"Moonlight Madness" is the theme of the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel Association's auction and jazz jam to be held at 7 p.m. Sat., Oct. 23 at the Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort. Beneficiary of the festivities is the Alton A. Adams Scholarship Fund.
This promises to be not an ordinary auction, nor an ordinary evening. On the auction block is everything from lovely baubles, (diamond earrings), to stateside trips on American Airlines, a seven-night all-inclusive stay at the Renaissance Jamaica Grande, a romantic stay at the Westin in St. John, or, perhaps, a visit to the new El Conquistador Resort and Country Club in Fajardo, Puerto Rico.
If none of that appeals, maybe you'd like a night on the town with your very own bachelor or bachelorette. Available escorts include Lisa Hamilton of Marriott Frenchman's Reef Resort; former Miss UVI Lisa Hassebe Wynne; attorney Blake Tatem or Andrew Helal, manager-director of Marriott Fenchman's Reef. And with them, you are guaranteed an evening at one of the island's finest restaurants.
The Adams Scholarship Fund was created to assist young Virgin Islanders in pursuing a career in the hospitality industry. The redoubtable Adams, one of the island's most celebrated and well-known citizens, and an accomplished musician, was also the founder and first president of the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel Association, which he founded in the late 1950's. Current Association President Richard Doumeng, praises the Scholarship Fund: "It is extremely important to foster the education process and encourage our youth to study in the hospitality field."
Auction Chairperson Patti Hoffman said, "Everyone, all the community, has been very generous with contributions – – I'm looking forward to an exciting evening."
The evening starts off at 7 p.m. with an open bar cocktail reception and buffet dinner. The live auction will commence at 8 p.m. with George Blackhall calling. A cash bar will be available then, and dancing to the Jerry Harris Quartet will begin at 9 p.m. Raffle tickets will be sold and bids will be taken for a silent auction throughout the evening. Tickets, which include the open bar and dinner buffet, are $48 per person, and can be purchased from the Hotel Association at (340) 774-6835.