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Ticket lottery doubles premiere excitement
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By BARBARA GOLDMAN, Staff Writer
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More than 400 fans registered to win tickets for the second screening of "Leatherheads" at the Washington Opera House Monday night, added by Universal Studios after the limited tickets for the premiere showing became a much sought after commodity.
One hundred lottery tickets were drawn at 8:30 p.m. by Washington Opera House Executive Director Mike Thomas. Thomas appeared on the outdoor balcony as hundreds of fans waited for their ticket number to be called.
Ian Edgington, 8 years old of Maysville, registered for the raffle shortly after meeting George Clooney outside of the French Quarter. Clooney signed an orange and black football for the boy. Edgington said if he won the raffle, he and his mother, Katie would be attending the screening.
"Meeting celebrities. The lights, the camera, the stars," said Edgington, a Mason County third grader. "Great for the town. Great having him come back to Maysville and say 'I'm back home.' To have George Clooney here in Maysville and to have the premiere here in Maysville and not in New York or California is amazing!"
The raffle tent was manned by the Maysville Younger Woman's Club. Tickets for the lottery were distributed to interested fans beginning at 6 p.m. As an indication of how infected Maysville had become by Clooney fever, at 5:30 the line for the lottery was wrapped around the block.
"Oh wow, this is exciting! My first ever something like this," said Marie Meece of Aberdeen.
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| Mary Anne Cummins: "Leatherheads" ticket lottery winner. |
"We've already given away between 200-300 tickets," said MYWC member and past president Teresa Lindsey at 6:15 p.m.
"The line went fast," said Bennet Parker after he received his ticket.
Fans on hand for the event hailed from across the state, the nation and even the world to catch a glimpse of Clooney and co-star Renée Zellweger. Layndy Liu of China, decided to attend the event while on a visit to America to visit her mother Xiang Hui Tang, a Chinese instructor at Maysville Community and Technical College.
"We hope we are lucky and have a good chance," said Liu.
Liu said that although she hadn't yet seen a George Clooney film, she was ready to.
Janice Hicks, Leana Weiss, Karen Sweeny and Kelly Gabriel came to the premiere from Augusta. The two mothers and their daughters braved the cold in hopes of getting a ticket. Weiss and Gabriel said that they were in kindergarten at Augusta Independent when George Clooney was a senior at the school. If either girls won they planned on giving their tickets to their mothers.
Cindy Wulfekamp of Maysville was among the first to register for the special viewing.
"My daughter is dying to meet George," said Wulfekamp. "She's doing her homework now so she can come if we win!"
"I came tonight after driving through town. I didn't know what was going on and stayed," Benny Renner of Mount Olivet said.
Renner said his wife is a huge fan of George Clooney and if he could win her a ticket to see his movie she'd be pleased with him. Renner's wife was at work while he waited for the announcement of the winning ticket numbers.
"I won! My wife's going to be pretty happy with me," said Renner after he found out he had a winning ticket.
Maryanne Cummins of Bracken County was in shock when she discovered she had a winning ticket.
"I was like "Is that my ticket?" And it was mine," said Cummins.
Jon Vater and Sara Maxey came from Cincinnati to attend the screening. Vater was ecstatic after discovering they would be attending the evening's encore.
"I almost passed out! I just let out an ahhhhh," said Vater.
Vater said he'd almost given up on a winning ticket.
"They were already at the 83 ticket. My heart was pounding and then they called my ticket," said Vater.
Fans with winning tickets gathered in a line on the side of the Washington Opera House as they eagerly awaited to claim their tickets.
"I never won anything in my life," said Mildred Partin of Eastgate.
Partin said that she was just flabbergasted to discover she and her daughter-in-law both had winning tickets. The whole family was able to attend the star-studded event.
Contact Barbara Goldman at barbara.goldman@lee.net or by calling 606-564-9091, ext. 274. |
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