The sixth annual Winter Karaoke Party is over. From humble beginnings in 2012, this longest-running CZ/SK bronies fandom event has developed into an annual pre-Christmas meetup that could already be called a one-day convention with all the pony fun. Dozens of bronies from the Czech Republic and Slovakia meet here every year in the pre-Christmas atmosphere, and in recent years also our friends from abroad join us.
The event is suitable for everypony: whether you want to meet your friends from Czequestria and other cons or see for the first time how a bronies event looks like with all the thematic fun. At the Winter Karaoke party, it doesn’t really matter whether you sing My Little Karaoke, participate in the Christmas gifts giveaway, draw, or just look around and enjoy the atmosphere of Christmas together – the important thing is that we are all together and leave the outside world outside for a while.
Pre-party
Because one day of the program is simply not enough for many of us (when the opportunity arises), we meet the night before for a pre-party. Originally, it was also an event for a few people, which quickly grew to a few dozen participants, and this trend continues to this day.
The idea is very simple – we’ll book a restaurant where we can all fit comfortably, after which we’ll spend the entire Friday evening before the official meetup together over good food, drinks and discussing what’s happened over the past year. However, we don’t stay too late because we have a full schedule from the morning.
Program for the whole day – the beginning
From 11 in the morning until 10 in the evening, the Winter Karaoke program took place in Sokolovna Řepy. To also have time to stop, eat and greet our friends, half-hour gaps are inserted into the program. A whole day seems like a lot of time, but when you’re enjoying life, everything suddenly goes faster – and it’s the same at the Winter Karaoke Party.
After the welcome ceremony, the first free singing of My Little Karaoke took place on the stage – for those who wanted to show their skills to a wide audience. If someone didn’t like the crowds or the performance in front of others, the second My Little Karaoke (for up to four singers at the same time) ran throughout the event in the lounge and was very popular.
Premiere screening and more
In recent years, it has become a tradition that we host the premiere of a fan animation in the Czech dubbing, prepared by the Fénix ProDabing studio. This year was no different, and so the Christmas gift giveaway was followed by a screening of the fan episode Dvojitý duhotřesk (in the original Double Rainboom).
The year 2017 was exceptional for the CZ/SK brony fandom: the third and so far, the most successful Czequestria took place, which attracted hundreds of visitors from all over Europe to Prague. Honzdir and the filming team from EP!C TV also participated and prepared a very nice report from Czequestria 2017, which premiered at Winter Karaoke, just a few months after the con.
And it wouldn’t be an event organized by us if something didn’t appear that the audience doesn’t expect: it must be said that very often unexpected surprises come from xsoft, who definitely lived up to his reputation as a prankster, a filmmaker and a hard worker who won’t be stopped by anything. Winter Karaoke 2017 thus hosted the premiere of the third part of brony fan film from his production called Der Schmetterling III. – Rainbow Alert (trailers and previous episodes can be found on xsoft’s website http://movie.powerponies.cz/). It is worth noting that many shots were filmed directly at the ongoing Winter Karaoke, and the film itself was completed just a moment before its premiere.
More than the stage in the Mane Hall
During the evening, a gingerbread decorating competition was also held as part of the workshops – we congratulate the winners and let them know that their works not only looked nice, but also tasted good after the competition ended 🙂
There was also an accompanying program running all the time: vendors were offering their merch, there was a table with drawing supplies in the main hall for everyone, a snack bar nearby, and the music games Trotmania (the MLP version of the DDR dance game) and My Little Rockband were also running in other rooms. The “Hug Your Pony” game with QR codes hidden throughout the Winter Karaoke should be also mentioned.
And at the very end, a group photo shoot, followed by the singing together the “It’s a pony kind of Christmas” whose text – so that every participant has it at hand – was printed on the back of the program brochure. With wishes for a peaceful Christmas, we finally said goodbye and headed home.
We look forward to seeing you next year, or even sooner, at other meetings and conventions!
Videos
Footage from the entire event was taken and edited by Fang – all videos from the Winter Karaoke Party 2017 can also be found in the playlist on his YT channel.
Photo galleries
Additional information about the event can be found in the 6th Winter Karaoke party (2017) post (in CZ).
From official photographers
From attendees
- NitramBro (reupload)
- Jamis
- TechnikTomCZ (reupload)
- Fang (group photo)
Selection from all galleries
Authors of photos in the selection: Michy, NitramBro, Jamis, Fang
