It wasn’t all fun and games, but it was close. Colorado Dragon Boat Festival’s Asian Game Night fundraiser held at Kings Land Seafood Restaurant on Oct. 14 was a big hit with attendees, and truly proved that you can put “fun” in fundraising.
Along with great appetizers from Kings Land and also provided by BD’s Mongolian BBQ, there was a lavish buffet dinner supplied by Kings Land, free beer from MillerCoors and soft drinks from Pepsi, shaved ice dessert from Little Grass Shack, and of course, lots of fun games.
Guests spent the evening learning and playing different games including the Filipino shell game Sungka, Japanese card game Hanafuda, the Japanese strategy game Go and the Chinese game Mahjong. Each game had instructors on hand to teach newbies — one Mahjong table had Acting Consul General of Japan Hiromoto Oyama as a teacher all evening. In addition, CDBF provided a handful of fun carnival-style arcade games, like tossing “Dragon Eyes” (ping pong balls) into small fishbowls filled with water and goldfish or tossing bean-bag “Dragons” into a slotted board.
Several artworks that were painted live during the festival in July were auctioned off, and Martha Legocki, the grand prize raffle winner of an iPad2 danced a little jig to show off her excitement.
Mudra Dance Studio performed a few Indian dances and received an award for their 10 years of involvement with the festival. Derek Herman was also given a 10-year award for his help with the festival’s dragon boat races. And Dr. Rudy Lie was given his award as the 2011 CDBF Honorary Chair.
Jason Chen stayed late to finish giving out his insightful (and very popular) fortunes from reading palms and faces; and the mother-daughter duo of Abby and Camilla Rictor taught anyone who stopped at their table how to fold origami cranes, boats, frogs and even Harry Potter Snitches.
The atmosphere was relaxed and casual, and many people stayed the entire evening and chatted and networked. The event was a welcomed change from the standard banquet fundraiser that non-profit organizations usually host, and it appeared the attendees appreciated the fun atmosphere.
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