March of Dimes – Signature Chefs Auction
Last night we were privileged and honored to be able to attend the 2010 March of Dimes Signature Chefs Auction at the Ballroom at Church Street in Orlando. The evening was opened by Event Chair, Chris Hurn and proved to be a great success as several of the areas leading chefs prepared many special dishes for guests to sample. In fact, some of the gourmet food was so good that many folks returned time and time again to their favorite tables to get yet more of the delicious offerings… and I have to confess, I had a big weakness for the chocolate strawberries!
Heidi Hatch & Nigel Worrall
Nick Anderson & Nigel Worrall
In addition to the Signature Chefs, each table saw the addition of a Celebrity Sous Chef who was added to the mix to make wandering around the ballroom all the more special. The local news channels were covered well as Fox 35’s Heidi Hatch (above left) and Tom Johnson joined Wesh 2’s Martha Sugalski, Tony Mainolfi, Guy Rawlings and Jim Payne for the evening. Other local celebrities were Orlando Magic legend Nick Anderson (above right), author Sally Hogshead and Harris Rosen while local radio was covered with personalities Jayde Donovan from XL 106.7, Adam Alexander from 1059 Sunny FM and Daniel Dennis from Monsters in the Morning Show who completed the line up.
The main function of the night, however, was to raise as much money as possible for the March of Dimes cause. Auctioneer extraordinaire Jim Ferrell (above left) did a magnificent job, despite losing his voice at times, and we saw some great bidding on both silent auction and the main auction items. All in all, a great deal of money was raised to help families like the Hoffman’s of Weston, Florida (above right) who were introduced to us all as the March of Dimes National Ambassador Family and the Campbell’s who are Central Florida’s Ambassador Family.
The evening was rounded off as Executive Chef Larry Sinibaldi of The Palm Restaurant ran out as the favorite chef of the night and collected the Bob Mervine Award in the process. Enjoy the video…
