CLEARLAKE >> Good food, great wine and wonderful company abounded at the 13th Annual Seafood Boil and Auction presented by the Rotary Club of Clear Lake Saturday night.
“It’s a blast,” said guest Michelle Monreal pf Glenhaven. It was her first time attending the annual charity function.
More than 250 people joined Monreal at the Mardi Gras-themed gala where there was so much food that lobster and tri-tip were appetizers rather than entrees. The main course was, to many, the main event: five-gallon steaming buckets of assorted seafood and corn on the cob dumped by servers directly onto the center of each of the 26 tables.
Splat and splash.
What could easily have turned into a food fight instead became a festive night of feasting, fun and fundraising for programs that benefit the community, including schools and education.
The yearly event is the primary fundraiser for the local Rotary group and included silent and live auctions. One of the live auction highlights was a gift basket valued at $550 that was auctioned for $1,100.
“All of the money raised tonight is going to the kids of Lower Lake,” said Rotary member D. Parker of Middletown. “We do community projects all over Clear Lake.”
Student volunteers from Carle and Lower Lake high schools worked as servers at the dinner.
The servers seemed to be choreographed as finely as a ballet as they gracefully weaved their way through crowded aisles from table to table while the diners seemed more like a mosh pit, diving in for the seafood feast as soon as it was dumped on each table.
Following the dinner, a tip collection was taken from the guests and enough money was garnered to give each student server a more than $25 tip.
Several servers and diners got into the theme of the night, wearing foam lobster hats while one guest, Roger Gouldberg of Clearlake Oaks, wore a jesters cap. Gouldberg, however, was more than just a joker as also served as chairman of the event.
Along with lots of napkins, dinner guests were each given a bib that most of the diners wore. Those that did not don the bibs either went home with food-stained clothing or didn’t have a good time.
At least mid-way through the event, it seemed that everyone was making merry, based on the noise level in the Clearlake Senior Center where the gala took place.
Alongside the usual table utensils of spoons, forks and knives, were small wood mallets for cracking the boiled shellfish, which added to the already noisy senior center. Among those wielding the mallets were guest Cord Falkenberg of Lakeport and Rotary member Bilalia H. Mubashshir of Kelseyville.
Mubashshir, an event coordinator, was dressed in a stunning red and black outfit and was one of the most fashionably-dressed women at the gala. “Red is my power color,” she said.
This was her first time at the seafood boil, which she described as “amazing,” adding, “To see everything we planned come together perfectly is what makes it all worthwhile.”
In addition to the feast, Mubashshir said she was “really excited” about the silent auction and had bid on several items. One entire wall of the center’s main room was lined with tables of silent auction items.
Complimentary wine tasting at the gala was provided by Guenoc & Langtry Estate and Vineyards.
More than 100 local people, businesses and organizations donated items and services to the event and auction, along with at least a dozen out of county businesses and groups.
Wineries and vineyards that donated to the gala included Brassfield, Cache Creek, Chacewater, Cougar’s Leap, Fults Family, Gregory Graham, Hawk and Horse, Langtry, Laujor Estate, Mt. Konocti, Olof Cellars, Rosa D’ Oro, Rosenthal, Shed Horn Cellars, Six Sigma, Thorn Hill, Vigilance and Wildhurst.
Other event contributors included Adamson Ranch Produce, Aromas Cafe, Boathouse Restaurant, Clearlake Yoga Studio, DJ’s Pizza, Lower Lake High School Culinary Class, Carle High School students, Middletown Animal Hospital, Bob Minenna Photography, Nature’s Own Health Food Store, Tallman Hotel and Blue Wing Saloon Restaurant.
