Since the day its doors opened in 1973, the has lived, officially or not, by the words of this Shel Silverstein poem:
“Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me. Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
So for the museum’s 42nd Birthday Bash, chairwomen Crista Martin, a former investment banker with Goldman Sachs, and Erica Bissette, whose other philanthropic work has included the and the , both in Charlotte, N.C., infused every element with passages from the late poet’s works.
Invitations bid “dreamers, wishers, magic bean buyers” to “come in! come in! for we have some flax-golden tales to spin.” And when started playing, the 622 guests were encouraged to do a “loony, goony dance” to the music.
In the end, $270,000 was raised for the museum’s general operating fund. A special appeal generated $40,000 to help offset the $625,000 yet to be raised for the museum’s $16.1 million expansion.
Pediatrician Sara Carpenter, chair of the museum’s board of directors, and president/CEO Mike Yankovich helped the Birthday Bash chairs welcome such guests as state Treasurer Walker Stapleton and his wife, Jenna; Encana vice president Matt Most and his wife, Shari; Emily Sturm and Stephen Sturm of the Sturm Family Foundation and their friends, Michael Armstrong and Sydney Hodgson; John and Christina Brannock (he’s director of finance at United Launch Alliance); Bonfils-Stanton Foundation president Gary Steuer and his wife, Sophie; Lisa Flores, senior program officer at the Gates Family Foundation, and Rick Tallman; Mary McNicholas, communications vice president for the Fine Arts Foundation, with her son and daughter-in-law, Sean and museum trustee Audra McNicholas; Michael Chavez, Denver’s public art program manager; and Cari Wolff, who won the raffle grand prize: a trip for two to the Grand Cayman Islands.
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314, jdavidson@denverpost.com or twitter.com/ joannedavidson
A wish come true
Holocaust survivor Ernest Braunstein, whose wish was to reunite with his cousin in Israel, was a special guest at Jeremy Bloom’s Wish of a Lifetime gala. Joanne Davidson has details in the Mile High Style blog: blogs.denverpost.com/style
