Pineapple Ball Pre-Party to Kick Off Holiday Season at GC Hotel

Written by Althea Robinson

The second annual Pineapple Ball Pre-Party will be held on Monday evening, Dec. 2, 6:30 p.m. in POSH at the Garden City Hotel.

The event, initiated last year, will both usher in the 2013 Garden City holiday season and provide guests an opportunity to meet the honorees to be feted at the 2014 Pineapple Ball on Friday evening, May 9.

Honorees include the Garden City Turkey Trot Race Committee (Citizen of the Year); Anne Sullivan, Garden City High School Swim Team coach (Community Achievement Award recipient); Lisa Smith, proprietor of Coquette on Seventh Street (Business Person of the Year); and Robert L. Schoelle, Jr. (President’s Award recipient).

All proceeds from the event will benefit efforts to refurbish the historic Garden City Toll Lodge which celebrates the 25th anniversary of its move by the Chamber from its original location on Vanderbilt Court to Seventh Street where it serves as Chamber headquarters.

The Pre-Pineapple Ball Pre-Party is expected once again to be a fun networking party with guests enjoying an array of delectable hors d’oeuvres, fine wines, beer and soda. Adding to the holiday spirit will be background holiday music plus songs by chamber treasurer Sal Armao (Armao LLP), well-known locally for his special vocals.

The Pineapple Ball Committee will hold a raffle for two tickets to the Pineapple Ball, valued at $500, plus a silent auction. Advance reservations at $40 each are required.

Call the chamber at 746-7724, ext. 101 to reserve or become a sponsor. Checks made payable to the Garden City Chamber of Commerce may be mailed to the chamber at 230 Seventh Street. Credit cards will be accepted by telephone or fax at 746-7725. To download an invitation, click here.

Sponsors will be listed on a page in the 2014 Pineapple Ball Journal; in the chamber’s spring issue of its “Business Bulletin Magazine” and on a plaque to be hung in the Toll Lodge listing contributors to the Toll Lodge Refurbishing Project. (The Garden City Toll Lodge is the last remaining vestige of William K. Vanderbilt’s historic Long island Motor Parkway.)

We are pleased to thank and recognize our generous sponsors to date:

LUXURY CAR sponsors ($500): Joanne K. Adams (New York Racing Association); Stephanie Cullum (Coach Realtors); Sal Armao (Armao LLP); Brian Daughney (Becker & Polliakoff LLP); John DeMaro (Ruskin Moscou & Faltischek, P.C.); and Jacqueline Goode (Securities Consultants LLC).

RACE CAR sponsors (random listing): John Appelt (Senior Network Solutions); Steve Peck (Waldner’s Business Environments, Inc.); Roger Eltringham (Allianceplus); Susan MacDonald (Daniel Gale Sotheby’s); Tom McCambridge (Albanese Organization, Inc.); Althea Robinson (Garden City Chamber); Sean Martens (SMPL Technologies); Patti Donnelly (Astoria Federal Savings); Kevin Walsh (Walsh Markus McDougal DeBellis LLP); Michael Ventre (Windsor Commercial Real Estate); Alba Spinelli (First Trade Union Bank); John Wilton (Garden City Properties/GC Commercial); Michael Ventre (Windsor Commercial Real Estate); Connie Deckel (Kings Supermarkets); and Jim Doukas (Revel).

Planners for the Pineapple Ball Pre-Party are Jerry Rizzo (director of catering, Garden City Hotel); Althea Robinson (executive director, Garden City Chamber); Joanne Adams (NYRA, event co-chair); J. Grady Colin (general manager, Garden City Hotel); Jackie Goode (Securities Consultants LLC, event co-chair); Stephanie Cullum (Coach Realtors, president, Garden City Chamber) and Michael Mandato (executive chef, Garden City Hotel).