The Valley Line: Hospital guild gets its kicks at fundraiser
There is not one tiny piece of candy left, not even a candy wrapper, after literally hundreds of trick-or-treaters cleaned out my sweet stash on Wednesday night. The little ghosts and goblins wandered down to my street directly from the ever-popular Montrose “Spooktacular” event.
Whew! That is over with. We are now racing pell-mell to Thanksgiving and Christmas with scarcely a breath in between. Before I get catapulted into holiday reporting there are a couple of events to catch up with that happened here in town.
The Flintridge Guild of Children’s Hospital held a roof-raising fundraising evening called “Moonlight and Moonshine.”
Nearly 100 guests, dressed in their best cowboy and cowgirl duds, sashayed over to the Thursday Club for the festivities expertly cochaired by Charlotte Saydah and Debbie Enterente Zielinski.
There was a silent auction table with many tempting items to bid on. Two of the most highly contested items were weeklong stays at a ranch house in Montana and a beachfront condo in San Clemente. There were also fancy baskets filled with goodies created by guild members.
Everyone had a fun time trying out the new line dances — it just couldn’t be helped when one half of the line went in one direction while the other half danced in the opposite. Anyway, it provided a lot of laughs.
The barbecue supper at the hitching post was mighty fine and prepared by the Newport Rib Company.
All of the proceeds from the evening were earmarked for the imaging research department of Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles.
Just some of the folks having fun at the party were Marsha and Roger Baumgarten, Bill and Robin Burk, Sherri and Charlie Christensen, Peggy and John Cresto, Bertie and David Cullen, Juliet and Frank Cullen, Chris and Rich Goetz, Melanie and Jim Liu, Yvonne and Ted Slaught, Suzanne and Ru Jensen, Nancy Wyman, Ella Selders, Mary and John Mazur, Pati and Derek Patao, Mary Ann and Joe De Briyn, Deanne and Mike Durfee, and Hilary and Lee Gregg.
Now on to another party that was well attended: The whims of Lady Luck were tested at the recent La Cañada Thursday Club’s Casino Night. Members and guests were encouraged to wear Halloween costumes. From absurd to beautiful, and everything between, everyone seemed to have a blast dressing up. Winners of the “best” costume awards went to Gracella Gibbs, Mary Hennessy and Patricia Harris. Gracella was a high-fashion spider lady and Patricia looked like she just stepped out of the movie “My Fair Lady” in her lovely 1800s-style gown.
The game tables saw brisk action all night and it didn’t even matter if you didn’t know how to play the craps table, blackjack or roulette because the gaming staff helped everyone get up to winning speed on the different games.
Later on in the evening a autumn-inspired catered dinner of a hearty stew with mashed potatoes and veggies was served.
Everyone was having so much fun at the gaming tables that they didn’t want to go home. Yes indeed, a good time was had by all.
JANE NAPIER NEELY covers the La Cañada Flintridge social scene. Email her at janvalleysun@yahoo.com.