Arts & Jazz fundraiser to feature musical performances and auction

Now in its 23rd year, the annual Arts & Jazz fundraiser will feature musical performances and an auction on Saturday, February 1 in the Blaine Middle School cafeteria. Funds raised at the event will be used to offer arts scholarships and to assist the theater, band, choir and visual art programs at Blaine High School (BHS).

Members of the Blaine community are encouraged to attend this year’s event, which will start at 7 p.m. with admission costing $7 for adults and $5 for students and seniors.

This year’s auction items will include reserved front row tickets to the 2020 BHS graduation ceremony and a certificate for driver’s license courses with Nelson Driving School complete with an emergency road kit, as well as gift certificates for getaways, food, recreation and goods and services from various individuals and businesses. 

Other auction items will include a golfing package from Silver Reef Casino, quilts and paintings by Whatcom County artists and donations from a number of cottage industries in Blaine, said Dorita Gray, who is one of the event organizers. “We’ve had so many people who have donated for years, and that’s just a wonderful feeling and I’m very grateful for that,” she said.

Prior to the auction, there will be a special performance by The Jansen Jazz Band under the direction of Steve Herrick, as well as members of Blaine Jazz Band Alumni. The BHS choir and jazz band will also perform, and some BHS theater arts students are expected to volunteer as announcers and greeters.

During the event, the annual Friend of the Arts Award will be presented to Sabrina Gomez-Vannelli. Gomez-Vannelli is lead vocalist for the Bilongo Quintet and is the owner, founder and artistic director of Blaine’s Day-to-Day Dance Studio. “We think what Sabrina’s added to our community is definitely artful and has made Blaine a more artful place to live,” said Gray.

Blaine senior Megan Tran’s piece “Please Be Patient” was selected for this year’s Arts & Jazz poster. The selection of Tran as this year’s artist of note was made at the 2019 Evening of the Arts event on May 30 last year.