If you bought a $60 ticket to the 10th annual Mardi Gras dinner, dance, and auction held by St. Mary of the Assumption School, you automatically had a chance to win a 19-inch flatscreen TV. “We always have a door prize,” volunteered über-volunteer Denise Gannt, one of three moms who started St. Mary’s Mardi Gras […]
HELEN ANN THOMAS
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Hobnobbing With Helen
Oh my! So much chatter and conversation. It was truly schmooze central. More than 100 ladies and a few gents trekked into the Santa Maria Room of the Santa Maria Inn. The level of the constant buzz said it all: This was a highly successful networking opportunity. More than 30 vendors were on site to […]
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Hobnobbing with Helen
Jolly is the key word. Ninety party-goers had a jolly good time at the Santa Maria Philharmonic Society’s annual fund-raising dinner on the evening of Jan. 21 at the Radisson Hotel. Here are the top 10 reasons why you should have been there: Reason No. 10: You would have had the opportunity to hobnob with […]
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Hobnobbing with Helen
Bloom where you are planted. That’s a familiar theme often used by folksy-homesy artist Mary Englebreit. The saying certainly applies to Santa Maria’s Shirley Contreras, a well-known-about-town pillar of the Santa Maria Historical Society. She moved here from Boston in October 1991. “Since I didn’t know anyone here, I started volunteering at the [historical] museum […]
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Hobnobbing With Helen
Hodgepodge hobnobbing is the theme of this last column of the year: a little bit of this and a little bit of that—stuff that was overlooked in the year’s regular gad-about reports. First off, if there is one thing Santa Maria doesn’t lack, it’s Christmas tree raffles. The three Altrusa groups in town have all […]
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Hobnobbing with Helen
So beautiful! So delicious! So congenial! How else to describe the extraordinary Palm Court Holiday Candlelight Tour held in a historic neighborhood near the Santa Maria Inn? Three wonderful period (circa 1930) homes, loaded with spectacular Christmas décor, were the focus of this tour, which is also a progressive dinner. Imagine French 75 cocktails (champagne […]
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Hobnobbing with Helen
BY HELEN ANN THOMAS
By that I mean an impressive lineup of movers and shakers in North County and an equally impressive lineup of silent and live auction items. Sign of the times: An Amazon Kindle was on the silent auction table. This made Winter Nights, held Saturday evening, Nov. 19, at the Santa Maria Country Club, very special. […]
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Next stop: Cayucos
For $5 you can buy an RTA bus day pass from Santa Maria to Cayucos and beyond
When friends Kathy Hayes and Kerry Main Aller invited me to join them on a one-day bus trip to tiny Cayucos by the Sea, 53 miles away— one stop before Cambria and two stops before San Simeon—I gasped with glee. The price was right and the destination, irresistible. Cayucos is the home of the famed […]
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Hobnobbing with Helen
Aaaaaagh! Aaaaaagh!! Aaaaaagh!!! Intermittent screams pierced the soft buzz of dinner conversation. The screamer—Lady Sherringham (Georgia Shore)—stole down the curved staircase, away from the clutches of her possibly wicked attendant, Nurse Maude (Pat Haley) and her physician, Dr. Anna Freud (Nancy Amidon), to frighten the dinner “guests” by brandishing a knife. A very large knife, […]
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Hobnobbing With Helen
Travelers checking into the Radisson on Saturday evening, Oct. 8, at 5:30 p.m., were treated to an unexpected delight. About 30 PCPA students participated in a moving tableau outside the entrance. A chorus burst out with an Italian love song every time someone walked up the red carpet to enter the hotel. Young ladies with […]
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Hobnobbing With Helen
Such a swanky soiree! The United Way Mayors’ Ball brought out all the swells on Saturday evening, Oct.1, at the Santa Maria Country Club. About 200 well-dressed folks showed up to honor North County’s mayors at UW’s annual fundraiser. Tickets were $125. Event chairperson Bo Cudd waved her magic wand and with the help of […]
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Hobnobbing with Helen
Bravo, ladies of the Santa Maria Country Club! Your “Ladies Friendship Luncheon and Fashion Show” was such a stylish success. This is the seventh year this group has held this event, designed to bring together tennis, golf, and social members. The luncheon benefits a different nonprofit each time. This year, the focus was on the […]