The 13th annual “CHAIRish the Children” benefit auction and gala sent guests back to the 1980s on Saturday, August 27. The event, led this year by co-chairs Celeste Eustis and Amy Farnsworth, raised proceeds to benefit the educational programs and exhibits at the Louisiana Children’s Museum and is its most important annual fundraiser. Guests followed yellow-spotted Pac Man trails through the entrance, venturing back in time to 1986 in celebration of the museum’s 25th birthday.
Radical Rubik’s cubes, cassettes and rockin’ old-time jams surrounded the 500 attendants dressed in old-school attire for the occasion. Mark Romig and WVUE Fox 8 anchor, Lee Zurik, served as auctioneers for the live auction. Popular items up for bid included a trip to Florida, a Blue Dog Saints silkscreen autographed by George Rodrigue and Saints Head Coach Sean Payton, and a print illustrating the four seasons by Terrance Osborne. Ron Folse of Top New Orleans DJ spun ’80s tunes behind the DJ booth as guests savored dishes from Mr. B’s marinated shrimp and Pascal’s Manales’ stuffed eggplant, to Arnaud’s chilled cucumber soup with shrimp ceviche and Le Foret’s chicken marsala. Dessert included savory sweets from New Orleans Ice Cream Company and a far out three-dimensional Rubik’s cube cake donated by Haydel’s Bakery.
