“Christmas in July.” Oh, my goodness, this pre-holiday happening sounded intriguing!
Christmas was the theme of the monthly Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce mixer hosted by Altrusa of the Golden Valley on July 20 at the Santa Maria Town Center mall. The theme was carried out with red and green decorations, holiday napkins, and a tiny Christmas tree.
The mixer served as advance notice of the Altrusa Club’s Magical Christmas Trees raffle event coming up in late November.
About 80 showed up for an attractive mix of finger foods, wine, beer, and socializing. Sherry Rose commented, “The food is very creative.”
“Everything,” Barbara Fleming, current club president, told me, “was donated by members. Nothing was catered.” It was all worthy of note.
Anna Libbon, director of operations for the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Maria Valley, was part of the motherlode of hobnobbing intel that was available at the mixer. There was lots of news from various sources about coming attractions—music to a hobnobber’s ears!
I enjoyed meeting Lt. Juan Torres and his wife Lt. Patricia Torres, who wore their Salvation Army uniforms.
Altrusa members were out in full force. I enjoyed brief chats with past club president Jackie Brunello, former city councilperson Terri Zuniga, Maria Robb, and long time member Kiyoshi Sakura, one of the men in the club.
The mixer was held in a large—no, make that humongous—space on the second floor of the mall. It is more than adequate for the 42 trees laden with lights and gifts that Altrusa expects to showcase starting in late November. The trees are sponsored by local donors and feature at least $350 worth of things you might want to see under your tree. Raffle tickets for one dollar each will be sold and the winners will be announced in December.
Raffle prizes are a favorite at Chamber of Commerce mixers. Altrusa did a fabulous job with 10 gift baskets, enveloped in cellophane wrap and tied with big bows. Guests inserted their business cards into a bucket, from which the winners were drawn.
Back to the food: Some of the choices were chicken wings, three different kinds of meatballs, tuna (or chicken) salad sliders, a cream-cheese-covered-with-corn spread (very festive in appearance), wraps, and deviled eggs that appeared to have been embellished with guacamole. A lemon cream “Madonna Inn” cake from Spencer’s Market was a hard-to-pass-up dessert.
At events that occur immediately at the end of the workday, everyone is near ravenous. The bountiful spread and beverages were almost gone by the end of the evening.
Christmas tree raffle festivals are signature events of the Santa Maria Valley Altrusa Clubs. The ticket sales raise a good sum of money that is plowed back into the community.
The nighttime (and original) Altrusa club is famous for its madcap Christmas tree raffle held at the Elks Club around Thanksgiving. The noontime Altrusa club held its Christmas tree raffle on the second floor of the mall last year. The Altrusa Club of the Golden Valley is the morning club. They were also on the second floor of the mall last year and, this year, will occupy a larger space.
“Christmas in July” was a pleasant preamble to the real deal due in December.
If you want to hobnob with Helen, you may contact her at column151@gmail.com.
This article appears in Aug 3-10, 2017.