THE JOY OF IT ALL…SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3RD, 2021
L to R: Scott Raneri, Lawrence Leritz, Karyn Tomczak, Ellen Fluhr, Eileen Casey, Mary McCatty, John Sefakis, Penny Worth, Patrick McCarthy, Sasha Spielvogel and Nancy Dalton Flowers
An absolutely gorgeous day to have a flea market on Sunday, October 3rd – and an absolutely stunning turnout of Dancers Over 40 members who raised an astonishing – yes, we have to say astonishing (!!!) $7,754.00 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Never before have we raised so much money with very few high ticket items – and with pandemic issues still facing our country. It was Playbills for $1.00 each, and a huge selection of incredibly (yes, incredibly) precious and valuable gems over 70 years old, including Oklahoma, Pal Joey, South Pacific, Can-Can – binders full of them donated by DO40 member Leni Anders. A huge thanks to Peter Pileski for donating memorabilia from Bob Avian, Joe Ahumada for all of his wonderful – and diverse – merchandise, including our one big sale of a the day, a Bette Midler show jacket for $500.00! Our always fun and busy Sutton Foster (did not wear these) Clothes (!!) rack and bin brought in a lot of the young crowd to peruse our SIX, yes, SIX tables we put together this year. We also shared a half-table with a new non-profit LGBTQIA+ Star Trek organization, To Proudly Go, headed by Executive Director Michael Agnew, who brought in $780.00 on their first foray into the fundraising biz!
L to R Back: Scott Raneri, Sasha Spielvogel, Mary McCatty, Michon Peacock, Center: John Sefakis, Lawrence Leritz, Karyn Tomczak, Nancy Dalton Flowers, Eileen Casey Front: Greg Kayne and Karin Baker Kayne
None of this would have happened if not for all of our members who volunteered their services Sunday – from the movers and schleppers, Bobby Heglin-Taylor, Scott Raneri, Fernando Carillo and Rajul Bhalani, car volunteers Karyn Tomczak and Francis Roach, the jazziest “kids” staffing the tables, especially Karin Baker and hubby Greg Kayne, right hand man and DO40 board member Patrick McCarthy and our other board members Sasha Spielvogel, Sharon Wendrow, Nancy Dalton Flowers, Lawrence Leritz and Eileen Casey. Also on hand to sell and mingle with the crowd to share stories – and merch: Sandy Nance, Tom McRoberts, Ellen Fluhr, Virginia Seidel (our favorite environmentalist!), the flying Mariano sisters, Patti and JoAnn, upcoming DO40 Legacy Award honorees Susan Sigrist and Mary McCatty, former Legacy honorees Penny Worth and Michon Peacock, our youngest member Charles Kirsch (14 now!), DO40 sippy cup king Ken Bloom, Broadway Bares volunteers Ray Sheen and Annette Maysonet and super iPad charge card queen Melanie! What started out as a quiet and tasteful 3 table, 1 rolling rack booth ended up a 6 table, 2 rolling rack little engine that could! Never in our wildest dreams did we ever think we could bring in almost $12,000.00. Our biggest year, 2019 (the last live event) brought in over $5,500.00, which for us was a huge record haul! We were stunned when we saw the charge card receipts for the day, no less the bundles of dollar bills bulging for all of our pockets!
The CROWDS at our DO40 tables!
Great to see friends like producer Ed Gaynes and his wife Pamela (we’re still trying for a November date at the Actors Temple which he runs, for our Kevin Winkler/Tommy Tune book event), BC/EFA top honchos Tom Viola and Danny Whitman, Flea Market producer Valerie Lau Kee Lai,-John Soroka, Thomas Adams, Joyce Nolen, Fosse Verdon rep Brian Cummings, writer Michael Musto and many, many new friends of DO40 – who hopefully will now join as card-carrying, dues-paying members! This event would not have been possible if not for the hard work and dedication of DO40 board member Patrick McCarthy and members Bobby Heglin-Taylor and Karyn Tomczak.
DO40 prez John Sefakis with BC/EFA Executive Director Tom Viola
Merch and selling are important, but what you CAN’T buy is the camaraderie, the bonding, the story-telling and just the plain ole Our History, Our Legacy, Our Lives – on full display and to share with the public, who happily joined with us on our journey Sunday. We were all vaxxed and masked behind the tables, boldly going maskless only when strolling down West 44th and 45th street where many other humans had to trek – to the Marriott Marquis rest rooms on West 45th Street! After all, we ARE Dancers OVER 40!!!
A fatootsed Virginia Seidel at the end of a LONG day!
PHOTO GALLERY