Here’s the deal: Friends of the Boys & Girls Club buy tables (metaphorically speaking—they buy the seats at the table) and decorate them (the tables, not the seats) with a theme for the group’s Celebrity Waiters Night. Some folks have a hint of a theme, and some folks are way over the top.
Every table setting is different, and a few of them knock your socks off.
Folks who are well known around town (like architect Tom Martinez, political field rep. Etta Waterfield, banker Brooks Wise, and county supe Steve Lavagnino) dress up like golfers, rock stars, and Hawaiian surfers and serve dinner to friends and supporters of the B&G Club.
This event, held at the country club, is a hoot-and-a-half and borderline raucous as people who haven’t seen each other since lunch or dinner the night before network themselves silly.
This year’s show was held on Wednesday evening, Jun 22, and, of course, it was a rousing success—socially, visually, and financially.
About 200 attended, maybe 15 percent more than last year, according to Brandi Castillo.
Talk about humongous centerpieces! Blanca Deleon fashioned a 4-foot-high breathtaking creation spilling over with yellow lilies and purple hydrangea. Ladies and gents at Blanca’s table wore black outfits (including long gowns) and sported traditional Mardi Gras masks and feathers.
Brooks Wise’s table centerpiece featured a shiny red guitar. His tablemates were directed to dress as ’60s and ’70s rockers. Dan Cavanaugh hid behind a straggly white beard and carried a guitar around. I did not recognize Bob Engel in his long black wig. I kept thinking: Where did this guy park his Harley?
Dinner included pork, new potatoes, vegetables, raspberry and walnut salad, and apple cobbler. Tickets were a very affordable $35, with a no-host bar.
At my table, Alex and Kathy Simas, Jan Zilli, Bunny Maxim, and Alice Martin enjoyed the celebrity waiter services of Coldwell Banker’s Shay Murphy. We loved ya, Shay!
Jennifer Christiansen and Carol Cabrera of Byars Thompson Buchanan Insurance gave me the lowdown on their table décor. They put together a Frankenstein’s bride theme with stuff from Frankenstein’s lab—beakers for chemicals (with colored water and dry ice that gave off eerie vapors)—and a skull (real?). So clever!
To give us a Frankenstein’s bride moment, the amiable Joel Byars squeezed himself into a huge white wedding dress and was the belle of, if not the ball, at least the Byars Thompson Buchanan table.
Jim and Terese Diani, Bruno and Jackie Brunello, and Judy and Hardy Hearn, as well as a group of Rotarians, were among
the attendees.
DJ Jay Turner assisted celebrity auctioneer Jim Glines with the live auction.
City Councilman Mike Cordero spoke briefly about what the Boys and Girls club meant to him when he was growing up in Santa Barbara. He talked about how the club expanded his world and provided warm memories of life’s lessons learned in a safe surrounding.
“We learned to play sports, experience camaraderie, and have respect,” he said.
The Club, he told us, helped kids become good citizens.
Get a ticket next year. You’ll love it.
If you want to hobnob with Helen, you may contact her at helenhom232@yahoo.com.
This article appears in Jun 30 – Jul 7, 2011.