My Outlander In The City Experience: From the Frontlines
There have been many blogs/articles written about the Outlander in the City event held in New York City on June 3rd of this year. It’s been about a month and I was hoping to debut my website with a blog based on my experience a lot sooner. Well it has taken a little longer to get this up and running but I decided one more in person fan perspective can’t hurt, right?
Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect having only attended previous events hosting only one cast member at each. This event was hosting 7 plus a special mystery guest, so 8 total Outlander cast members in one place with over 250 overzealous fans attending. This could’ve been a chaotic crazy disaster had it not been run so efficiently and amazingly well by the organizers… Outlander Homepage, Outlander Forever fan groups, which included such fabulous people as Bonnie Turbush, Liz Mercado, Carole Braun, Dorianne Panich, Laura Michelle and Lisa Michelle Woody. Many fan group admins also volunteered their time to run raffles and help the guests feel at home.
Speaking from my experience only, I was as almost as excited to see my Twitter and Facebook friends as I was to see the cast. Interacting, usually on a daily basis with these lovely lassies, I felt as If I knew them already. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to spend much time chatting with them as there was this thrilling electrical current in the air as the cast members buzzed all around us, which made it difficult to focus on anything other than THEM!
I was luckily and conveniently stationed at the entrance to the Papillon Restaurant as the stars entered. First there was Grant O’Rourke, the loveable Rupert, with a giant smile on his cherubic face. Behind him was the ever lovable king of hugs, Gary Lewis (yes, I was lucky enough to get a few of those infamous hugs from him) Next up was gorgeous Nell Hudson, who plays the conniving and troublemaking Laoghaire. Then wearing an Unusual Lady t-shirt (from Caitriona Balfe fundraiser for World Child Cancer) was Duncan Lacroix who I cherished as Murtagh (who didn’t hence the previous #SaveMurtagh campaign on Twitter). I got to fist pump the air as he entered and I was elated he did it back! Behind him was our Angus, Stephen Walters, sporting a buzz cut and a beard, reminding us he has played a totally convincing Charles Manson, besides being infamous for his guitar playing and “little ditties” on Twitter. Next up was the handsome and charming Richard Rankin who plays our “Roger”. I think I detected a higher level of screaming as he passed by. Of course, next in was Steven Cree, our Ian Murray. He is known for his honesty, wit and dry humor on Twitter, which is highly amusing. I found out chatting him up at the end of the night, he actually is quite friendly, outgoing and totally comfortable in this environment, working the crowd. Now finally, our surprise guest who kept everyone on social media guessing at the clues given out on the event page. Drum roll please…Wil Johnson who’s cast in season 3, Voyager as Dr. Joe Abernathy. Since we have yet to see his character portrayed on screen, we were thrilled to meet him and chat with him before he has yet to appear at any other events.
As they passed by and entered a private back room fans dispersed and chatted excitedly about the reality of what they just witnessed. We pinched ourselves as we couldn’t believe our good fortune.
The rest of the evening was a blur as selfies, excitable chatter and quick conversations filled the room. I’m assuming, such fans as yourselves, have already seen plenty of pictures and heard most of the events and stories that took place that evening so I won’t drone on and repeat it. My initial experience watching them enter was so surreal, I knew that I had to write about it.
What an amazing experience, a once in a lifetime event, that so many of us can only dream of. I was lucky enough to have attended. I’m so grateful for this opportunity. You would wonder how can anyone ever top this, well the organizers are doing it again. A little over 3 ½ months later they will be hosting another one, this time Sam Hueghan and Caitriona Balfe will be the honored guests on September 30th. I am fortunate, once again, to be attending this event and will most certainly blog about it. The icing on the cake at these events is that the money that is raised goes towards the cast members choice of charities.
Stay tuned as I will be blogging during this long droughtlander, from a fan’s perspective, as the summer continues and details and pieces of the Voyager puzzle become available. The next event we are all looking forward to possibly hearing concrete information from (possible premiere date, trailer) is the San Diego Comic Con, where many of the cast member will be attending a panel discussion on July 21.
