Record crowd attends Black-Tie Bingo
by October 30, 2011 2:14 pm 127 views
story and photos by Joel Rafkin
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Black Tie Bingo, the Fort Smith Public Library Endowment Trust fund-raiser, went down in the books with record-breaking attendance this year.
One-hundred fifty people, up 50% from last year, spent $100 each to attend the formal event held Saturday (Oct. 29) at the main branch of the library. In addition, 41 items were up for bid in the silent auction.
Guests mingled in the genealogy room as they perused silent auction items and wined and dined on hors d’oeuvres before heading to the dinner tables set up at the periodicals reading area.
The Don Bailey Jazz Ensemble with Jonathan Karrant on vocals provided entertainment during the social mixer and dinner.
From 9:30 to 11 p.m. it was bingo time. Daren Bobb of KFSM 5News called bingo with the help of Mayor Sandy Sanders and a few other hand-picked people. Bingo winners won donated prizes such as gift certificates to restaurants.
The endowment trust began in 1996 and Black Tie Bingo is in its fourth year. The principal funds remain intact although the library has spent some of the earnings from the trust on projects such as the establishment of Dewey’s Cafe, Christmas decorations and art and floral arrangements in the library, to name a few, said library director Jennifer Goodson.
The goal of the trust is to provide long-term financial stability for the library. Although a specific monetary amount has not been established, Goodson said the library would like the trust to reach a value where it can be relied on to provide funds for specific expenditures on an annual basis for both capital projects and in times of economic duress when public funding is down.
