Tickets available for first Live Dessert Auction
A new Fort Myers Beach Lion’s Club member, who fell in love with the annual Shrimp Festival while vacationing on the island, decided to start the 1st annual Live Dessert Auction next month to raise funds to help support the festival.
Fort Myers Beach Lion’s Club Event Chair Lara Stam said her family has been vacationing on Fort Myers Beach for approximately 15 years before becoming residents five years ago.
“One of the years we were vacationing the Shrimp Festival was going on,” she explained.
Stam who has five children, said her daughters wanted to become one of the princesses in the parade, a “shrimp princess.” She said she did not realize that the Lion’s Club was the organization who hosted the annual event.
“I developed a heart for the Lion’s Club. I became a Lion’s Club member less than six months ago. The club here on Fort Myers Beach is the one I care about. It is a special group of people,” Stam said. “One hundred percent of what the Lion’s Club does goes back to the Fort Myers Beach community.”
She hopes the first annual Live Dessert Auction will bring an outpouring of support from the community.
“The outpouring of island merchants has been amazing,” Stam said.
The 1st annual Live Dessert Auction will be held Thursday, Nov. 21. The doors of Beach Baptist Church, 130 Connecticut St. open at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets are $10 and can be purchased in advance, or at the night of the event. Tickets can be purchased atwww.FMBLions.com/Desserts, The Red Coconut, Property Medic, the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce and Beach Baptist Church.
“The event is designed to be one week before Thanksgiving. It is designed in keeping in mind that people may want to buy their holiday desserts there. This is a way to get a great homemade dessert. We are also having lots of restaurants donate their specialty desserts. We are going to have a really great variety of desserts there,” Stam said.
So far there are more than 25 delicious desserts donated from local restaurants for the live auction. She said the mayor and a few of the council members are also donating desserts for the auction.
The event will feature a harvest theme with festive music played. In addition to the live dessert auction, the event will also feature a silent auction with some great prizes donated by the community.
There is a grand prize raffle of a one week stay on Sanibel Island, which Island Vacations provided.
In addition there will be coffee and desserts for a $5 donation.
“It’s a really fun community gathering event to get into the time frame of the holidays,” Stam said.
She said they are still looking for monetary donations, which will allow the Lion’s Club to purchase supplies they need for the event.
“We are accepting any donations, financial, gift certificates or food items,” Stam said.
To make a donation contact Stam at 513-255-2710.
“Come with a generous heart,” she said. “It’s for a good cause. There are a lot of foundations on the island. We all do good things. What separates the Lion’s apart is the Shrimp Festival. I’ve only lived here for five years. It is the uniter of the island. It’s the biggest event of the year on the island. That is what I love. It’s about the island coming together.”