York Town News
OYHS Harvest Ball to be held
Sept. 29
By Jennifer L. Saunders
Put on your Sunday clothes for Friday evening, Sept. 29, and join in the first-ever Old York Historical Society Harvest Ball, a gala and auction to be held at The Cliff House to raise funds for York's educational facilities and long-term goals. Educational programs, like the summertime "Big Kids Brunch with Bessie" game of croquet pictured here on the lawn at the Elizabeth Perkins House, would be augmented with the creation of a new visitors' and educational center in York Village, just one project to be funded through the ongoing campaign.
Photo by Jennifer L. Saunders
YORK - While preliminary talks continue about Old York Historical Society's new educational center with the Planning Board this week, the community at large can join in the fun - and fundraising - later this month.
Old York officials have announced the details of a long-promised special event: the Harvest Ball auction and gala to top off two years of efforts to raise funds through Old York's Heritage Campaign.
The event, scheduled for Sept. 29, will help garner funds for improved educational facilities, such as the project aimed at restoring an antique Eliot barn into a new visitors' center on a parcel of land adjacent to Jefferds' Tavern in York Village.
The campaign began almost exactly two years ago, in the autumn of 2004, with a goal of raising $2.8 million. To date, Old York has raised nearly $2.2 million, including a $500,000 challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The Old York Harvest Ball promises a gala evening including both a live and silent auction as well as dinner at The Cliff House Resort and Spa on Shore Road at the York-Ogunquit town line.
"The idea was to have an event that both celebrated the success of our campaign and helped us finish it by raising significant money," Old York Executive Director Scott Stevens said last week. "We wanted something special and different from other fundraising events Old York has produced."
Stevens said the hope is to use those funds to give the old barn, now in storage, a new lease on life.
The barn, which dates from the early years of the 19th-century, had to be removed or it would have been torn down to make way for a new development in Eliot. Over the past two years, Stevens and other Old York staff members have shared a preliminary vision of resurrecting the barn as home to the new visitor and education center.
The conceptual plan is scheduled to be discussed at the Planning Board's meeting, set for this Thursday evening, Sept. 14, at 7 p.m. at the York Public Library.
"We've been working with a volunteer committee, a highly qualified group, for quite some time, modifying our plans," Stevens said in a recent interview. "… We have a terrific landscape architect giving his time to share ideas with us. We're trying to make the site more attractive and also approachable and user-friendly."
Funds raised through the campaign and its gala event will also be used for the ongoing restoration of the historic Ramsdell House on Lindsay Road. The tiny cape dates from the first half of the 18th century and stands as a rare surviving specimen of what a common family's home would have been in York's early years.
The effort will also be used to increase the invested funds that keep Old York financially sustainable, Stevens said in an announcement of the gala released last week.
"This is our first major capital campaign in over 100 years of existence, and it will have a huge impact on our ability to serve our community and its visitors," Stevens said. "We hope a dinner, auction and ball at an outstanding resort will attract our established supporters as well as draw new participants."
Admission to the Harvest Ball is $125 per person or $1,000 for a table of eight, including a silent auction preview with hors d'oeuvres and champagne, gourmet dinner with specially selected wines and a live auction, and dancing to the Little Swing Band.
Auction items range from Red Sox tickets to gift certificates. There is also a10-day getaway for four to Santa Barbara, Calif., and a one-night stay in New York City at the Carlyle Hotel with dinner for two at Le Bernardin.
"We are excited to offer such a fun and elegant evening for the supporters of Old York," said Harvest Ball Chair Kristi Samber in Old York's announcement of the upcoming event. "The auction items come from an array of generous businesses and individuals along the Seacoast and I am certain there's something for everyone in the mix."
Anne Erwin Sotheby's International Realty, Ocean National Bank and Head and Associates of Portland are major sponsors for the event.
For information about Old York, the Harvest Ball or the Heritage Campaign, call 363-4974 or visit www.oldyork.org.
