It\u2019s been another year of growth for the Gliding Stars of Erie program \u2014 26 years and counting for an event that creates a space for people with challenges to stand up and be acknowledged for their accomplishments.<\/p>\n
For the Gliding Stars skaters, this isn\u2019t just a performance. It\u2019s a celebration of everything they\u2019ve learned since stepping onto the ice back in the fall. And tonight, the Mercyhurst University Ice Center was packed with people cheering them on.<\/p>\n
Erie News Now\u2019s Tom DiVecchio kept the energy high as MC, introducing each routine as skaters took the ice with volunteers right beside them, helping build confidence with every glide, spin, and smile.<\/p>\n
A representative from Gliding Stars described how much the event strengthens the community and lifts everyone involved.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just such an inspiration to see how things that we just take for granted, they have to work very, very hard for to succeed, and it means so much to them for the community to come out and support them,\u201d explained Linda Althoff, the executive director and coach of Gliding Stars.<\/p>\n
Adding to the atmosphere was live music from Tennessee Backporch, giving each routine its own soundtrack and getting the crowd clapping along.<\/p>\n
For families, the night is emotional. It\u2019s about progress, joy, and watching their skater shine in a way that only this program makes possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been another year of growth for the Gliding Stars of Erie program \u2014 26 years and counting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[524,15321,136,138,137,45651,66220,66221],"class_list":["post-145053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-community","tag-disability","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-figure-skating","tag-gliding-stars","tag-mercyhurst-ice-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}