Exposfest on March 27 will see 15 former Expos

Photo: ExposFest

March 1, 2022

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

The show must go on.

Exposfest founder Perry Giannias and his family are looking forward to staging another autograph festival March 27 after the pandemic shut the event down in 2020 and 2021.

Fifteen former Expos are slated to attend the sold-out gala at the Embassy Plaza in the Montreal suburb of Laval.

The affair begins at 3:30 p.m. with autograph signings followed by a full-course supper at 6 p.m. A crowd of 950 is expected to be on hand.

"All capacity restrictions are lifted as of the 14th,'' Giannias said in an interview. "The only thing remaining will be masks when walking around.’’

Making their first appearance at the event will be Ken Singleton, Mike Torrez, Bartolo Colon, Jeff Fassero, Javier Vasquez, Wallace Johnson and Sean Berry along with Quebec native and former major-leaguer Eric Gagné.

Others slated to come are Vladimir Guerrero, Bill Lee, Tim Raines, Darrin Fletcher, Steve Rogers, Cliff Floyd, Rondell White and Jeff Reardon.

The event was first held in 2016 in downtown Montreal and since then, the Giannias clan has raised about $890,000 for their KatD foundation and the Montreal Children's Hospital from Exposfest sessions, through donations and various side events, including gatherings in Ottawa and Cooperstown and the Anti-Expo collectibles show held in Laval each December.

About $10,000 alone was raised when people made donations following the recent death of Giannias' mother. Most of the money for the March 27 event was already donated from 2020.

"So we will have one last gala in 2023 to celebrate our achievements and over $1-million raised,’’ Giannias said.

Danny Gallagher will be attending Exposfest to sign copies of his various books.