June 13, 2005

You say spring, we say fling and it was a night that most of us will never forget. Only the second annual event, the Sunol Glen Community Club did an outstanding job presenting this years Spring Fling fundraiser. Jody McPheeters beautiful garden set the stage for a very elegant gathering. Who knew that Sunol's master of all decorators, Stephan Doyle could inconspicuously decorate the portable facilities so elegantly that it took a few minutes to find them? Stephan did an absolutely wonderful job decorating Jody's spacious garden, I especially loved the jeweled copper dragonflies.

Guests mingled among the sixty silent auction entries that were offered which included items such as a golfing at Sunol Valley Golf Club, an estate planning package, a full body massage, an autographed San Francisco Giants baseball, a fire station breakfast for sixteen people hosted by our own California Department of Forestry firemen and much, much more. Live auctions items included a winemaker dinner; one week stay at a Lake Tahoe condo and much more as well. Sunol Glen first grade teacher Nancy Chiprich and husband John served as Auctioneers.

The most oohhh and aahhed live auction items were the special theme trunks that were decorated and completely stuffed by each of the kindergarten through eighth grade classes. They included a "Choo Choo Train" and "All Kinds of Books" trunk from the kindergarten class; a "Family Game" trunk from the first grade class, a "Dog Lovers" trunk from the first/second grade combo class, a "Going Camping" trunk from the second grade glass, an "American Girl" trunk from the third grade class, an "I Love Cooking" trunk from the third/fourth grade combo class, a "Summer at the Beach" trunk from the fifth grade class, an "Animal Care" trunk from the sixth grade class, a "Green Thumb Gardening" trunk from the seventh grade class and a "Hooray for Hollywood" trunk from the eighth grade class. Another special trunk which included items referring to Sunol, such as a Sunol tapestry blanket, the book "A Place Called Sunol" and wine from Sunol vintners was put together by a Sunol Glen Mom, Lisa Ball.

Although the weather was a little chilly once the sun started setting on Kilkare Canyon, guests were certainly enjoying the abundance of wine tasting provided by Elliston Vineyards, Fenestra Vineyards, Little Valley Vineyards, Livermore Valley Cellars, Tenuta Vineyards and Thomas Coyne Winery. In fact, I believe more wine was consumed with the assumption that it could keep a person warm. And the hors d'oeuvres provided by Monica Hobbs catering were delicious and a perfect accompaniment to the wines that were being served. The entertainment for the evening was provided by the stunning vocalist Deborah Benyahia whose French songs provided a certain ambience to an already elegant gathering.

Thank you to all who helped make this a very special evening and we all can't wait for next years Spring Fling. Volunteers included; Chairperson, Brigit Craig, Lori Nielsen, Cathy Morris, Annalise Olsen, Darlene Wexner, Martha Carter and Lisa Ball.

Oh and "drum roll please" funds raised by this fantastic event here in our little town…$14, 053.

Sometimes good intentions do not always seem to turn out that way; especially when I make such a huge mistake as I did in last week's column. I so enjoyed my conversation with Dolores Reimers family, I had even met her on several occasions and was excited to be able to portray her as the loving mother, grandmother, sister, wife and friend to all that she was. But even though I had read and re-read my column at least twenty times before it was submitted for print, I did the most unimaginable-I misspelled her name. Dolores was such a huge part of this community, her memorial service at the Little Brown Church and reception afterwards at the Sunol Community Park was well attended by so many familiar faces. She was truly loved by this entire community and I would like to express my deepest apologies to those who I offended by misspelling her name.