Chamber's Denim and Diamonds fundraiser draws big crowd - Columbia Basin Herald

Annual Chamber dinner draws big crowd fundraiser

By CHERYL SCHWEIZER

Staff Writer

MOSES LAKE — The crowd was big – bigger than anticipated, in fact – at the annual Denim and Diamonds fundraiser sponsored by the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce Friday night.

The dinner and auction was sold out, and “for what we were planning, we are at more (people),” said Chamber executive director Debbie Doran-Martinez. About 40 additional tickets were sold, she said.

The Chamber sponsors other events during the year, but Denim and Diamonds is its only auction. The theme is always Denim and Diamonds, Doran-Martinez said, so that people can be as casual or as dressy as they like. There was a little more denim than diamonds, although if some of those plastic diamonds on the tables had been real, the Chamber would be doing all right.

Unfortunately they weren’t real, and the evening included live and silent auctions as well as dinner and a live band. Among the auction items were ticket packages for Washington State University football and baseball games, wine tours and a homemade tamale dinner for 16. The silent auction included a quilt, themed baskets and a homemade desserts. A final tally was not available at press time.

Proceeds will go toward an ongoing project to improve the Chamber’s building. “Upgrading it, whatever that means,” Doran-Martinez said.

The current Chamber headquarters is located on Pioneer Way, with limited parking in general and very poor parking for people with disabilities. One option is to build a new parking lot behind the existing building, offering better parking for disabled people. The second option is a new building, Doran-Martinez said in an earlier interview. But either one will be expensive, and Chamber officers have been putting money aside, including the proceeds from the 2018 Denim and Diamonds.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.

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