As yelper Tamara K so succinctly put it: “Holy Yelpoly, Bossanova Man!” Moe than 400 yelpers came out in force last night for Portland’s biggest Yelp event ever: Yelp’s Ballroom Bash at the Bossanova Ballroom!
Photos by spcilk
Portland’s Yelp Elite Squad and guests came out en masse and enjoyed a special V.I.P. hour from 6 to 7 p.m.. Clare M and her motley crew enjoyed delicious sandwich slices by East Side Deli, while Anna B dug on some fantastic samples of Hot Lips Pizza, all while getting warmed up by the tunes of DJ Saltfeend. Chris L and Don D were quick to hit the Ninkasi Total Domination IPA from Eugene, which was flowing like water, and Joe M was surprised by how good the Maker’s Mark, Hornitos Plata and Honest Tea cocktails were!
Photo by spcilk
At 7 p.m. the floodgates opened and the Yelp community at large joined the already warmed up Elites to get the Ballroom Bash going in earnest. Yelpers like Danni D enjoyed a second round of Hot Lips Pizza, while a crowd gathered in anticipation of the unleashing of a HUGE batch of amazing chocolate cupcakes from Cupcake Jones, which Stephanie G enjoyed thoroughly. Laura G and friends hit up the Reversed Lens Photography photo-booth to costume up and get their photos taken, pro-style.
As the room quickly filled up with smiling faces, the fervor escalated to sheer giddiness as Pine State Biscuits made their grand entrance armed with a smorgasbord of biscuits and gravy. Needless to say, the cupcakes and biscuits went fast. Food firmly in hand, yelpers enjoyed spinning the Red Cross preparedness prize wheel and entering to win awesome gift certificates from great local restaurants.
As if the food and booze weren’t enough, quite a few lucky yelpers like JT, Lorri E, Samantha O and their guests walked away with amazing raffle gifts courtesy of Ninkasi (bottles of Tricerahops), Hornitos (bottle of the Hornitos Plata), Maker’s Mark (bottles of delicious bourbon), Doug Fir Lounge (upcoming World Party, Hope Sandoval, and Works Progress Administration shows) and the Bossanova (tickets to the upcoming Yard Dogs Road Show)! Yelpers walked away with a ton of loot!
With the Ninkasi, Maker’s, Hornitos and Honest Tea streaming full force, it was only a matter of time before DJ Saltfeend’s tunes lit up the dance floor, and even the out-of-towners like Alex S got their groove on. Yelpers also enjoyed playing pool in the billiards lounge and lighting-up in the designated cigar lounge adjacent to the bar. After 3 solid hours of drinking, eating, dancing, posing, smoking and playing pool, it was time to move on… to discount Korean tacos from local favorite KOifusion, who made a special appearance outside the venue to fuel up the drunken, late night crowd. Tacos firmly in hand, the crowd descended upon Rontoms for a raging after-party that went late into the night.
Photo by spcilk
All in all, one of the best events to come out of Portland in a long time. Big thanks to Bossanova Ballroom, East Side Deli, Cupcake Jones, Pine State Biscuits, Hot Lips Pizza, Reversed Lens Photography, DJ Saltfeend, KOiFusion, Maker's Mark, Hornitos Plata, Honest Tea, The Red Cross – Oregon Trail Chapter, and Doug Fir Lounge! Huge gratitude to Crystal H, Michelle B, and Hilary B for all of the heavy lifting, running around, and hard work putting this together and making it run. And thanks, as always, to the Portland Yelp Elite Squad and the entire Portland Yelp Community for being the best community money can’t buy.
You don’t believe me? Check the reviews and the photos, photos, photos!
