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Our signature fund raiser Theater at Lime Kiln’s, Monte Carlo Evening is now behind us. What an undertaking. It really was a behemoth to stage and could not have been achieved without the extraordinary perseverance of a large numbers of truly amazing people.
Absolutely key to the success of the event was the Steering Committee who you see here. Please do not think all
Lime Kiln Committee meetings are so serious. Here we are selecting wines for the evening. The committee members are from left to right, Kay Lera, Amy Gianniny, Mark Bowman, myself, Mona Hazera, Norm Rollenhagen and Alice Williams. Not shown in the photograph is Pat Ohleger.
As always, at Lime Kiln nothing can happen without the commitment of our corp of Volunteers our FOLKs, Friends of Lime Kiln, who do so much on our behalf. Our auction acquisition FOLKs, Pat Anthony, Becky Edmondson, Fred Massey, and Barbara Thomas did an outstanding job. If you haven’t seen the list of auction items click the following link and you will see what they achieved.
On the night, performing a myriad of task on behalf of the Kiln were in order of appearance, from greeting you at the front door to selling you raffle tickets from the “bank” located on the gallery level to checking you out were: Bob Lera, Terri Bsullak, Alice Williams, Barb Rollenhagen, Gigi Vita, Norm Rollenhagen Mary Huger, Lorae McDonald Chip Honsinger, Woody McDonald, Mark Bowman, Diana Schofield, Judy Schram, Chip Schram, David & Becky Edmondson, Jeanne Faulds, Rick Alford, Natalie Shulkin, Mayumi Smitka and Steve Kvech. All gave their time willing so as to ensure for our guest of the evening that it was a most pleasurable one. Which it undoubtedly was, so Major Thanks to our FOLKs. Nothing at Lime Kiln is possible without your help.
No one volunteer is more important than the next but on the evening we recognized two Committee members who went, above and beyond the call of duty. They were Kay Lera and Mona Hazera. What these ladies accomplished was extraordinary and as nice as the bouquets provided by Jefferson florist & garden were they represent only a fraction of the gratitude they both deserve.
Talking of the Jefferson florist & garden they provided the spectacular table decorations you see here. 
Thanksto Jay and Kar their teams of floral magicians for their contribution to making the evening literally sparkle. The day after I went in to do a final walk around inspection at the Hall of Valor at VM, Clayton who is part of the maintenance team at the Hall was vacuuming up the remnants of the glitter. He said with a smirk on his face that during the Monte Carlo evening he thought he was back at the Borgata in Atlantic City. Praise Indeed. Talking of which, the staff at The Center for Leadership and Ethics (CL&E) in which the Hall of Valor at VMI is situated were absolutely first class to work with. Special thanks to Captain Rabern who is the Director of the CL&E and to Justin Spears who is the Technologist and Assistant Facility Manager, Charlene Mitchell Director of Catering Service and Donna Bishop Catering Manager who made sure everything went like a Swiss timepiece.
Our Monte Carlo evening is quite a financial undertaking, and would be challenging without the support of sponsors. Our title sponsor of the evening was Duncan Audi of Roanoke. They are one of the region’s premier dealerships with one of the finest brands there is, one that has a long history of supporting the Arts. We are also delighted to be partnering with them not only for the Monte Carlo Evening, but also for our 2012 Play Season. It was great to have some special Audi autos with us along with Jim Sanders and Mike Maddox of Duncan Audi who also allowed a previewing the Audi USA Super Bowl ad the day before it aired nationally. If you missed it, watch it now
If you are looking to purchase an Audi Duncan Audi will ensure you get a great deal. If you buy a R8 as part of the Duncan Audi Lime Kiln service package I will personally deliver to your residence via Texas, California and Oregon. No I am not joking.
We were greatly appreciative of Chaise Lounge for making the trip down from DC to be with us this evening, and to Joyce and Ken Hawkins of the Brierley Hill Inn for accommodating the entire ensemble in their wonderful establishment. Chaise Lounge will be back at the Kiln on September 15, do not miss them. Our thanks also go to McClung’s-Printing who donated the program and Rick Wolf for his expert auctioneer’s skills, and to all the donors, of our auction items.
The Monte Carlo fund raiser was all about Theater at Lime Kiln, what it has brought to our community and what it will bring in the future. For the Kiln to continue to provide our season of entertainment that both enriches the culture and honors the heritage of the valley of Virginia we need the support of the community we serve, and boy oh boy did we get the support on the evening of February 4th. We raised around $30,000. All of the funds raised will go to help sustain the cost of producing our 2102 season.
Our incoming Chair of the Board of Directors, Amy Gianniny, honored and roasted, just a little our outgoing Chair George Huger here is what Amy said, “In 2005 Theater at Lime Kiln went dark after 21 years of operation. A group of community leaders rallied to bring the Kiln back into being. It eased back in 06 with 3 concerts that summer. I am excited to report in 2012 we will have some 30 nights of entertainment.
There are a lot of people who can be recognized as drivers of the Kiln’s comeback. Our outgoing Chair, is one of those people. George Huger owner of Lexington’s beloved Southern Inn is no stranger to Lime Kiln’s story. His entrepreneurial spirit and dedication is essential to the organization. George is quick to problem solve and always ready to generously “fill in the gap” with his resources. This past year, George faced some rebuilding of his own. Never once did Lime Kiln feel the absence of our leader.
So George, if you would please come forward we would like to honor you with this small gift….as a token of our appreciation”. What the small gift turned out to be was a giant marlin; don’t ask why there is no good reason other than it is big and a little irreverent. The Lime Kiln Board paid for the “feesh” out of their pockets, and George eventually took it well once he got over his disbelief. The photo sequence explains it better than I can.
Not sure where the “feesh” is now, but George if it isn’t hanging in the Southern Inn or over your mantelpiece bring it back to the next Monte Carlo evening and we
can hand it off to another unsuspecting person for a price, all proceed benefiting the Kiln of course.
In closing this blog, the night was awesome but was not without incident. Captain Bob USN/Ret., fell and received a concussion while attending the Monte Carlo Evening. The rescue squad came and took him to Stonewall Jackson hospital where he spent the night. I visited him the next morning and he was amazingly chipper. I then read an e mail update that read, “Bob says the food was definitely not as good as on his submarine so he went home on Sunday. It continued, “He’s taking it easy but will be fine in a few days and sounded like the old Bob. We all wish him well and hope for his speedy recovery.” Sonar echo that.
In 2013 our Monte Carlo Evening will again return to the Hall of Valor at VMI on February 2, save the date, book early and avoid seeking tickets on the night of the event via Facebook as someone who shall remain nameless did, “Call/write if you have any cancellations for Monte Carlo.”
Thanks to all concerned for a great night. A photo slide show of the evening will be published later this week.
