There has never been a problem filling all 500 seats at Lulu’s Barkin’ BBQ, mainly because this benefit for the Dumb Friends League has two very important ingredients: entertainment by vocalists that have included Sheryl Crow, Chris Isaak, Joe Cocker, Dwight Yoakam and Cyndi Lauper, and a chuckwagon supper prepared by famed Texas barbecue chef Tom Perini.
This year was no exception.
With the legendary Diana Ross as the 15th anniversary headliner, tickets priced at a staggering $750 each were snapped up in a matter of days, and the waiting list was almost as long as the list of confirmed attendees.
It was so long, in fact, that hosts Fred and Jana Bartlit, who not only open the grounds of their Castle Pines home for the fundraiser but generously underwrite all of the expenses, agreed to make room in a DIA-like tent for a record 580 guests who, through ticket sales and auction bidding raised a record of more than $1 million for the nonprofit animal welfare organization.
Jana Bartlit is a life member of the Dumb Friends League board; her husband, a former Army Ranger, is the founding partner of the Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott law firm.
Ross put on an hour-long show, delighting the crowd with such hits as “Stop! In the Name of Love,” “My World Is Empty Without You” and the theme from “Mahogany.”
And two costume changes.
Bob Rohde, president/CEO of the Dumb Friends League, and chief operating officer Apryl Steele spent the pre-dinner social welcoming such supporters as Daniel Lawrence Whitney, perhaps better known as the comedian Larry the Cable Guy; Kostas Kontopanos, president of Hills Pet Nutrition North America; Chad Vorthmann, executive vice president of the Colorado Farm Bureau; Meg Krueger, chief executive officer of the Colorado Horse Park; Chris Johnson, executive director of the County Sheriffs of Colorado, and Sue Ann Arnall, whose WaterShed Animal Fund, part of the Arnall Family Foundation, is a major donor to the Dumb Friends League Harmony Equine Center.
“This is one fantastic party,” Rohde said. “Great food, great entertainment and lots of money raised to help homeless pets and unwanted horses.”
So great that Judy Fahrekrog, a broker associate with Mile Hi Modern, and beau Larry King chose it over her George Washington High School 50th class reunion.
They were part of a crowd that also included Denver Art Museum board chair Lanny Martin and his wife, Sharon; former DAM president Cathey Finlon and her husband, Dick; John and Martha Gart; Dick, Marcia and Ellen Robinson; Dianne Eddolls; Libby Kirkpatrick; Carrie Nolan, president of the Colorado-Wyoming chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society; Dean Vicksman, a veterinarian and member of the PetAid Colorado board; Republic Financial founder Jim Possehl and his wife, Karen; Hispanic Chamber of Commerce president Mike Ferrufino with fiancee Sarah Marks, executive director of strategic human resources school support for the Denver Public Schools; Ralph Johnson, executive director of the Colorado Veterinary Medical Association; KOSI Radio’s weekend personality Murphy Huston and his wife, Carol; and such Dumb Friends League board members as April Jones and her husband, Darryl, and Amanda Phillips-DeSaverio and her husband, Anthony.
Amanda is a wealth management adviser at Sunflower Bank and Anthony is a project manager for Kaiser Permanente.
In 2015, DFL chief Rohde noted, “19,212 animals walked out our front door” into their forever homes. In addition, the DFL was able to place 108 horses that had been surrendered to the Harmony Equine Center; 17,000 cats and dogs underwent spay and neuter procedures and 1,700 animal cruelty cases were investigated.
