The accent may be on youth when it comes to generating new support, and that’s great. But let’s be honest: Were it not for a bunch of old fossils, the Snow & Ice Gala would not have been the most successful Museum After Dark in Denver Museum of Nature & Science history.
Relax, I’m not putting the knock on any of the museum’s two-legged friends. The old fossils to which I refer are the Ice Age mammoth and mastodon bones that were discovered, and subsequently recovered by museum scientists, last year near Snowmass Village.
After learning that a number of them were to be displayed at the Snow & Ice Gala, reservations for the event chaired by trustee M. Ray Thomasson and his wife, Merrill Shields, spiked to a record 740.
CH2M Hill was among the top sponsors, and chief executive Lee McIntire and his wife, Susan, a new member of the museum board of trustees, received a special thank-you when dinosaur curator Joe Sertich came to their table bearing a sloth leg bone for them, and the 18 friends they’d invited, to take a closer look at.
A red carpet, lined with tree branches that had been sprayed silver, guided guests like former Gov. Bill and Jeannie Ritter, Jim and Barbara Crocker, Dave and Gail Liniger, Hal and Ann Logan and John and Ginny Freyer from the parking area to the check-in tables; from there, everyone continued past a wall of carved ice, illuminated in blue, into the South Atrium where Ice Age martinis (vodka and clear cranberry juice) were served, a silent auction was conducted, and The Moderators played for dancing. Decor from Bouquets also included “icy white” arrangements of hydrangeas, roses and orchids mixed with crystal-embellished snowflakes.
Following dinner served in the North Atrium and in six galleries on the second and third floors, the scene shifted back to the main floor, where 100-plus members of the Young Professionals Committee joined the crowd for more dancing and auction bidding.
The YP Committee was headed by Ben McConahey, whose parents, Kathy and Steve, were at the gala with such others as newly elected Denver School Board member Happy Haynes; Newell and Judy Grant; Peter and Cathy Dea; Faye Wilson Tate; Jack and Viki Thompson; Leslie Liedtke; Glenn Jones and Dianne Eddolls; John and Lisa Robinson; Jim and Carole McCotter; Kristin Strohm; and Katie Behnke.
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com
