Brief history of the Deaf Celebration Week / Expo Since 1992

1992: On March 13, 1992, Angel Ramos, via the Gallaudet University Regional Center, chaired the “Victory” committee which planned a rally at the City Hall in Dallas and various speakers came to honor the anniversary of Gallaudet University’s Deaf President Now event. A banquet was held later that evening.

1993: No events in 1993 except awards at the Sympo in Austin, Texas

1994: On March 13, 1993, Rita McMahon, chair of “Victory Day”, organized a party at the Dallas Community Center of the Deaf (DCCD), to celebrate anniversary of Deaf President Now.

1995: In 1995, Coalition of Presidents’ committee made a motion for the Deaf community in Dallas to plan and organize a Deaf Awareness Week in March. Mark Branson volunteered to chair this event and a committee was set up to help him. This week long event was a huge success.

1996: In 1996, the Deaf Awareness Week committee, also chaired by Mark Branson, decided to change the name from Deaf Awareness Week for Deaf Celebration ’96. Again the weeklong event was a huge success. T-shirt was designed by Elizabeth Morris.

1997: Cindi Nagy was the chairperson. The committee dedicated the weeklong event in the honor of Mark Branson. Also, instead of having this event in March, it was voted to have Deaf Celebration week in September from now on. No T-Shirt designed.

1998: Cindi Nagy was the chairperson again. Week of September 15-20, we had a guest speaker, Matthew Moore and a deaf comedian, Lynn Jacobowitz. We also held booths at NorthPark Center. T-shirt was designed by Susan Eads.

1999: Cindi Nagy was the chairperson. Deaf Celebration’s domain www.deafcelebration.com launched! Week of September 16-19, resulted HUGE success with these deaf performers, Matt “Magic” Morgan show and Clayton Valli show. Also, we had the highest booths we ever had — 28 booths at NorthPark Center! T-shirt was designed by Elizabeth Morris.

2000: Cindi Nagy was the chairperson. Deaf Celebration was at the Bronco Bowl on September 23 with over 700 admissions all day, all night. We had over 50 booths during the daytime with J.J. Jones, mime, and Squishy the Clown. Our night performance, we had two performers, Simon Carmel the Magician and Byron Bridges the comedian. This year was the best selling T-Shirts designed by Sam Dunn.

2001: Misty Laird was our new chairperson. It was held at the Bronco Bowl on September 22. We had 45 booths during the daytime with J.J. Jones and his daughter Juliana, mimes, and two clowns, Squishy the Clown and Grapeape. Night entertainment was performed by two separate deaf performers, Matthew “Magic” Morgan and Vikee Waltrip. Beautiful T-Shirt was designed by Michael Banta.

2002: Misty Laird was the chairperson. It was held at Arlington Convention Center on September 21. We had an attendance of over 800 people. We had 47 booths during the daytime with 6 different workshops. For our evening program, we had 5 different performers; Pinky the Juggler, Joshua Soudakoff (child actor), Peter Cook, El Espiritu Silente (Mexican Dancers), and Dr. Deaf. T-shirt, two different colors purple and green was designed by Sam Dunn.

2003: It was held at Arlington Convention Center on September 13. We had an attendance of over 1000 people. We had 48 booths during the daytime with 4 different seminars. For our evening program, we had 3 different performers; Matt “Magic” Morgan, The Wacky Show from Austin and “Deaf Duet” with Roy Jones Jr and April Alonso. T-shirt was designed by our committees and the color was royal blue.

2004: Henry Whalen was our new chairperson. It was held at the Arlington Convention Center on September 11. We had an attendance of over 1,000 people. We had 45 booths during the daytime with 8 different how-to clinics. We also had daytime entertainers primarily for the children; Paul Dymoke for “Professor Snip.” For our evening program, we had 2 different performers; Ken Glickman for “Professor Glick” and “Club Deafiano” T-shirt was designed by our committee and the color was yellow. We used “patriotic” as our theme.

2005: Henry Whalen was the chairperson. It was held at the Arlington Convention Center on September 10th. We had an attendance of over 800 people. We had 38 booths during the daytime with 6 different how-to clinics. We also had daytime entertainer primarily for children along with bounce house and face-painting. For our evening program, we started off with award ceremony and then we offered attendees and exhibitors an opportunity to socialize. T-shirt was designed by Rogelio Ibañez and the color was beige.

2006: The Deaf Celebration Team had to cancel the event in September 2006 because too many overlapping events occurred in that month. The Deaf Celebration committee also decided to host the event biennially and the next event will be held in the year of 2008.

We are back 10 years later…

2016: We are coming back!!! September 24, 2016 – Grant Laird, Jr is chairperson. It was held at Tarrant County College – Trinity River Campus. We had 57 booths and 1,200+ fans that day. We also have two entertainment show featuring Kent Kennedy from Austin and Levi Anderson from New Mexico – ASL Comedy show.

2017: Here we go again! September 23, 2017 – Grant Laird, Jr is chairperson. It was held at Tarrant County College – Trinity River Campus. We had 59 booths and 1,400+ fans that day. We also have two entertainment show featuring Jose Granda from Florida and Heath Goodall from Oregon – both ASL Storytelling. We had the Crepe Crazy food truck with us!

2018: Here we go again! September 29, 2018 – Grant Laird, Jr is chairperson. It was held at Richardson Civic Center in Richardson, Texas. We had 81 booths and approximately 1,700 fans that day. We also have two entertainment show featuring Keith Wann and Justin Perez. We had the Crepe Crazy food truck with us!

2019: October 5, 2019 – Wade Engelsman is new chairperson. We will host it again at Richardson Civic Center in Richardson, Texas. We had 70 booths and approximately 1,800 fans that day. Also, we have Kahoot! Entertainment Night. We had the Crepe Crazy food truck with us! Grant Laird, Jr is our new treasurer.

2020: We are back! October 10, 2020 – Wade Engelsman is chairperson again. We will host it again at Richardson Civic Center in Richardson, Texas. Grant Laird, Jr is the treasurer again as well.

Updated: 11/01/2019