Lake Erie Gala 25th Anniversary

The Erie Sisters and Brothers hosted another successful Lake Erie Gala at the Sheridan Bayfront Hotel from November 13th through the 17th, 2024. This year, we celebrated our 25th annual Lake Erie Gala with 90 beautiful ladies, their spouses, significant other/supporters! The Lake Erie Gala attracts crossdressers, transgender persons, and their loved ones from across North America and beyond our borders.

Our theme this year was a 'Red Carpet Affair,' so all our participants donned their best Glitz, Glam, and High Fashion. The fun-filled week started with a Welcome to the Gala and a Bang party. Where they enjoyed a Setting Sailer Buffet and Soup station, the potato soup was especially a huge hit as the staff couldn't keep the serving pot filled.

Thursday morning, 30 gals hopped on the bus for a guided morning tour of the Historic Warner Theater, followed by a delicious lunch at Luminary Distillery and Eatery, where they also toured the behind the-behind-the scenes. That evening, we all sat down to a fine-plated dinner. DJ Brittany spun the tunes for our dancing pleasure for the rest of the night.

This year, we started a fun new activity called a "Bingo Scavenger Hunt". We enlisted several brick-and-mortar shops such as Romolo Chocolates, Pressed Coffee House, Buona Cucina Oils and More, The Sassy Peacock, Lollie & Co., The Colony Pub and Grille, Relish Jewelry Retailer, Great Lakes Popcorn Co., Pop Luck Gourmet Popcorn and all our Gala vendors Beth McKinley from Allied Financial Group, Bobbie Czerwinski a Mary Kay Beauty Consultant, Jodie Turri with Touchstone Crystal by Swarovski, Antonio and Diane with Award Solutions, Lisa Tomlinson and Dr. Sarah Carter from iAesthetic and Author Jane B. Lee. Jane. The idea was to visit all the enlisted vendors, who received a charm to be placed on the bracelet provided. It turned out to be a big hit as 3 participants completed the full board and had a beautiful bracelet to take home and won a special prize.

The ladies boarded the 2 buses for a trip to the Erie Station Dinner Theatre on Friday. There, they dined and laughed hysterically at the performance of the Canterbury Feast. If you have never visited this venue before, you missed out on one hell of a show. An extra fun fact: in between the acts, the Actors and Actresses serve the dinner courses.

Saturday night was our big event with our Red-Carpet Affair-themed dinner. The hysterical entertainment was provided by Paul and Ryan from WNY'S Hi-Octane Dueling Pianos. Our ladies totally nailed the catwalk as they entered our ballroom on the red carpet lined with red velvet ropes. Diane Crow, Portraits by Diane Crow, once again knocked it out of the park with her beautiful pictures of the girls entering under the silver balloon arch and the paparazzi station was hopping with ladies waiting to have their pics independently taken by their friends. I need to give a special shout out to Liz Millspaugh for once again making the over-the-top amazing cake for us.

Photos

Also view photos here.