2nd Night of
Ten Thousand Frolics
An
evening of performance, silent auction, food, drink & more.
6pm until 10pm
Minneapolis, MN 55410
We will update all the event files frequently as information becomes available.
The complete schedule for the evening.
A list of entertainment scheduled for the evening.
A list of the silent auction items for the evening. Letter for businesses or individuals from which you wish to receive a donation.
Catering is again being prepared by our fellow classmate Chef Nick Cronin.
Ten Thousand Frolics is an event to benefit the
Twin Cities T’ai Chi Ch’uan Studio. Twin Cities T'ai-Chi Ch'uan Studio is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 corporation,
dedicated to teaching and promoting the art of Yang-style T’ai-Chi Ch’uan. We
believe that T’ai Chi is universally accessible and that everyone–young or old,
weak or strong, male or female, health enthusiast or martial artist–can benefit
from its practice and study. To make T’ai-Chi and related arts available to
all, we offer a wide variety of courses and times, and we are devoted to
providing the highest quality training for teachers, students, and
practitioners.
(Article from the June 2008 Wu-Dang Newsletter)
NIGHT of TEN THOUSAND FROLICS
TCTCCS’ First Fundraiser
By Rondi Atkin
In the program notes for the Twin Cities T’ai-Chi Ch’uan’s first annual fundraiser, Board chair Val DiEuliis wrote, “First it was an idea.”
I don’t know about you, but for me, coming up with ideas is the easy part, and when, after joining the Board, I saw how the Studio barely scraped by each month, it wasn’t hard to think, “We need a fundraiser.” But it’s the next step, realizing an idea, that often stops me in my tracks, and I can honestly say that without the know-how, commitment, and energy of my committee–Kim Hayward, Teisha Magee, Karen Taylor, Morgan Willow, Lynn Dennis, and Tim Dennis–my idea would have never become a reality.
On Saturday, June 7th, we presented Night of Ten Thousand Frolics (coined by Morgan Willow). Sifu Ray’s Masonic lodge provided the perfect venue: the upstairs auditorium, transformed into a nightclub, held the cabaret, including puppetry, clog dancing, sword play, belly dancing, folk songs, poetry, Morris dancing, jazz, and blues (featuring Sifu Ray on drums, Sifu Paul on guitar, and Val on bass), interspersed masterfully with wit and humor by our M.C. Jim Cunningham. Downstairs held the silent auction, food and drink. The weather was beautiful (despite the forecast predicting 70% chance of thunderstorms), and people were free to mill from the entertainment to the refreshments, to the silent auction, or to step outside and enjoy the evening breeze.
We know that genius depends on hard work and that no party is complete without great food. Nick Cronin volunteered to be chef for the evening. His talent and connection to free food provided an array of amazing appetizers. As attendee, Amie Jo Digatono said, “It was incredible. There would be trays of wonderful tidbits to choose from, and when those trays ran out, more trays–with completely different assortments–suddenly appeared.” Another attendee kept nibbling from one of the dessert trays, which had Gruyere cheese, blueberries, and chocolate. Nick’s culinary creations not only gave pleasure, it also saved us–literally– thousands of dollars in catering fees. But Nick could not have done it alone, and he was ably assisted by Bruce Tyler who worked with him from nine in the morning until five in the afternoon (when he went home to change and pick up his wife), and Jeff Christianson, who helped from five o’clock until the end of the evening. Dave Ridley’s generous contribution supplied us with submarine sandwiches from Buon Giorno.
A large part of our success is due to the countless people and businesses having donated or procured items for the auction, not to mention several cash donations. Seventy-four auctions ended successfully, and the average number of bids on each item was 4.5, but the crystal monkey montage received the most, with nineteen bids (one couple, both friends of mine, were bidding against each other for it). How successful were the Frolics? The final numbers are still crunching, but it looks as though we will have made nearly $9,000. This far exceeds our early projections. We sold nearly 190 tickets and over 160 of those people attended, adding in performers and some volunteers, we had nearly 200 there on Saturday.
Dozens of volunteers helped throughout the evening, manning the front table, pouring drinks, setting up the auction, and cleaning up (most notably, the late-into-the-night-until-the-bitter-end-clean-up crew: Jesse Williams, John Stitely, Steve Leinen, Matt Peterson, Katie Westlund, and Adam Frank). Their commitment helped the evening run smoothly. Finally, what began as an idea could never have happened without all of you who attended: your generosity and spirit made the evening a complete success, or as Tom Waits once said to his audience, “Thanks y’all for coming. It would’ve been a drag without ya.”