If you found yourself walking around uptown Saint John Saturday night, it might have felt like you were in an episode of the classic sitcom ‘Three’s Company.’
Hundreds of people were dressed as Helen Roper, a few Stanleys and other characters from the show for the fourth annual Mrs. Roper’s Romp for cancer research.
“We started this in honour of my sister,” says event founder Becky Allaby.
Her sister Jennifer passed away in 2021 at the age of 52 after a yearlong battle with breast cancer.
“Her last request was to never be forgotten, and I told her that we wouldn’t let that happen.”
The romp first started as a walk in 2021. Allaby along with some friends started to walk the Harbour Passage multiple times a week to raise awareness and support for cancer research, while her sister joined virtually as she was living in Saskatchewan. After Jennifer passed away in October, Becky and her friends continued to do the walk the following year.
In 2023, Allaby came across a TikTok of a group of friends doing a bar crawl in California dressed as Mrs. Roper. Seeing as ‘Three’s Company’ was a favourite show of the sisters growing up, Allaby thought it would be the perfect way to celebrate and honour her only sibling.
“When we did that in 2023, we were uptown and we had a lot of people coming up to us asking us who we were, what we were doing,” says Allaby. “We told them and they wanted to know how they could get involved and we decided that the following year we would open it up to the public.”
‘One person really can make a difference’
Allaby, along with her close friend Debbie Squires, reached out to the Canadian Cancer Society and began planning for a bigger event in 2024. The first year with public participation saw around 200 people come out to support cancer research, with that number climbing to more than 600 both this year and last.
Squires says planning for the event begins in March, and says it is unbelievable to see the growth of the romp in just a few years.
“It really is true that one person really can make a difference,” she says, crediting Allaby for starting the romp in the first place. “We’ve had lots of survivors that have come and the survivors are really touched because they are the ones living through it right now.”
All funds raised through the event, including tickets, go toward the Canadian Cancer Society. In just three years of being open to the public, the romp has raised more than $40,000 for cancer research.
Remembering loved ones lost
The romp started as a way to remember and celebrate Jennifer, but since opening the event to the public the romp has been a night to commemorate all those who have been impacted by all forms of cancer. The most emotional part of the night is a slide show, where attendees can submit photos and memorials for who they are romping for.
Michelle Bourque and a group of friends came down from Moncton to romp for the night. When asked why she decided to come out, she says the number one reason was because of her father who passed away after a battle with cancer.
“You can’t help but come out here and have a great time,” she says. “It actually makes me think of my parents as I grew up watching that show.”
“We’re here to honour our mom who always dressed up and had lots of fun,” sisters Shari O’Connor and Karen Gunn told CTV News Atlantic. “This is the best.”
Friends April Adams, Michelle Stockford, Paula Duplessis, Sandra Dobson, and Glenda Dobson have been coming to the romp since it began. When asked what keeps them coming back each year, the answer was simple.
“We’re all here to celebrate someone we lost, someone that we still have.”
Allaby says the best way to encapsulate the night is by calling it a celebration of all the lives that have been impacted by cancer, which of course includes her sister Jennifer.
“We did this in honour of Jen, but now we do it in honour of so many others.”
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