A full weekend of the Gilmores-

On Friday April 11- Sunday April 13 New Milford Connecticut held a weeklong event called “A Weekend in the Life”. It was a fairly large event with people coming mostly from the east coast. There were various celebrities from the show that attended. New Milford was decorated to represent “Stars Hollow”, the town where the show takes place. Even the local stores had some products that went with the show like the market had “Luke’s” coffee. It was really cute and fun to be able to go around and see how many similarities there were. More importantly, while it was a great experience I thought the prices were high for what you were getting. General admission being $70 to only include going around the town and seeing the panel of two people was a little much. Also because it was their first time hosting an event such as this it seems that it took them a while to get organized. To get pictures or autographs from the stars you had to pay extra. However, it was an amazing opportunity to get to meet the stars from the show that I probably wouldn’t be able to otherwise. 

What stars attended-

The celebrities that attended included Matt Czuchry(Logan), Chad Michael Murray(Tristan), Arielle Kebbel(Lindsay), Scott Patterson(Luke), Todd Lowe(Zack), Yanic Truesdale(Michelle), and John Cabrera(Brian). For each day of the event there were different stars. The stars that attended on Sunday, when I was there, were set up at tables and people lined up based on their admission. There were long lines, but those running the event had trivia going on in the panel room to keep people entertained while waiting for their opportunity to see the celebs and watch the panel. There were also a few stands with vendors that had food and merchandise that went with the show. Clearly they were able to get popular celebrities to attend to cause for so many people to attend and just needed the time to get used to leading an event as big as this. 

The Panel-

The panel on Sunday consisted of two of the stars from the show including Yanic Truesdale and Matt Czuchry. There was a selected number of people around ten that had the chance to go up and ask the celebrities questions that they had about the show or the celebs themselves. Yanic Truesdale talked about how he originally started acting in Canada and was going to go back if he didn’t get the part for Gilmore Girls in California. One of the questions asked was about what it was like to do the Life and Death Brigade scene where they jump off a platform. Matt stated, “Well, I’m scared of heights and thankfully, they had a low version of it that you see.” Then he goes on to talk about how he loved that scene even through his fear it was still one his favorites calling a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Later on I was chosen to ask my own question to Czuchry, I asked him how he felt about his father in the show treating Rory regarding her journalism career. If you haven’t already watched the show this is a pivotal moment for Rory because she takes the advice seriously and steps back from journalism for a while. He answered by saying, “I don’t think that it was very accurate what Mitchum said and what he did and obviously had a very combative relationship.” Meaning that he didn’t agree with Mitchum’s decision to put Rory down and tell her that she would fail. Furthermore, Logan and his father didn’t get along, and Mitchum saw Rory, and women in general as weaker.  It was such a once in a lifetime opportunity to be able to ask a celebrity a question and have them respond to you. Overall the panel was a great way to learn more about the celebs themselves, and get to be able to hear about how they got the part and started their career.

My Favorites-

Going into it I thought that Matt Czuchry was going to be my absolute favorite part of the event, which he was amazing, but there were so many different aspects that caused it to be one of the best days of my life. While it was chaotic at times it was also one of the reasons why I loved it. I got to meet everyone that attended on Sunday. It was like one good thing kept happening one after another. My favorite person that was there though by the end was John Cabrera because he actually talked to me and made the experience so much better. Even after I had taken the picture with him and Todd Lowe he then went on to take multiple selfies of us on my phone. While waiting to take the pictures he even had a conversation with me and answered any questions I had about him. So while he might not have been as popular as Matt Czuchry to others he made A Weekend in the Life such a great experience. Lastly, the staff was very understanding and accommodating when it came to transferring tickets to another celebrity. 

What others thought of the event in whole –

Despite the event being three days long I only attended on Sunday April 13. At the arena that the panel and selfies were being held the people were talking about their experiences at the other two days. Many say that it was disorganized and not well run. More importantly, because Chad Michael Murray only attended the event on Friday there was so much chaos because everyone wanted to have a selfie with him. It was said that there was a line about 4 hours to wait to see him. There were reviews posted saying that they decided to go home instead of staying for the last day of the event. I think that the event would have run more smoothly if there was a certain amount of tickets that could have been bought. I know on Sunday when I attended they kept telling people that they could get in line and pay upfront for a selfie or autograph. So while there may not have been sunshine everyday the weekend as a whole did have a lot of sunny parts.

Overall-

In conclusion, I would definitely recommend going to an event like this. Yes, it seemed it took them time to figure out a working system to run an event as big as this,  but there were so many opportunities to do things otherwise impossible to me personally. The only other Gilmore Girls event that I’ve heard of is to visit the set in California, so this was close and still cheaper than if you were to travel all the way to California. All of the celebrities that I came in contact with were so nice and welcoming. Lastly, the staff was accommodating and willing to work with you with any questions. Therefore, I would recommend this event to anyone in the future who likes Gilmore Girls.