The 6th Annual Gala Parish Dinner, Auction and Dance
Due to a generous donation from an anonymous donor, 16 Young Adults were able to lower the average age of those in attendance at the Gala Dinner on the 2nd of November. I am going to include here a lot of the comments from one of the members of the Leadership of St. Joe's ¡YA!, Mayra Martinez, that she used to describe it to another, Tyson Murphy, who was unable to attend since he is going to college in Steubenville, Ohio, at Franciscan University. Her description captured the true essence of the night, and allowed him to "live vicariously" the evening. Hopefully, it gives you the same feeling. I will include some picture below, but have to wait for some of them, as I was too busy mingling and dancing to take many myself.
When we first walked in... we saw the entire hall decked out! It was truly beautiful. The MC said that it was the "most beautiful that the hall have EVER looked." They had hung white wall drapes, the ceiling was decorated with long fluffy, flowing tulle with strings of lights, the ends all meeting gently towards the middle of the ceiling. Round tables and chairs lined with silver (very stretchy) cloth and a beautiful, yet simple lantern center piece. The silent auction was set up off to the right in the PSR rooms. Past those items was a table for hors d'oeuvres and a small area for alcoholic beverages (a hosted bar with wine and "frosted martinis"). On the wall opposite the entrance, the orchestra/band (Trade Winds Dance Band) was set up. There was a long yet somewhat narrow dance floor separating them from the sea of round tables, including one of the tables for us, which was right in front of the band.
Off to the left wall, a grey stage was set up and the projector screen was down to meet it. The stage had a center runway for displaying better the auction items, and off to the right of it was a podium.
The food was good. If you had never been to a "fancy" dinner, then the salad would have been interesting to see, LOL. It included a few long leafs of romaine lettuce, tied together at the base with a thinly sliced piece of meat, a little pile of creamy cheese, and neatly sliced pear. Dinner had a decently sized steak, a few small potatoes, and veggies, unless you decided to change it out for a vegan meal, like Daniella. According to Daniella, who doesn't eat steak, "I asked for the veggie meal. It was quiche with all of the same sides. Quiches are weird but very tasty." After dinner they started the live auction which was entertaining to watch. The Menezes made it very entertaining, as the father, Jace, was the auctioneer, while Cameron and his brother were spotters. They made a lot of noise as the bidders raised their bids, by yelling out and tossing items (the program or napkins) in the air. Jace was hilarious also, as he tried to motivate people to continue to bid higher and higher.
Some time during the live auction we were served small pecan pies topped with vanilla ice cream. Thereafter, coffee was served. When the live auction was concluded, donors and bidders were thanked, and the band began! At first we just awed over some of the older couples dancing with such genuine oldies style. We weren't sure what they were going to do, and then, all of a sudden, they were cutting a rug and putting us all to shame. By the second song most of our table was up dancing, and before too many, the other YA table joined us for some group fun!
All in all, the evening was quite "galable" with lot's of fun all around. It was kind of sad that more Young Adults were not able to join us, but hopefully we have a bigger group for our next event, feeding the homeless on the 16th. Will you be there?
Below are some pictures from the night. Again, I will post more, once I have them. The funny thing is that the ones now show a lot of Geoff Coleman, another member of the Leadership, dancing, and I only remember seeing him dance 1 or 2 songs.
When we first walked in... we saw the entire hall decked out! It was truly beautiful. The MC said that it was the "most beautiful that the hall have EVER looked." They had hung white wall drapes, the ceiling was decorated with long fluffy, flowing tulle with strings of lights, the ends all meeting gently towards the middle of the ceiling. Round tables and chairs lined with silver (very stretchy) cloth and a beautiful, yet simple lantern center piece. The silent auction was set up off to the right in the PSR rooms. Past those items was a table for hors d'oeuvres and a small area for alcoholic beverages (a hosted bar with wine and "frosted martinis"). On the wall opposite the entrance, the orchestra/band (Trade Winds Dance Band) was set up. There was a long yet somewhat narrow dance floor separating them from the sea of round tables, including one of the tables for us, which was right in front of the band.
Off to the left wall, a grey stage was set up and the projector screen was down to meet it. The stage had a center runway for displaying better the auction items, and off to the right of it was a podium.
The food was good. If you had never been to a "fancy" dinner, then the salad would have been interesting to see, LOL. It included a few long leafs of romaine lettuce, tied together at the base with a thinly sliced piece of meat, a little pile of creamy cheese, and neatly sliced pear. Dinner had a decently sized steak, a few small potatoes, and veggies, unless you decided to change it out for a vegan meal, like Daniella. According to Daniella, who doesn't eat steak, "I asked for the veggie meal. It was quiche with all of the same sides. Quiches are weird but very tasty." After dinner they started the live auction which was entertaining to watch. The Menezes made it very entertaining, as the father, Jace, was the auctioneer, while Cameron and his brother were spotters. They made a lot of noise as the bidders raised their bids, by yelling out and tossing items (the program or napkins) in the air. Jace was hilarious also, as he tried to motivate people to continue to bid higher and higher.
Some time during the live auction we were served small pecan pies topped with vanilla ice cream. Thereafter, coffee was served. When the live auction was concluded, donors and bidders were thanked, and the band began! At first we just awed over some of the older couples dancing with such genuine oldies style. We weren't sure what they were going to do, and then, all of a sudden, they were cutting a rug and putting us all to shame. By the second song most of our table was up dancing, and before too many, the other YA table joined us for some group fun!
All in all, the evening was quite "galable" with lot's of fun all around. It was kind of sad that more Young Adults were not able to join us, but hopefully we have a bigger group for our next event, feeding the homeless on the 16th. Will you be there?
Below are some pictures from the night. Again, I will post more, once I have them. The funny thing is that the ones now show a lot of Geoff Coleman, another member of the Leadership, dancing, and I only remember seeing him dance 1 or 2 songs.