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Springville Center for the Arts Friday night gala hits a hole in one

Sunday June 24, 2012 | By:Lizz Schumer |

SING IT, FRANK — Ted Winkey (front left) joined the Springville Jazz Orchestra for a Frank Sinatra classic. Bill Cocca, right, directed.

Village of Springville residents could hear the smooth sounds of jazz music drifting over the roofs and treetops on June 8, as the Springville Center for the Arts Friday Night Gala kept vigil the night before the Swingin’ Fore the Center golf tournament.

GIVE ME A WINNER — Tickets were sold for approximately 45 basket items, donated by local business owners.

The third annual event saw more than 300 attendees come through the center’s doors to peruse 45 ticket auction items and nearly 20 silent write-in auction offerings, sample hors d’oeuvres, beer, wine and soft drinks and experience entertainment pulled from a pool of local talent.

“If I had to guess, I’d say we’re bigger than last year,” said Board Member Mark Higgins. “We sold tickets online and gave a number to sponsors and performance groups, so it’s hard to say exactly. But we have 18 more golfers than last year, with more golfers than ever before.”

TRY YOUR HAND — Both a silent bidding auction and ticket auctions were available for guests to try their luck at winning a prize.

Higgins called the event, which drew attendees from Springville, surrounding towns and friends from farther afield, a success.

The event included performances by the Springville Jazz Orchestra, Western New York Fiddle Kids and others, with guest appearances by a trio of young Rince Na Tierna Irish dancers and a demonstration by the SCA’s quartet of summer interns.

SWEET MELODY — Several community members performed, including this violinist.

DANCING — This Irish dancer from Rince Na Tierna Irish dancing troupe performed.

Emcee Mike Baronich directed the events of the evening, which included an official unveiling of the SCA’s upcoming live theater season, several drawings for basket items throughout the evening and, to cap it all off, a golf ball drop to tie the gala and the golf tournament together.

FORE! — An SCA Board member lets it rip at the ball drop. The drop is new this year, and was added to tie the Friday Night Gala to the Saturday golf tournament. Photos by Lizz Schumer.

For the ball drop, numbered golf balls that customers had purchased were loaded into a box at the top of a chute. When the hatch opened, the balls rushed down onto a miniature green, complete with small-scale water features, with one winning ball’s landing a hole-in-one.

This was the first year that featured the ball drop contraption, created by Jay Biscup and Higgins and decorated by local artist Tom Irish. It came out of an idea Joe Giroux picked up at a tournament in Potsdam, according to Higgins.

WAITING ON THE WORLD TO CHANGE — These jazz orchestra members took in the scenery, while waiting for their cue. The orchestra was joined by Judy Wright and Ted Winkey, as well.

“A lot of golf tournaments do it,” Higgins said. “They’ll drop balls from a helicopter onto the green, that sort of thing. We wanted to tie in the golf tournament and the gala, but we didn’t want to do it on the green, where only a few people would see it. This [structure] was a creative way to do it.”

The portable green featured a Concord Crest golf flag, a nod to the location of the tournament the following day.

Approximately 88 local businesses helped out with the function, either by providing auction items or sponsoring the tournament.

Higgins said that the gala is one way in which the SCA hopes to highlight the local arts scene in Springville, as well as a means to draw in out-of-town people, who may not realize the wealth of artistic options the village has to offer.

“We have lots of great local artists, and it’s not just the [SCA],” he explained. “We want to draw people out of the city, raise awareness and make this a local arts destination. [The gala] shows that we’re doing something down here, that stuff is happening. We’re not just a cow town.”

SHAKE IT — The SCA summer interns strutted their stuff for the gala attendees.

Higgins pointed to the summer interns, recruited from schools across the state and taking up residence at the SCA for the first time in its history. The paid interns will conduct educational programs throughout the summer, in order to continue arts education, even after school lets out.

“We’re as much an education center as anything else,” Higgins said. “We want people to know that there are things going on here all the time, not just our performances a few times a year. We want people to come in, check us out and see what [SCA] is all about.”

As the sun set behind the steeple of the converted church that houses the SCA, Judy Wright crooned to the tunes of the Springville Jazz Orchestra, followed by Ted Winkey’s take on Frank Sinatra’s “I Did It My Way.” Party-goers swayed along to the singing and mingled well into the night, all to support the arts in Springville.

More information on the SCA and its upcoming programs can be found online at www.springvillearts.org, by calling 592-9038 or visiting the center at 37 North Buffalo St. in Springville.