Irish Christmas a Huge Success

The 19th annual Bob McCarthy’s Irish Christmas held last Friday night at EBC was one of the best ever in spite of the inclement weather that kept a few away. Most were there to mingle and celebrate the annual fundraiser with great live entertainment and some great bargains. Asa Moss provided a bagpipe introduction march yielding to the Winery of Ellicottville’s traditional champagne toast to Bob. Then the fabulous live auction hosted by Brooks LeFeber of brookslefeberauctions.com kicked off, and at a frantic pace, the bids started to soar.

Once again, bids for four days at Ana Maria Island Condo donated by Sally and Michael Nickolson brought the highest at $2,200.00 while a great handcrafted hall stand from multi talented Sam Sheehy of the Winery received a high bid of $1,400. All of us want to be invited to dinner at the Cornelius’ for a Lobster feast as 10 lbs. of lobster tails will surely be enjoyed. Lucky bidders stole the ski package from Mud Sweat ’n Gears. Bob’s original creations were sprinkled in throughout with a very unusual piece of garden art going to the Keenans. A new addition this year, the silent auction saw some great bargains for those early Christmas shoppers with Springville golf, Irish Whiskey basket donated by Cynthia & Mike, and Head skis from The City Garage. The live and silent auctions were limited, so again we held an Irish basket raffle with over 30 baskets of beautiful gifts. This raffle was organized by Erin Cornelius, Brooke Szpaicher, Mila Clauss and Niki Klein and allowed many attendees to take home something special.

This year’s event could not have happened without our host, the Ellicottville Brewing Company, who again went above and beyond to support Bob’s night! They are so generous to the Foundation, donating the proceeds from special beer sales to the fund. Brewmaster Dan Minner had many great beers on tap to the delight the crowd. The Winery of Ellicottville provided the great Red & White wine along with the champagne toast with all proceeds going to the Foundation. Laura Kohler, Beth Hervey, and Mike Rogers’ expertise made staging this party easy and fun for the committee, while EBC’s spacious Beer Hall and their friendly staff were the perfect partners. This year a few EBC students volunteered to help with the festivities and learned some new skills.

It was obvious that many of our benefactors opened their hearts and wallets to support The Bob McCarthy Foundation’s Santa’s Workshop, Shop with a Cop, and the Sheriff Santa program. The auction was the second best ever, but not by much. As always, several generous people chose to donate directly to the Foundation. As these donations normally continue through the end of the year, we anticipate surpassing previous years’ highs by over 10% which is truly amazing.

PaNDaGOAT Media - that is Brenda Perks and Meaghan Lucarelli - did a great job on the artwork and promotional material. Heather Sullivan of Heather J Sullivan Consulting worked her magic with the website and Facebook. Brooks LeFeber hosting the auction made it both entertaining and successful with a local’s flair.

As is always the case, our great local publications, EllicottvilleNOW, The Villager, and the Olean Times Herald provided promotion of the event both online and in print, helping us greatly. The Chamber of Commerce’s online promotion featured with The Stroll weekend was also greatly appreciated.

A special thanks to Dina’s, EBC, Katy’s, Madigan’s, The Silver Fox, and Villaggio who brought “A Taste of Ireland” to a new culinary level for the event. The food was fabulous and sold out quickly. Ellicottville’s home bakers (too many to thank) whose special desserts are done as a tribute to their friend Bob and this tradition. We also thank the many local businesses who supported the basket raffle with their generous gifts. Many friends of Bob McCarthy helped make Friday night a success - you know who you are, and we thank you all.

When asked how this started, McCarthy would answer, “It started with a little magic.” To be sure the magic came in the form of Ellicottville’s residents, both permanent and part-timers who bid or donated to the cause. The real magic is that this event is helping a number of local families have a better Christmas through Santa’s Workshop and the Sheriff’s Santa program.

Bob, we all miss you, but we will continue your tradition of giving. The Bob McCarthy Foundation (www.bobmccarthyfoundation.com) wishes all of you a great holiday season. We will see you next year. Thank you, Ellicottville!

- The Bob McCarthy Foundation

Irish Christmas a Huge Success

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