The Friends of Lake Panorama board of directors voted at a meeting June 22 to proceed with Beach Ball 2020 on Saturday, August 1, using the theme “Let’s Play Outside!”
To ease concerns about COVID-19, both outdoor and indoor spaces will be used at the Lake Panorama National conference center. Several aspects of the event have been modified to help with social distancing.
Funds raised at the 2020 Beach Ball will go towards the Friends' current priority project to raise $70,000 for new playground equipment at Shady and Boulder beaches.
Direct contacts are being made with table sponsors so they can choose a reserved table inside or outside. Outside tables will be under a series of tents, located on the grass between the conference center and the golf course. A drink bar and a dessert bar will be on a roped-off section of the parking lot. The live auction also will take place outdoors.
Adding this outdoor venue made it possible to include live music for this year’s Beach Ball. Little Joe McCarthy is a Midwest singer and songwriter who grew up in Omaha. At first, McCarthy played as a solo acoustic performer, before spending many years in different bands. More recently, he has come full circle, playing acoustic guitar and singing as a solo performer around the Midwest. McCarthy will perform from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Registration will be open from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., and take place in the conference center dining room. Attendees can park in both the west and east parking lot, and enter the dining room from either side. There will be two lines for registration. It’s hoped beginning registration an hour early will make social distancing easier.
At registration, each couple or individual will be assigned a number, and all charges through the evening can go against that number. These can include drink tickets, dessert tickets, and purchases of both silent and live auction items. The exception will be the 50/50 raffle, which will require cash only so the appropriate amount of cash will be available when the winning ticket is drawn.
The evening meal will be served 5:30-7 p.m. Tickets are $40 each, with half going directly to the playground fund. A “sweet treat” dessert bar, offering a variety of donated dessert items plus a scoop of vanilla ice cream, will be open 6-7:30 p.m. Tickets for the dessert bar will be $3.
Drink tickets will cost $6, and can be redeemed at either the outside bar or the bar in the banquet room. These tickets will cover domestic canned beer, well drinks and glasses of wine. A portion of each ticket sold will go to Friends.
Announcements will be made towards the end of the evening when people can start checkout. Payment by check or cash will be encouraged. There will be a laptop where credit cards can be used to pay online on the Friends website, with the processing fee of 2.9 percent added on.
So far, about 75 items have been donated for both silent and live auctions, but additional items are being sought. Of particular interest in the live auction will be a 14-feet shuffleboard table with accessories, donated and delivered by Kurt Johnson, valued at $3,500; signed footballs from Iowa and Iowa State; 14K white and yellow gold pendant necklace with a garnet and diamond, donated by Ames Silversmithing, valued at $975; handcrafted cedar kayak, donated by Chris Welp and valued at $2,500; and a case of Busch Light, signed by Carson King, the ISU student who raised $3 million for the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital, donated by Carrie Hansen and valued at $500.
Beach Ball organizers are considering offering live auction items first as an online auction, beginning July 20. The starting bid at the live auction August 1 would then be the last bid placed online. Online bidders would be encouraged to attend the Beach Ball if they want to continue their pursuit of a particular item. Watch for additional details in the LPA and LPN newsletters, plus the Friends of Lake Panorama Facebook page and website.
Silent auction items will include a variety of gift baskets; two $100 Target gift cards; five $50 Casey’s gift cards; two handmade quilts; an LPN Stay-and-Play package valued at $680; both Iowa and Iowa State engraved cast iron skillets; a Utah Jazz NBA jersey signed by Georges Niang; and a Cake-of-the-Month item that will provide one home-baked cake creation every month for a year, prepared and donated by Tammy Deal.
Those who have items to donate to the auctions, or want to purchase tickets to the event, can call Susan Thompson at 515-240-6536 or email staff@friendsoflakepanorama.org.
Anyone who already paid for a table sponsorship or tickets, and now can’t or doesn’t want to attend because of the date change or concerns about COVID-19, can receive a refund on request. Or leave the money with Friends as a donation for the playgrounds.
So far $20,000 has been raised towards the $70,000 goal for the playgrounds. Donations for the playground project are accepted at any time, and can be mailed to PO Box 488, Panora, IA 50216. Checks should be made payable to Friends of Lake Panorama.
All donations are tax-deductible. Donors of $500 or more will be recognized on signs erected near both playgrounds, and on the donor page of the Friends website. More information about the playgrounds and other donation options is available at www.friendsoflakepanorama.org.