Sure was nice of Pam and Jim Crowe to put up a tent in their backyard so that the Anchor Center for Blind Children could have a dinner and raise some money.
But I oversimplify. This was no ordinary tent, and Sunset in the Country for sure is no ordinary dinner.
The Crowes — he’s president and chief executive of Broomfield-based Level 3 Communications — are very generous when it comes to supporting the Anchor Center. And this year was no exception.
They underwrote the cost not only of erecting a tent the size of Denver International Airport but also for the Asian-inspired lights and draping that added pizazz to what would otherwise have been an all-white interior. They also:
• Picked up the tab for such amenities as the portable restrooms.
• Paid for the valets who parked the cars belonging to VIP guests.
• Wrote a $10,000 check to Anchor “just because.” This gesture so moved Linda and Paul Sinsar (she’s president of the Anchor Center board) that they did the same.
This was the third time in the benefit’s five-year history that the Crowes had offered the use of their fabulous estate for Sunset in the Country, a by-invitation auction and dinner that is expected to net considerably more than the projected $200,000.
Aside from the setting, what makes Sunset unique is that the table hosts, 50-plus this year, decorate their eating areas in themes ranging from elegant to whimsical. In 2007, for example, Joan Dixon and Mary Rogers broke out the wheelbarrows to carry in the sod they put on their “picnic on the grass” themed table for 26.
Footers Catering once again did the food, with founder Jimmy Lambatos there to lend a hand as his son, Anthony, picks up where dad left off. Jimmy turned Footers over to Anthony after reopening the historic Baur’s restaurant near the Denver Performing Arts Complex.
Longtime Anchor Center volunteer Denise Murray chaired Sunset 2008, working with an 18-member committee that included Cheryl Dutton, Janine Melberg, Mary Minturn, Tricia Potucek, Sally Roberts and Anchor’s executive director, Alice Applebaum.
Songs by the 17th Avenue All-Stars, an auction called by Gary Corbett, and a surprise appearance by Mayor John Hickenlooper added to the fun.
And to let everyone know how appreciated their support is, Kerry Musfeldt, an Anchor parent, spoke with great emotion of how devastated she and her husband were after learning, when their daughter was just 8 weeks old, that she was blind, and how Anchor’s staff and programs had enriched all of their lives.
Musfeldt’s presentation made Hickenlooper’s remarks ring especially true. “By the time this event has ended,” Hickenlooper had said, “you’ll want to go home and write an even bigger check.”
The 500 guests included Carolynn Bond, a member of Anchor’s community advisory board; Chris and Missy Glauch; Richard and Terese Porreco; Barbara Bridges; Linda and Dr. Joe Broughton; Jane and Jim Davis; Lexy and Brad Pfeifley; Jean and Michael Micketti; Sandy and John Blue; Carla and Bob King; Judi and Bob Newman; Carrie and Rich Mountain; Judy Fahrenkrog; Holly McDonald; and Patty McConaty, who shared the fun news that after 15 years of joining friends for an annual bicycle tour of Italy, she is making her knowledge pay off by opening Si, Italia! travel planners.
Society editor Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com; also,
