A kitschy pop-culture phenomenon celebrating an iconic TV character is coming to Port Moody.
Moody Ales, 2601 Murray St., is hosting Vancouver’s second annual Roper Romp on Saturday, Sept. 21, at 2 p.m.
The event celebrates the Mrs. Roper character played by the late actress Audra Lindley on the first few seasons of the sitcom Three’s Company and its short-lived spin-off, The Ropers.
Helen Roper was the partner of Stanley, the beleaguered, befuddled and often overwhelmed landlord of the upstairs apartment rented by Jack Tripper and his two platonic female roommates, Janet and Chrissy.
The character was as renowned for her exaggerated, buoyant wigs and taste for large jewelry and colourful, blousey caftans as her wisecracks about her own husband’s inadequacies and her world-wise knowledge of the ruse being perpetrated by their tenants about Tripper’s sexual orientation that allowed their living arrangement to continue.
According to the New York Times, the first Roper Romp occurred in 2013 when a fan in New Orleans named Bud Moore gathered 50 people dressed as Mrs. Roper to march in a parade during Southern Decadence, an annual party weekend in the city for the queer community.
Since then, Moore’s Mrs. Roper Romp Facebook page has amassed almost 60,000 followers and spawned hundreds of Roper Romp events across North America.
“I’m so thrilled that people are organizing events in other places and hope our Mrs. Roper community continues to grow,” said Moore in an introductory statement.
Participants in a typical Roper Romp emulate the eponymous character’s big curly wigs, outsized sunglasses and jewelry as well as garish caftans, although some show have showed up dressed at Mr. Roper.
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