People from all walks of life love good music AND they put their money where their mouth is.  This past week I have whirled about the city collecting donations for the Sneak-a-Peek Gala.  We will be having a silent and live auction Saturday, Nov. 7 at Arrowhead Country Club.  Folks who purchased the $60 Sneak-a-Peek tickets for the Homes for the Holidays Tour will have an opportunity to join the fun as they bid for these practical (and not-so-practical) items.  Of course, they also get to have the delicious Vermont Cabot Cheeses that have been donated AND the marvelous wines donated by Smith’s Liquor Gallery AND the five different hor d’oeurves prepared by the chef at Arrowhead. 

Need I mention that the women who comprise the Symphony League have tirelessly worked for a year to bring this all together?  When you tour the lovely homes beautifully decorated by professionals it is obvious how much work has occurred.   What you cannot see are all the meetings, the planning, the worrying that goes into it.  Work by committee is not for the timid!  But like the ol’ cowboy said, “You can see this ain’t their first rodeo!”  

Thanks to the Rapid City Journal for the great write up they gave us in last Thursday’s paper (Oct 29, 2009) Home & Garden section.  You can check that out if this is all news to you. Let me show you some of the lovelies that have been donated.  Folks who bid and purchase these items are actually contributing dollars to the Black Hills Symphony and music education in our community…that’s the serious part.  Now here’s the fun.

Sylvia Cox created the necklace in the photo above.  It is entirely handmade of fine silver - that means is 99.9% pure and will not tarnish. 

Photographer Ryan Becker, in the spirit of the 75th anniversary of the Symphony Orchestra, is offering a certificate for $75 off any portrait session or wedding booking.  (TOLD you there was something practical.)

The Black Hills Dance Theatre sent us six tickets for “The Nutcracker” ballet being performed later this month, so I put that together with some other donations for NUTCRACKER SPECIALS.

Flowers by LeRoy gave us a sweet nutcracker ornament and inside that little black box is a $50 gift card.  We’ll be auctioning that off with two tickets to “The Nutcracker Ballet”. 

The other special is four tickets to the ballet and a certificate for music from Batchelder’s Plummer Piano.

Another practical auction item is the Artist’s work kit from Copy Country  with cutters, slicers, measurers, markers and more.  If you are a scrapbooker you are going to want this one.

 Jolly Lane came up with some surprising goodies for their donation basket.  Sue picked out Sweet Potato Butter and Black-eyed Pea Salsa from their line of canned goods.  Then she tossed in some popcorn, gloves, fertilizer and some tools.  BUT, like the Crazy Horse basket, the really good thing is in the little envelope - a gift certificate to spend in the greenhouse!  You can always use a little more cash when you are surrounding by living, blooming beauties!  

  I hope to see you at the Sneak a Peek Auction - good food, fine drink, excellent company and all for a good cause.  Thanks for stopping by. mlt

This entry was posted on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 2:52 pm and is filed under Village Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.