This event gets better every time that “we” do it! I use the word “we” loosely, because there were a number of us (myself included) who did precious little to ensure its success. But the ladies and gentlemen who put in hours of work, planning, soliciting, set-up, and clean-up, really did it proud.

I overheard comments like, “This is the best Rotary event that I’ve attended in a long while.” And, “This has been a most wonderful evening!” For myself, I know that I had a wonderful time and my family thought it was superb! I think not having large sit-down tables kept the crowd moving and milling around which made meeting and talking to numerous people, much easier. The food was plentiful and DELICIOUS! Thank you, Christine, for spearheading that effort as well as spending countless hours in the kitchen creating such tasty tidbits. The donated food was fabulous as well.

The entertainment was wonderful! This year we had four instrument players, a bassoonist, cellist, keyboardist, and violinist from the San Diego Symphony. They donated their talents to us and played for 45 minutes. We had an added surprise this year, a marvelous French vocalist. She told me she was a soprano, which surprised me because she was singing the songs in a mid-range, which sounds rich and sultry. “But,” she continued, “I can also sing alto, and I do have a high range.”

The dancers had expanded their repertoire as well. There were two women who alternated dancing the tango with one man and the first woman even included a costume change. Their tangos had some lifts and in one case an aerial somersault. This was quite a feat, in my estimation, with heals on, and on a hard stone floor.

The auction items were many and varied. Also varied, was the manner in which they could be won. Diane sold twenty raffle tickets for twenty dollars and you could put your tickets into bags which denoted the prize. You just put your tickets in bags which denoted something you wanted to win. There was a kindle and Bose wireless headphones among many other donated gifts. There were silent auction items as well. There were gifts from local businesses like Jazzercise, auto repair, banks, (No they weren’t giving away money. Darn!) photography sessions, computer tune-ups, a quilt, car servicing, and many more. The biggest three items were auctioned by our resident auctioneer, Ivan. (Who knew??) It was interesting when the BIG item, a week in a 2 bedroom condo on the big island of Hawaii, was auctioned off. Each bidder would up the previous bid, until Lynn reached her pre-determined limit. So, Ken Patterson was the lucky winner who got quite a “deal!!” Didn’t he just recently win the Opportunity Drawing at our meeting as well? He said he’s taking his whole family. The deal was for the week of Thanksgiving this year.

The wine lottery was another fun event, for those who participated. Wine was wrapped in custom made bags and numbered and placed in a wine rack. Corks with numbers were auctioned. The cork you got was the bottle you won. Some was very good wine, while others were more middle of the road. You “won” the bottle with the same number as your cork.

There was an impressive telescope set up outside. The owner was from the Stargazers club. While his telescope did have an eyepiece, he had it connected to a small DVD player so you could see what the telescope was focused on the players small screen. Before it was very dark he had it focused on the moon, which, on this night, was a small sliver. You could see the craters in the illuminated part quite clearly and also watch the coming and going of the clouds which on occasion obliterated the view momentarily. The picture seemed to wave a bit and that, the man said, was the heat rising from the roof of the Interpretive Center. By the time it was dark enough to look at stars, the entertainment had started inside so I’m not sure how many customers he had. But, it was a really good idea.

As you approached the Center, down the winding path you were greeted with the calls of local birds, which is part of the Center’s attraction. Fake boulders are spaced along the trail and as you pass, a recorded bird call is emitted. Then there were decorated stand-up cocktail tables to facilitate a convenient place to put your drinks and hors d’ oeuvres while you ate. Also, you were greeted by two musicians, one playing a wooden flute, the other a drum. I got there too early to hear them, but others who did, told me they were quite entertaining.

I know almost every one of the nearly 150 people present would agree that this event was a resounding success!!