Welsh Heritage Night On Ice!

This day heralded in Wales and throughout the world, commemorates St. David’s Day, held for the 6^th century bishop and patron saint of Wales (known as Dewi Sant).  The game this March 1st evening featured the first ever  AHL team sponsorship of a Welsh event as best rivals the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins hosted the Hershey Bears.

Presented by The Welsh Cultural Endeavor of Northeastern Pennsylvania, the event was an opportunity to promote awareness of the country’s culture in a region, which saw a high concentration of Welsh immigration since the inception of Pennsylvania and especially in the 19^th and 20^th centuries.  The non-profit organization choose to work with the Penguins after looking for a venue to brand a different impression of the country’s heritage, one would attract a variety of followers, both Welsh and non-Welsh, and particularly a younger audience long over-looked.

We Welsh are extremely proud of the country’s recognized symbol – the Red Dragon or Ddraig Goch – which dates back to the time of the legendary King Arthur.  Thus the theme of “Help Feed The Dragon” was used to kick off this unique fundraising event. The Mohegan Sun Arena recently purchased a $1.3M state of the art scoreboard which displayed a flowing Welsh flag that featured information about our Penguins team members.  Also the audience was treated to a 3 minute video promo that encourages one to visit Wales

Fans  supported the organization’s efforts by purchasing an exclusive package, which included a ticket to the game, a Penguins hat and a food voucher good for hot dog, soda and bag of chips.   The Penguins donated $4.00 from the purchase of each ticket package back to The Welsh Cultural Endeavor of Northeastern Pennsylvania to “Help Feed The Dragon”.  Proceeds will be used in numerous areas, including:

• EXPANDING A FORUM OF COMMUNICATION TO REACH MORE PEOPLE THROUGH WEB DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL MEDIA VENUES
• OBTAINING NEEDED COMPUTER GENERATED AUDIO & VISUAL AID EQUIPMENT
• EXPANSION OF WELSH EDUCATIONAL TOPICS
• GAINING SELECTED ENTERTAINERS AND SPEAKERS FOR GATHERINGS
• OFFER FOR SALE NEW AND UNIQUE WELSH SPORTSWEAR FOR EVERYONE

Wales, a devout sports nation, is known for its keen interest in rugby, soccer, and ice hockey.  Welsh sports fans are also known to engage in some acutely different entertainment during a game, in that we like to spontaneously sing in order to cheer on the home team which is what we do best.  As this was a learning event for us, surely singing will occur next year.

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