The Long Reach Long Riders (LRLR) celebrated their upcoming ride with a raffle and live auction benefiting Behind the Scenes during the USITT Stage Expo in Long Beach, California. Sales of raffle tickets and auction items raised $5,000 for the charity. The LRLR 2026 ride, dubbed “Backroads to the Brickyard”, begins June 19th in Athens, Ohio. Riders cover all their own expenses, ensuring that every dollar raised goes directly to Behind the Scenes. You can sponsor a rider at www.behindthescenescharity.org/lrlr

Festivities kicked off with the traditional kazoo parade led by Moe and Kacey Conn, joined by fellow Long Reach Long Riders and both longtime and new BTS supporters. Christina Smith and Patrick Wallace of the LRLR hosted the raffle and live auction, which featured a wide range of items. Auction winners included 2026 Backroads to the Brickyard ride t-shirts (James Schipper and Mary Sykes); a Clark Transfer model truck (John Lagerquist); ESA 2026 Safety Guides (Derek Epstein, James Bice, and Ben Hague); LRLR engraved metal kazoos (Ben Hague); Monkey Wrench Productions’ Monkey Wrench bundles (Joshua Jenkins and Alexa Vega); The Automated Lighting Programmer’s Handbook, signed by the author Brad Schiller (James Schipper), and Living the Audio Life: A Guide to a Career in Live Entertainment Sound, also signed by the author Brad Schiller (James Bice); a merchandise swag pack from Tyler Truss (Nick Holmberg); a swag pack from ETC, including a Source 4 Mini (Drew Wending); and Westview’s A. Shakespeare desktop ghostlight (Nick Holmberg).

Raffle prizes included a $250 Visa gift card from Barbizon (Lori Baruch); the Blizzard Cable Guy cable tester from Blizzard Lighting (Mcloud Benson); a full conference pass to the 2026 Midwest Rigging Intensive from ESTA (Becky Roper); a BTS private virtual MHFA training from HuneyBadger Entertainment Consulting (Helen A. Raymond); a Nespresso CitiZ espresso machine with Aeroccino milk frother and capsule variety pack from InterAmerica Stage (Rebecca Knipfer); a Ghostlight from Monkey Wrench Productions (Aluaro Nunez); an ETC Nomad Education Edition with Gadget II from Musson Theatrical (Mcleoud Benson); a SONOS Roam 2 ultra-portable smart speaker from Sapsis Rigging (Abel Ortiz); a 2027 full conference registration from USITT (Mike Meservey); and the grand prize, a Vectorworks Spotlight annual subscription (Sam Mollner).

All proceeds go to the Behind the Scenes charity  For more information about the Long Reach Long Riders visit www.lrlr.org.