World’s Largest Disco gains more national attention
Author adds voice to chorus, hailing event here as one of the 101 best
This isn’t news to the 7,000 or so polyester-clad partygoers who fill the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center each year for the World’s Largest Disco.
But author Mike Guerriero wants a national audience of fun-seekers to know that the ’70s-themed bash is one of the country’s best annual events.
The disco, always held the Saturday after Thanksgiving, is featured in Guerriero’s travel guide — “Party Across America!” — that lists the 101 top parties, festivals and sporting events in all 50 states.
“There had to be an electricity and an energy level in the crowd, something that people looked forward to all year long,” said Guerriero, who visited the disco about seven years ago. “That is absolutely the case with the World’s Largest Disco.”
This isn’t the first dose of national publicity for the disco, which has been covered by CNN, VH1, National Public Radio and the Washington Post.
But organizer Dave Pietrowski said the mention by Guerriero is another sign of how far the fundraising event has come from its humble beginnings.
“I think it’s awesome,” said Pietrowski, who helped Guerriero in his research for the book.
If English professors encourage budding authors to write what they know, Guerriero apparently took their advice to heart.
For years, he and his Colorado skiing friends have taken trips across the country to experience the best annual parties they could find.
“We’d kind of make these lists up and make these scattered cross-country trips based on these lists,” said Guerriero, 32, of Fort Collins, Colo.
A couple of years ago, Guerriero was working at a large pharmaceutical company when he got wind that the firm would be laying off many employees.
The impending loss of his job motivated Guerriero to try to turn his long-standing idea for a book on parties into a reality.
“The book deal [from Adams Media] came through. The layoff came not too long after,” said Guerriero, who applied money from his severance toward travel for the book.
Guerriero estimates that he already had been to about 60 or so of the 101 events listed in the book before he got a contract.
The events range from major sporting events such as the Kentucky Derby to obscure parties such as Baltimore’s Hon- Fest and North Carolina’s National Hollerin’ Contest.
His favorite is the Gasparilla Pirate Festival in Tampa, Fla. “It’s a 500,000-person moving block party,” he said.
Guerriero stopped by the disco early this decade after hearing about it from a friend who is a Buffalo native. “I just remember that I did not expect that many thousands of people to show up,” he said. “And everybody was just so into it.”
His two-page entry on the disco gets into the history of the event, noting that the current version began as a resurrection of the original 1979 party.
“Buffalo Convention Center employees spit-shined the disco ball that had been boxed up 15 years earlier, wheeled out the old eight-track player, and told the world ‘I Will Survive,’ ” he wrote. “Although the 1994 event drew only 1,800, it’s now one of the most sought-after tickets in the Northeast.”
Guerriero offers tips on where to go after the disco — several West Chippewa Street bars — where to say while in town and where to get a good disco outfit. And he notes that the disco has raised $1 million for charity over the years.
Pietrowski said this is at least the second book that mentions the World’s Largest Disco — Nelson Taylor’s “America Bizarro: A Guide to Freaky Festivals, Groovy Gatherings, Kooky Contests and Other Strange Happenings Across the USA” was published in 2000. The disco organizer said he’s glad that the authors seem to understand how passionate attendees are about the event.
Guerriero is in Buffalo this weekend to see the disco again, at Pietrowski’s invitation.
“Party Across America!” is available on Amazon and will be in bookstores soon. For details, visit www.partyacrossamericabook.com .
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