ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, January 27, 1997 TAG: 9701270076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
THE CHANCE TO WATCH the game, mingle with clowns and a robot, eat for free and help the poor drew several hundred people.
Eight-year-old Xavier Williams is a Dallas Cowboys fan. His father, Dave Williams, was a chef last year for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
But on Sunday, the Westside Elementary School student shucked allegiances for both teams.
With his father standing on the sidelines joking that Xavier was a "traitor," the second-grader had his face painted Packer green.
"The Packers got the [NFL] championship," Xavier shrugged, a greasepaint face guard pulling at the corners of his mouth. He confidently predicted a 35-20 Green Bay win (he turned out to be only one point off the mark). Then he turned his attention to a swaggering 8-foot-tall faux robot in high heels dancing the Macarena.
Welcome to the Roanoke Civic Center's Big Screen Super Bowl Party. In the civic center's cavernous arena, it was a menagerie of clowns, magicians, Roanoke Express hockey players and Star Trek character cardboard cutouts.
It was billed as the biggest Super Bowl party in the Roanoke Valley. It was something less than a mob scene, but several hundred residents turned up there Sunday afternoon, donating cans of food for the hungry in exchange for admission.
The chief sponsor was Kroger food stores; the chief beneficiary, the Southwestern Virginia Food Bank. About 100 Kroger employees volunteered their time and energy to collect food and make America's most venerated sports holiday - for adults, anyway - a little bit more fun for kids.
"It's nice for the community," said Dave Williams, now a chef at Arzu Restaurant on Williamson Road. "It kind of brings the Super Bowl atmosphere a little closer to Roanoke."
This was the first big Super Bowl benefit/bash at the civic center, but Kroger's Carl York says he doubts it will be the last. The idea bubbled forth from the supermarket chain's employees, said York, who works in advertising for the food store chain. "The whole premise behind it was to raise money for the hungry," he said. "The community has been very good to us."
There were few hungry folks left in the civic center by the time fans took their seats to watch the Super Bowl unfold on two giant 6-foot TV screens.
Stacked on tables surrounding the edge of the arena floor were free goodies: mounds of tortilla chips with salsa on the side; enough cheddar, mozzarella or pepperjack chunks to sate the most gluttonous cheesehead; a cornucopia of snack crackers; and sample packs of Oreos and other cookies. (Sorry, Patriot fans. No Boston baked beans.)
To wash it all down there were sodas. Cups of beer, for a fee, were available at the concession stands.
Some highlights:
* A silent auction for dinner with various Roanoke Express players raised more than $1,000 for charity. A food bank official said dinner with a certain hockey player brought in $325. But she wouldn't name him, so as not to hurt the feelings of the players who brought in considerably less.
* The 8-foot-tall wisecracking Kroger robot, which looked like a strange hybrid of a Marvel Comics superhero and singer Michael Jackson, was mobbed by kids. The guy inside it managed to do a pretty deft Macarena despite the high-heeled boots. He even supplied his own music, which included the theme from the old TV sitcom "Bewitched."
* The Roanoke Express blimp floated around dropping cents-off food coupons into children's upraised hands. A minor glitch ensued when one excited youngster punctured the blimp with a makeshift projectile, but it was soon back in the air.
"I think it's really neat," said Peggy Cox of Salem, who was there with her daughter Connie. "It's something for the kids to do. The kids are really enjoying it. Plus, it really does some good. There are a lot of people in the valley who are in need." Her husband, Roger, was at home, but he wasn't settling in for a long Super Bowl night, she said. "He won't watch the game, he couldn't care less," Cox quipped. "I might - but not if he has the TV first."
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY STAFF. 1. Xavier Williams' confidentby CNBprediction of a 35-20 Green Bay win turned out to be only one point
off. 2. Xavier, usually a Dallas Cowboys fan, was among the crowd
entertained by the Kroger robot's rendition of the Macarena. KEYWORDS: FOOTBALL