Damn Band in the Land for donating raffle items.
Thank you to the good people at DownSyndrome Achieves: Mark Weitzel, Jamie Maag and Harold Smith, Marc Lewis, Brian Stroflinsky, Wendy and Darron Calhoun, Elaine Pierce, Lito Ramirez and Steve Shoemaker for their help.
Finally, it's our pleasure to announce that the launch of the first ever centralized and dedicated biobank for Down Syndrome research will take place on Thursday, Dec 10 at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Research Building III. This advancement in medical research was made possible in part due to 11W readers who attended the Banger and the Eleven Dubgate. You're making a difference and paying forward.
It was great seeing you this weekend. We'll see you again soon!
You can make a donation to DownSyndrome Achieves by following this link.
