Best Adult County Fair
Hosted by Hilarity for Charity, 2019
By: Brooke M. Westlake-Kelley
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Seth & Lauren Rogen, Brooke Westlake & Aubrey
Hilarity for Charity County Fair 2019
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A big “Thank
you!” to Lauren & Seth Rogen for hosting this wonderful event through their
non-profit, Hilarity for Charity, and for all they do to bring awareness while
helping others deal with Alzheimer's. They are truly great people and doing
great things for others. It's not every day you meet people who are passionate
about this cause who bring awareness with comic relief. My grandma and I always
said laughter was truly the best medicine. Feel free to check out Hilarity for Charity's website: https://hilarityforcharity.org/
This blog piece includes links to videos I captured of certain events and links to the celebrities who were gracious to come out and help partake in this one of a life time fundraising event.
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Seth & Lauren Rogen conducting and Interview at
Hilarity for Charity County Fair, 2019
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But what
is the experience really like? (AMAZING) What is the energy like? (Intense) What is the party like? (Crazy good) What were
the highlights? (Every single part of the event) How did this night differ from any other fundraisers I have
attended? (Like no other).....
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| Aubrey & I at Hilarity for Charity County Fair 2019 |
Well, for starters, it was a girl’s trip. My baby boy, Adam Hamilton (7 months)
stayed home with daddy. For me this meant a night’s rest. Anyone will tell you
having a baby is a lot of work. That includes a lot of lack of sleep. This was
also my second time away from the baby, while my husband stayed home to man the
house and take care of our boys.
I brought
my friend Aubrey. Aubrey whom I
met through my Criminal Justice advisor at the University of Nevada Reno. A year ago when I told her
that my husband and I support Hilarity for Charity, she was excited to hear
about this cause. She was thrilled when I invited her to go with me for the
2019 event!
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Hilarity for Charity Board Photo:
County Fair 2019
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| Packed VIP at the ROW DTLA for Hilarity for Charity County Fair 2019 |
We flew
out of Reno Saturday morning and arrived at our hotel The Millennium Biltmore,
ditched our bags, and arrived at ROW DTLA, which
provided a nice outdoor venue for the Hilarity for Charity County Fair. Right
away you could see a big Ferris Wheel and the Yoyo Swing. You could smell food
and feel excitement as we waited in line to get our VIP tickets.
This
particular location in Los Angeles is in an area that is gaining traction thanks
to revitalization. The buildings were built between 1917 to 1923. This current revitalization of an urban
district has some perks to it, including shared office spaces, new restaurants
shopping and a large enough location to hold a Hilarity for Charity County
Fair. To see what new things the ROW DTLA will be doing, you can check them out
on the following links: Main website: https://rowdtla.com/, Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rowdtla/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ROWDTLA/ It would
be fair to say that not only is the Hilarity for Charity County Fair raising
funds and awareness about Alzheimer’s, Hilarity for Charity is also providing
money that goes back right to their community for areas like the ROW DTLA.
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| Hilarity for Charity Instagram Picture: Aerial view of the ROW DTLA |
After
Aubrey and I got our VIP wrist bands and game tickets, we headed inside. I was
hoping to see Lauren & Seth Rogen. Aubrey noticed Seth off to our left
giving an interview, and then suddenly I realized Lauren was standing next to
him, and I didn’t recognize her because her back was to me. She was dressed in
a cute blinged out blazer, black top, and red shorts. Aubrey and I waited about
15 minutes while they conducted interviews and did some video reals.
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| Hilarity for Charity Board and the Clows from the County Fair 2019 |
(SIDE
NOTE) I just want everyone to know, if you have not met Lauren or Seth, that
they are two incredible people, easy to talk to and extremely passionate about the
fight against Alzheimer’s, as I am. Lauren has a very sweet personality and
remembered who I was. I value that she took the time to speak with me and I
value that her and Seth took the time to take a photo with Aubrey and I. When I
first met Lauren in 2016 she was compassionate and caring. I even got to tell
her a little bit about my late Grandma Bev’s story, whom I had cared for.
Lauren said to me, “You’re so young!” My response was that I use a lot of
wrinkle cream, which I do, but I am blessed to look younger than I am.
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| Day light view walking into the Hilarity for Charity County Fair 2019 |
The other
thing about Lauren, that makes my heart ache, is her personal story. The reason
why she and Seth started Hilarity for Charity is because her mom, Adele was diagnosed
with early onset Alzheimer’s at the age of 55 and has now been suffering with the disease for 13
years. That is 13 years of losing someone you love every day for each year. There is no timeline for Alzheimer’s. There is just the pure and utter
deterioration of a person you loved. For Lauren to be brave, to shine in her
mom’s honor while helping others can be healing, but it also speaks volumes
about who she is as a person.
Now, back
to the event at hand. The first ever Hilarity for Charity County Fair featured
the following celebrity: Nick Kroll, Ilana Glazer, Adam Devine, Busy Philipps,
Jos Gad, Andrew Rannells, Jeff Ross, Ike Barinholtz, Casey Wilson, Danielle Schneider, Jeff Garlin,
Ben Feldman, Lauren Ash, Riki Lindhome, Kate Micucci & Regina Hall. The music was by
Anderson Paak, and they had Skateboarding by Tony Hawk. The rides included, Loop-o-plane,
Ferris Wheel, Bumper Cars, the Whip and Yoyo, adult swings.
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| Funny selfie as HFC board took photos with clowns. |
There
were separate booths for dog kissing therapy, interactive gaming VR head set,
character drawings, giant cookies and Hilarity for Charity swag.
The
Loop-o-plane: This ride I was too afraid to go on. It was two helicopters that
swung in the air by one another. I went on one of those as a teenager with my
sister, although it was called the Zipper. I screamed the entire time, begged
to get off the ride, because I thought I was going to die. Embarrassing as it
was, they stopped the ride and let me off. Instead of making a scene that could
be on the news with me and the Helicopter, I opted out of this ride.
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| Jeff Ross hosting Bumper Cars at HFC |
Bumper
Cars: The line for the bumper cars ended up being to long. I am sure this was
because stand-up comedian
Jeff Ross http://roastmastergeneral.com/
was doing
a great job with live commentary, which brought in more HFC crowd goers.
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| Glowing Ferris Wheel at HFC County Fair 2019 |
The
Ferris Wheel: Unfortunately we did not get to ride the Ferris Wheel. I was
bummed about this. By the time we made it over to this ride, they were on the
last ride, because the event was about to end. Maybe next year?
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| The Yoyo Swings! One of my favorite rides of the night! |
We did go
on the Yoyo Swings, and The Whip. Aubrey quickly learned that when I am on carnival
rides, that I scream like I am being killed. It was shocking and funny all at
the time. These are the fun things you learn about your friends when you travel
together and go to fundraisers like this.
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| Selfie on the Yoyo Swings! |
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| Aubrey having fun on the Yoyo Swing |
The
GAMES: Ring on a bottle, Rope Ladder, Basketball, water gun game, drag race car
game, and skee ball. All the gamers were run by celebrities and this was one of
my personal highlights of the evening. Aubrey and I spent more time playing
games than anything else.
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| A female player pulls herself up on the Rope Ladder Game. Hilarity for Charity County Fair 2019 |
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| Selfie with Busy Philipps! Thanks for helping the cause! |
We did the
Rope Ladder Game which was run by Busy Philipps https://twitter.com/busyphilipps
This game is freaking hard! It is an entire body workout,
and after eating and drinking, it seems impossible to get to the top. We
watched a lady lay on the entire ladder and pull herself to the top. If you
don’t make it the ladder swings around and you fall on a matt.
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| Casey Wilson & Danielle Schneider hosting the Water Gun Game. Hilarity for Charity County Fair 2019 |
Aubrey
and I played this game more than once during each of the comedians running it. We
ended up in one of the main photos of the night for Hilarity for Charity Instagram
page. Sadly we never won this game.
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Comedian Josh Gad hosting the Drag Race
Game at Hilarity for Charity County Fair
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Comedian Jeff Garlin taking some comedic stabs at
Seth Rogen while hosting Skee Ball. |
Skee Ball & Ice Ball Game: Hosted and run by later in the evening and
Jeff Garlin https://twitter.com/thejeffgarlin?lang=en
This game is one of my favorites. Skee-Ball is a popular
arcade game. It is played by rolling a ball up an incline. The ball then goes
over a hop or hump and jumps into a ball bullseye designated with point. A
player gets 9 balls per game. The player with the highest score wins. I won a
cute brown teddy bear for baby Adam.
Ring Toss Game: hosted and run by LaCroix staff, https://www.lacroixwater.com/
They were also one of the event sponsors. Aubrey won this game on her first
try, and not only did she win, she got her ring toss right on one of the
limited green bottles. She won a cute LaCroix hat. I on the other hand did not
win at this game.
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| Clowning in the VIP |
A county
fair would not be complete without clowns. Thankfully they hired friend and funny clowns. They were gracious also to let me have some photo opportunities with them in VIP. There was also a scavenger hunt and a
raffle.
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| Anderson Paak performing at Hilarity for Charity County Fair 2019 |
Later in
the evening, the HFC County Fair crowd were wowed by professional skateboarder
Tony Hawk. https://twitter.com/tonyhawk And then entertained by Anderson Paak. http://www.andersonpaak.com/ Here is a great clip of Seth and Lauren giving a speech about Hilarity for Charity right before Anderson Paak performed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0GiIfe36l4
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| Aubrey and I taking funny photos after the Stori Selfie Cam froze on us. |
You can watch Tony Hawk skate at the Hilarity for Charity County Fair: https://twitter.com/tonyhawk/status/1173262859293224960 I looked up Tony Hawk on Wikipedia. I have to give this
man some serious credit! He is 51 and is still skateboarding like a 15 year
old. He joined the cause because his mother has suffered from Alzheimers for
over 15 years now. He also has his own skate board company for all you skaters
out there. https://www.birdhouseskateboards.com/
There was
a Stori Selfie Cam staged by itself. This Selfie cam allows users to take
photos and boomerang videos. Users could then email the photos to themselves to
be shared on social media. This was the first activity Aubrey and I did. The
first photo was a little silly, so we took a second one. Unfortunately the
Stori Selfie Cam froze! Our faces were stuck on the selfie Cam for thirty
minutes or so until we found its operator. It was a good joke to tell people
who wanted to use the Selfie Cam that we broke the camera. But also slightly
embarrassing because now everyone saw our faces.
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| We broke the camera! Everyone is now going to know our faces. |
Aubrey
and I enjoyed strolling in and out of the VIP lounge which featured a bar
stocked with anything we wanted. Waiters and waitresses carried in trays of
food from the food trucks. The food consisted of pizza, ice cream, quinoa
salad, veggie burgers. The food was really good! There were other food items,
but I missed out on eating them since we were busy playing games or going on rides.
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| Seth Rogen in the dunk tank waiting for County Fair goers to take their shot while raining money for HFC |
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| 9 Photo frames of Seth Rogen getting dunked in the dunk tank at Hilairty for Charity County Fair 2019 |
The last
activity of the night was the dunk tank where Seth Rogen himself climbed in!
Players could purchase 3 throws for $100. The amounts went up along with the availability
to dunk Seth. I decided to take my chances. He commented on how many stuffed
animals I had, and said “Luck was on my side.” The first throw was super close!
My last two throws were way off and very weak, but it was fun to try. What a
good sport Seth is to do that. Lauren was in the crowd with a microphone,
encouraging others to dunk Seth. Here is the link to watch me try my shot at dunking Seth Rogen! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aaswzo5mVP4
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| Aubrey & I with our wins for the night! |
CONCLUSION: The night
was wonderful. Actually, it was more than what I expected because I have been
attending the Hilarity for Charity variety shows since 2014 (minus last year
being pregnant). It was definitely not like any other fundraiser I have ever
been to before. I had a wonderful time. We made it back to our hotel just in
time for me to shower and climb into bed with all the stuffed animals I won. My
biggest dilemma was getting my prizes home, safe and sound. They all made it
and my boys loved their surprises.
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| Back at the hotel, laying in bed with all my wins from HCF 2019 |
Lastly, the
biggest reason why I began supporting Hilarity for Charity in 2014 is because
they are making a huge effort to educate the younger generations. However the most
important thing for me is that the funds being raised go directly back to people who
need right now and continued research. The cost of Alzheimer’s is now the most expensive disease in America
costing $290,000,000,000 in 2019. This is the biggest healthcare epidemic of our time. Currently 16 million woman are caregivers for
a loved one with Alzheimer’s and they receive no compensation. Funds from
Hilarity for Charity are utilized in a multitude of ways including, funding for
research and providing paid care for families who cannot afford it. Thank you
Hilarity for Charity and Lauren & Seth for your continued work and dedication to this cause close to both of you. And thank you for always hosting such wonderful fundraisers. This one truly a one of a kind county fair that did not disappoint.
If you haven't done so, go visit the Hilarity for Charity website. You can also make a direct donation to them. https://hilarityforcharity.org/
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