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.