Remember When: Skate America 2019 Exhibition Gala

Skaters are in Vegas already for the 2020 Skate America, competition begins Friday. The USFSA started sharing pictures and video yesterday. I'm in such a funk, but I'm also just thankful that a competition is happening. Skate Canada and the Internationaux de France have both been officially canceled. We won't be getting a Four Continents Championship next year. Right now Skate America seems to be the only thing we've got... so I'll take it.

The Gala last year was a great finale to a wonderful whirlwind weekend (yay alliteration). I think it was the bestie's favorite part just for the entertainment value. There were emotional moments as well as some great laughs. The extras were cheesy (they had a magician and a contortionist and the skating dog came back) but over all it was one of the better gala's I've attended. 

Keegan Messing had everyone on their feet with a moving tribute to his brother who passed in a motorcycle accident just weeks before. Some skaters used previous years competitive programs as their exhibitions. Some had Vegas themed programs. Others debuted their show program for the season. A great collection of skates. Something for everyone.

As I did with my practice photos blog post, this is just going to be a photo dump with no commentary or captions. You can see all of the Skate America 2019 photos in my gallery. Thanks for reading along. I'm hoping to live tweet a bit of the competition this weekend so if you want to chat all things figure skating find me on twitter!

After the final bows the skaters goofed off on the ice. Zachary Donohue challenged Keegan Messing to a back flip challenge. Only Donohue doesn't do backflips... so Keegan did one alone (unknowingly until afterwards) then Zach decided to try one by doing a backwards somersault. It was entertaining.