Tallmadge, Ohio - May 2, 2009 – The NEO Rock ‘n’ Roller Girls, Akron’s premier roller derby league, is hosting a team from the Queen City Roller Girls in Buffalo, NY. The proceeds from the event held at the Summit County Fairgrounds will be given to the Akron Children’s Hospital. This is the home opener for NEO Roller Derby and the bout is titled “Derby Road,” a spoof of the classic Beatles album Abbey Road.
“We are so excited for this season,” said Meredith McGrew, a.k.a. Suicide Blonde. “We’re at a new venue, the Fairgrounds, which gives us much more seating capacity; we’re closer to our fan base and to boot, we have beer sales.”
The league has five home bouts this season, all at the Fairgrounds, and for each bout they have selected a charity to receive a donation. That donation is the would-be profit from the ticket sales. “We are a non-profit organization. We’ve never taken home a profit; in fact, we’ve all spent a lot of money to put these events on,” McGrew explained. “We just want to be able to continue putting on events and any money that would have been a profit will be donated to a worthy cause.”
That worthy cause for the home opener is the Akron Children’s Hospital. “The mantra we had when we were researching charities is that we want them to be organizations that specifically benefit women and children. There are men involved in roller derby, but it’s a women’s run and operated sport. We want to give back to our peers,” said Kim Shuman a.k.a. Scarlet GoDancin.
“Another thing that I personally think is awesome is that this year we’re hosting not only other derby teams, but DIY crafters,” said Shuman. “I’m a crafter myself and I’ve gone to some really great craft shows and a lot of them remind me of that derby mentality. Derby is a do-it-yourself type of thing right now, so why not partner up with some craft shows?”
NEO has partnered up with the Bizarre Bazaar, a craft show organization with roots in Cleveland, to provide up to 40 craft exhibitors for the roller derby patrons to experience and shop before and after the game.
“We really wanted to raise the bar for ourselves this year,” said McGrew. “We had a great time last year, but this season we wanted to make our events more of a holistic experience. We want there to be something for everyone and we want people to have so much fun that they have to come back for more!”
For more information about the NEO Rock ‘n’ Roller Girls visit NEORollerDerby.com
