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With A Roller Derby Finale, Fair Attendance Nears Record

Tribune photo by JULIE BUSCH

Players from Tallahassee Rollergirls' Capital Punishment (left) and Jacksonville Rollergirls' New Jax City Rollers (right) go head to head in the first "mini bout" of the Sunshine Skate 2008 Florida Roller Derby Championship at the Florida State Fair Monday.

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By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 18, 2008

TAMPA -- Elvis has left the building, ushering in the roller derby. It is the last hurrah for the 104th edition of the Florida State Fair today, after 11 days of rides, games, exhibits and good tasting but bad-for-you food.

Roller derby and the state fair go together like Oreos and a deep fryer. Today was a high-energy mix of tackiness and down home, knee-slapping fun. The Sweetbay Entertainment Hall featured young women attired in ripped fishnet stockings and hot pants and plenty of body ink to go around. Teams from across the state began the competition this morning, and it will last through the evening.

Fairgoers filtered in and out of the pavilion, curious about the superloud black-fedora-topped announcer doing the play-by-play and identifying skaters by their rink names, many of which can't be printed here.

But the derby's the thing, and the women did show off some roller skating skills and managed to pop right up after taking some floor-smacking falls.

This is not a sport for the weak.

"It's excellent," said Ellen Romann, whose daughter, Sabrina, was skating for the Tampa Tantrums and whose granddaughter, Brody, sat on her lap. Brody sported a T-shirt that said, "Tiny Tantrum."

"It's thrilling," Ellen Romann said. "It's showing the world how to be real women."

"We can be evil," piped in Romann's pal Melanie Watkinson, both of whom took the day off from delivering mail in Tarpon Springs to support the team.

Watching from one corner of the arena were the Indian River Derby Girls, a team that just got together and was scheduled to skate in an exhibition match later in the day.

"We're not good enough to skate with these guys yet," said Mandy Douglas, 27, of Fort Pierce, motioning to the match being skated this morning between the Tampa Tantrums and the Molly Rogers Rollergirls. Douglas, who goes by Manda Tori Mayhem in the rink, said she skated a lot when she was a teen, then gave it up for a few years. She took up the sport just recently and jumped at the chance in September to join up with the roller derby team.

"It's aggressive," she said of the sport. "It gives us a chance to get all our aggressions out."

Hundreds of skaters and their fans milled about the arena. The championship rounds were slated for later tonight.

The derby was the last big event of the fair, which ends tonight. Organizers say this may be a record year for turnout, depending on how the weather holds out for the rest of the day, said fair executive director Chuck Pesano.

"We won't have final attendance numbers until later tonight," he said. "A lot depends on the rain. It is an armband day, and three counties have kids out of school today. It's tough to tell if it will be a small attendance day or a big attendance day."

The armband means fairgoers can buy unlimited access to all rides all day long for $25, $20 if they purchased their tickets in advance. To show they have taken part in the deal, they wear armbands.

Pesano said that as of Sunday night, unofficial tallies put attendance at 470,000, which makes fair organizers pretty happy.

"That's very good," Pesano said. "We've had some very nice weather. We are very pleased."

The fair featured the annual Elvis Extravaganza, in which Elvis Presley impersonators from all over the country competed in the national finals this past weekend.

Professional wrestling, a Las Vegas review and country music also were featured at this year's fair.

Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760 or kmorelli@tampatrib.com.

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