The Mask Project Gala first set Denver’s fundraising scene on fire in 1998, and after 11 years it still has plenty of sizzle.
Enough so that firefighters were on the scene. Not to extinguish any flames, though, but to fan them.
Let me explain.
After an hour or so spent nibbling their way through an array of Occasions by Sandy food stations, the 1,000 guests assembled in center court at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center for the live auction and fashion show. But instead of showing evening gowns and sportswear, Saks Fifth Avenue turned up the heat by featuring lingerie.
Models made a dramatic entry via the glass elevators that shuttle shoppers between the mall’s first and second floors and then burned up the runway with cover boy Ronnie Marrone and several of the other well-toned, mask-wearing, bare-chested firemen whose images grace the 2010 Colorado Firefighter Calendar.
Interior designer Mickey Ackerman started The Mask Project as a benefit for The Denver Hospice, and was elated to hear from chaircouples David and Bonnie Mandarich and John and Nancy Sevo that net income for the 2010 edition may top $650,000. A big chunk of that — $92,000 — is the result of donations sent in by friends of Steve Chotin to purchase “Lifting The Weight,” a mask he commissioned from Denver artist Charles Wooldridge. Chotin wanted to contribution a solid $95,000, so he put a dinner for 10 at Del Frisco’s up for bid and got the $3,000 he was seeking from Richard Rizzo of the new event planning company Puttin’ on the Rizz.
For all the details from this special evening in my Seen First blog: .
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com; also, GetItWrite on Twitter
(Scroll down to see more photos from this event)
