On an otherwise unremarkable Saturday afternoon in April, the stately and historic Logan Square movie theater was converted into a gathering place of such a magnitude that the Chicago Chapter will forever use the event as a benchmark for turnout success. In other words: the place was packed.
By the time Jeremy Rumas' mind-bending/eye-opening mysto-Indo surf travellogue doc was well under way, I was hard pressed to find any seats in the 185 seat auditorium that were vacant. For real. The Chicago area has such a large, diverse, and scattered collection of GL surf tribes, that it has been a challenge to create events that unify the group(s).
With this event, we had an unbeatable synergy of elements: an eagerly anticipated film premier, better yet a premier by a local-boy-done-good JR, a cool neighborhood destination, and plenty of raffle item giveaways to goose the door (and there was no swell on the GL to confuse issues). Bingo. Packed house. It was a great day. Afterwards the officers got together, and in the heat of the moment, decided that an issue like Whiting's water quality is worth tackling. We were flush with possibilities and ambition, no doubt. Onward!