Hey all! Degrassi Dish aka Bianca here reporting exclusively for Degrassi Online on the FABULOUS “Party With Degrassi” event at Montclair, New Jersey. Being a person who is NO stranger to TeenNick (or The-N for you old-schoolers), I knew right off the bat that an event like this was going to blow my expectations out of the water and it truly did just that.
I was lucky enough to snag a few VIP passes through my job who deals directly with Nickelodeon and TeenNick. This meant no crowds, no lines, and an exclusive meet and greet with the cast before the screen and Q&A. When we arrived we were directed to our parking spot right outside of the theater. We came close to hitting a few fangirls (SORRY!) as the line was right along the sidewalk where we parked. Inside the theater was DECKED out to the NINES. They had various booths where you could create your own Degrassi-ified t-shirts, spin a wheel to win prizes, and a digital green screen to take pictures. They had free popcorn, pretzels, candy and even “mocktails” named after your favorite Degrassi character – I tried the “Eclare on the Rocks”myself.
After taking the entire theater in and it was time to wait on line to meet the cast. We were second in line behind another VIP via Nickelodeon and in front of the Radio Winners who were needless to say enthusiastic! That’s where I met Shanene who is Mindy’s new best friend. 🙂 We were taken backstage and THERE they WERE, sitting in a row ready to do some meeting and greeting. After I had a mini-heart attack it was my turn to meet them and let me tell you they were some of the SWEETEST most down to EARTH people you have ever met. Usually I’m a complete wreck when meeting celebrities, and yes I’ll admit I was nervous, but when you’re greeted with such kindness that type of nervousness just goes away and normal conversation goes on. Luckily since I was one of the first to meet them I had a bit of extra time to chat. Told them how much I love the show and how much their work is so appreciated. The best part was that I had time to explain to them who I was and the twitter I run as well as Erin’s new site re-launch of Degrassi-Online.com. What blew my mind was that they knew who I was and what Degrassi Talks was.
It was a great day and very reminiscent of the Ultimate Degrassi Party back in 2006 (holy moley 2006?!??!). We were just glad we could have been apart of it and very thankful for TeenNick for hosting such a well organized and free event for the fans. Goes to show how passionate the US fans are and that we are out there in VERY large numbers. I can’t WAIT to do it again.
Check out my 2 part video of the entire Q&A portion as well as all the pictures I took in the gallery!
