Our 19th Gala Dinner & Auction Review
On Sunday November 10th 2024, the Mahone Islands Conservation Association (MICA) hosted their 19th Gala Dinner and Auction at Oak Island Resort and Conference Centre. It was a joyful and celebratory coming together of MICA supporters. Many old friends were happy to be together again while many new friendly faces were welcomed as well. It was a very successful fund-raising event as two hundred and fifty five MICA members and supporters attended to support the protection of the Mahone Bay Islands and its shorelines. The evening was truly a celebration of successful conservation as MICA commemorated 21 years of success.
The event began at 5:00 with the doors opening for the silent auction and reception. Upon arrival, supporters were greeted by MICA Chair John Meisner, Vice-chair Bryan Palfreyman and Stewardship Chair Scott Robertson.
Recognition and appreciation was posted throughout the event to our more than 40 local corporate supporters who have shown outstanding support. In the convention area rooms, the display of silent and live auction items was impressive and indicative of the support and interest the local artist and business communities have for MICA and its projects. The atmosphere was a buzz with social fun as our volunteers sold raffle tickets and our friendly volunteer auctioneer Hubert Ryan returned to support us for the fourth time. At the membership table, supporters renewed or purchased memberships. MICA hats and tote bags were for sale and donations were collected to bring in $1225 in revenue at the membership table. 
At 6:20 the doors of the dining room were opened and everyone was invited in for the three course dinner. Each table was labelled with an island name and supporters joined friends, family, neighbours, or found new acquaintances at their preassigned tables.
Syd Dumaresq, volunteer director and secretary for MICA led us through an action filled evening as our Master of Ceremonies. He gave opening remarks as we formally began the Gala Dinner and Auction. Syd spoke eloquently about the historical use of the Mahone Islands and our responsibilities as we conserve and protect these lands for future generations. John McGee led us in the singing of the national anthem, O Canada. The anthem was followed by a moment of silence in observance of Remembrance Day.
Members of the Gala organizing committee were thanked for their hard work and dedication in the organization of this year’s Gala. This year’s committee members are Marla Benton, Liz Brideau-Clark, Deb Hawkes, Carla Heffler, Sidney Lang, Krista Longard, Jeannie McLean, Patti Robertson and Dawn Smeaton. At the event, the volunteer list extended to include the MICA directors and family members as well as many local residents who have annually helped make this event a success. In all there were 40 supporters volunteering throughout the night to facilitate a smooth and enjoyable program.
Syd then introduced and thanked John Meisner, the Chair of the Mahone Islands Conservation Association. John then addressed the Gala attendees.
John graciously thanked everyone for being in attendance at our major annual fundraiser, that helps us take the initiative on acquisitions and related projects such as our Public Mooring project.
He introduced our government officials that were in attendance and expressed appreciation of their partnership with MICA at various levels of government.
Retired Senator Wilfred Moore and Jane Ritcey
From the Province of NS: Danielle Barkhouse
From MODL: Pam Hubley, Martin Bell & Cheryl Bell, Kacy Delong, April Whynot-Lohnes & Danny Lohnes, Tom MacEwan & Kim Bezanson, and Carolyn Bolivar-Getson with thanks re support over term as mayor.
From MODC: Warden Alan Webber and Cathy Webber
From Town of Mahone Bay: Councillors Bryan Palfreyman and Rebecca Twanow
From Town of Lunenburg: Mayor Jamie Myra and Sandra Myra.
John acknowledged the recent loss of a long term MICA volunteer:
Ron Myers, a founding MICA Director, first Vice President and first Chair of the GALA committee passed away in September. Ron’s wife Beverley passed away in March of 2023. They both continued to support MICA at these events after Ron retired from the Board of Directors. We express our condolences to their daughter Rhonda.
John summarized some important achievements since last year’s GALA and shared some updates:
Chockle Cap officially became a MICA acquisition in the spring. Work began on this acquisition in 2008. Chockle Cap’s Island Champions, Scott and Patti Robertson were invited to come forward and symbolically change the Chockle Cap table card from white to green to symbolize the acquisition. Scott is the MICA chair of Stewardship and oversees the Island Champion program.
The public moorings program continues to be popular with MICA membership and we have made further progress in the Chester area through our partnership with MODC. Additional moorings are planned for next season. The moorings are owned by MODL and MODC with MICA sharing in 50% of the capital cost. This past summer, we had a private mooring at Backmans turned over to MICA and hope to see more of this in the future to allow fair access to all island visitors. Any donations made to the mooring program is greatly appreciated so if you are a mooring user, please feel free to donate to this program. We greatly appreciate the support of MODL and MODC with this program. Those visiting the islands this past season have been excellent stewards as the islands and shoreline properties have been generally found to be clean when inspections have been made.
John announced we have a potential island acquisition in the works!
We are working on a partnered acquisition of another Mahone Bay island and it is a lovely little island and certainly meets our MICA criteria. Without betraying the confidentiality of this project, we encourage all of you to be generous in your auction bidding this evening and in your donations to MICA. This island would be another gem to add to the Mahone Conservation Area.
In regards to membership, our strength is in our numbers, especially when we solicit various levels of government for partnerships on acquisitions and other projects. Please see Deb Hawkes, our Membership Chair at our Membership Table set up here this evening.
John gratefully recognized our many and very important corporate supporters. Their logos have been put on our printed maps and are displayed on the large screened slide show at the front of the room. Please support these companies that have chosen to support us. Many of them are long time supporters of MICA. We have 47 in total this year that have responded positively to our request of $1000. They are all prominent companies with a presence on the south shore and we appreciate their endorsement of the MICA mission.
John then made some special thank yous to MICA volunteers by asking the following groups to stand briefly for recognition: the MICA Island Champions and the Board of Directors.
A special presentation of appreciation was made to Georg Ernst. Georg is stepping away from his MICA responsibilities to spend more time with his young family and is most deserving of recognition for all of his long term dedication to MICA. Georg is a founding director of MICA and has served on the MICA Board of Directors for 21 years. He was our first secretary for 13 years. He has been our treasurer for 6 years. He co-chaired the Gala for 16 years and Georg has always been active on the MICA Fundraising Acquisition and Administration Committee. He has been instrumental in developing the original organizational structure of MICA and involved in the writing of the bylaws and strategy policies we have in place. Georg continues to help out when he can and we want to give Georg a huge thank you for his tremendous contributions to MICA. Georg was presented with a framed certificate of recognition for his volunteering. The attendees responded with outstanding applause and a standing ovation for Georg as he received his certificate. Georg graciously thanked John and fellow volunteers for being good to work with and praised John on how dedicated he is to MICA.
Final thank yous to the evening volunteers, all the donors and all the attendees as John wished everyone a great evening.
Then Syd Dumaresq, MC, led us into the first live auction segment. The live auction was woven into the evening to provide entertainment. A lovely three course meal was served and each one of the three courses was followed with the auctioning off of some live auction items. Our returning volunteer auctioneer, Hubert Ryan, engaged the audience with his humour and energy as he warmed up the crowd and clearly communicated our purpose in coming together. We would go home with some treasures while purchasing islands and shorelines for conservation.
Each live auction segment opened with a door prize draw to make sure everyone had their bidding cards ready. The crowd applauded and cheered for our successful bidders and their support. The staff of the Oak Island Resort was efficient and friendly and kept everything going smoothly as we enjoyed our meal and the live auction segments.
Meanwhile, silent auction rooms closed on schedule and people occasionally slipped over to up their bids. There were 136 items open to bids in the silent auction room which included a diverse selection of items and gift certificates from artists, businesses, and supporters. New this year was a table of fine desserts prepared and gifted by members of the Gala organization committee. This concept and beautiful presentation was created by Patti Robertson.
In addition to the previously named volunteers in this report, there are many others which are to be recognized for making the event a success. Prior to the event and/or throughout the evening , these further volunteers included: Janet Meisner, Miriam Meisner, Craig Heffler, Martin Balcome, Tom Ward, Helen MacDonell, Kimble Meagher, Gary Longard, Jennifer Johansen, Eric Harding, Tony Sampson, Jenny Sandison, Brad Stabenow, John Clark, Jacquie Avery, Jeff Avery, Georg Ernst, Heather MacKinnon, Don Fraser, Hanna Longard, Hannah Drake, Karlie Maki, Sarah Martell, Riley Scanlan, Sam Howard, and Cat Evans.
Throughout the earlier part of the evening, raffle tickets were sold and the winner of our raffle draw was announced. The lucky winner Cyril Hiltz won the $250 cash prize and two tickets to our next MICA Gala Dinner and Auction. Cyril very kindly donated the $250 cash back to MICA. Thank you Cyril!
There were twenty diverse live auction items including original paintings, ceramics, photography, two folk art carvings, golf green fees, summer art classes, a cottage getaway, a glamping dome getaway, 12 yards of mulch, an inflatable tender, a zodiac boat tour, a sailing adventure and the opportunity to be a deckhand on the Bluenose for a day.
The evening was once again a great financial success with a total of approximately $70 000 being raised!
As a reminder, these funds will be used to support island and property acquisitions for conservation and traditional public use.
We hope everyone in attendance enjoyed the evening, time with friends, and found a treasure or two!
Thank you for your support and we hope to see you at the next MICA Gala!
Sincerely,
Mahone Islands Conservation Association