First of (hopefully many to come) Oyster & Wine Tasting!

On Friday evening on August 12th, 2011, New Bedford Community Rowing hosted it's first Oyster & Wine Tasting event at Tabor Academy's Fireman's Center. It was a lovely evening with great company, great food and wine, and lots of activity. We had a bar set up with 4 different types of wines that Martignetti's paired with our four different types of oysters (which were DELICIOUS, by the way). For those that aren't into oysters or wine, no fear - we had beer and non-alcoholic beverages as well as lots of little bites prepared by Pat Ball and Maria Pereira. We even had a couple of our youth athletes walking around with the bites (ever so cleverly displayed on a rowing seat) and mingling with the guests, including several of our adult rowers.

To make everyone relaxed and enjoy the evening, our very own Rachel Eisenhaure, a local Assistant District Attorney, was on hand playing live music. Not on a piano, not with a guitar - no, she played the harp!! And it was beautiful to not only listen to but also look at. She's an amazing, talented woman!

As if milling about with the other guests eating, drinking, and listening to music weren't enough, we also had 20 silent auction items on display, ready for bidding. Every item was bid on and we had many happy winners at the end of the night. Thank you to all that donated an item, and to those that bid on each item! There were a few hotly contested items but luckily no rower was harmed in the process...

To top off the night, we brought our two new (to us) fours for a christening/dedication. Through a donation by Walter Chang and his family (Ling Ling, Chris, Sharlene, and Darren) we were able to purchase two used fours for New Bedford Community Rowing this spring. One boat, a 'bowloaded' Filippi, already had a name. It's bad luck to rename a boat so we dedicated it to The Chang Family. The other boat, a Dirigo, while older had never been named. At the suggestion of Walter himself, we christened the boat "Integrity".

It was a very fun event in a beautiful location and we plan to host it again next year. I hope many of you can join us! Eventually, we'll have to host it at our very own boathouse that's not too far off in the future! Thank you to the organizing committee of Martha Maguire, Anne Eisenmenger, Margaret Ishihara, and Pat Lester for all of the amazing work they put into making this a top notch event!