Music Boosters planning Valentine Dinner

The Jamestown Public Schools Music Boosters is readying for its second annual Valentine Dinner.

The fundraiser is set for Feb. 8, with “Hollywood” as the theme of the musical entertainment. Music Boosters President Theresa McMillan said last year the group opted for a romantic theme to the catered dinner. This year she and fellow organizers decided it would be more fun to go with something a bit different.

“The dinner we held last year was successful, with wonderful support,” she said. “This year we want to sell twice as many tickets. It’s not a romantic theme, so everyone can enjoy it.”

To sell at least 160 tickets, which is their goal, they’ve not only changed the theme, they’ve changed the venue. The Valentine Dinner is being held upstairs in the Nafus Student Center at Jamestown College.

“This is dinner-goer friendly. Everyone will be able to see the entertainment,” McMillan said.

The meal is being prepared by Aramark, the college catering service. The social begins at 5 p.m., with dinner at 6 p.m. Throughout the evening, musical entertainment will be provided by students from elementary school through high school.

“The entertainment will be provided by ensembles, the children’s choir, the high school jazz group and the show choir,” she said. “The school music directors are still working on other groups to perform.”

Tickets are $20 per person and are available by calling McMillan at 251-1071 or mailing a check to P.O. Box 1121, Jamestown, ND 58402-1121. For more information, e-mail musicboosters@csicable.net.

“The social is being sponsored by the Choralaires. We don’t know yet if any of them will be singing,” said Pammy Schmiedeberg, Music Boosters secretary. “They’re very supportive of us as is Jamestown College. We’re not very well-known yet, but we’re already getting a lot of support.”

A silent auction is also part of the evening’s festivities. McMillan and Schmiedeberg said they have some unusual items and are looking for more. Examples include high school students auctioning off their talents and a unique auctioning item called a Flight Photo Framing. The high bidder’s airplane flight includes an aerial photo of the bidder’s home by King Photography and its framing.

“If someone has a talent or something to offer in the silent auction, they’ll be very welcome,” McMillan said.

Local parents and school music directors formed the Music Boosters about a year and a half ago to promote students and the music program at all levels in Jamestown schools. The boosters have been doing a series of fundraisers to augment the music program with items not available in the regular budget, not because of any anticipated drop in funding.

“We’re a proactive group. We weren’t formed out of fear. We’re advocates for school music,” McMillan said. “We work very closely with the music directors in a positive way and that’s really nice.”

At this point, the boosters have been concentrating on building the fund, not spending any of the money raised. McMillan said they’re working on attaining 501(c)3 status. Once that’s complete, they’ll look at doing larger fundraising campaigns with the possibility of tax write-offs.

“We’ve had lots of different fundraisers and now we have enough to allocate those funds to the wish list given to us by the music directors,” McMillan said.

The Music Boosters has also been busy building its membership. There are about 120 people signed up, McMillan said. All are considered supporters, although not all are equally active. McMillan e-mails the list of boosters when volunteers are needed for a fundraiser. Those who are interested in helping in some way let her know. And it works.

“It took us a year but we did really well on our fundraisers,” she said.

Sun reporter Toni Pirkl can be reached at (701) 952-8453 or by e-mail at tonip@jamestownsun.com

Tags: music, concert, community, school, valentine