We’re just a little over a month away from the Long Island Pine Barrens Society’s biggest annual event: the gala! At the gala, we’ll celebrate the LIPBS’s 47th anniversary, raise awareness about what we’ve done this past year, and put a period at the end of this year’s sentence, so we can get ready to get back to work next year. But if you’ve never seen our gala before, where do you start? How do you participate? What’s in it for you? Those are the kinds of questions we’ll answer in this month’s blog post.
The Gala
Odds are, if you’re reading this blog, you passed by the home page of our website, and so have seen the Save the Date card for this year’s gala. In case you haven’t, though, the 47th gala will be held on Thursday, October 24th, at 7 pm. As it has been since 2020, the gala this year is a virtual event. So, at the specified date and time, the gala will premiere on our Facebook page and YouTube channel. If you don’t want to mark this off on your calendar (but why wouldn’t you?), then be sure to pop into all our social media platforms over the next month, as we’ll be sure to remind you!
Watching the gala is only part of the experience, though! If you want to support the LIPBS financially, you can participate in the gala with one of a handful of donations. There are different tiers which will secure one, two, or as many as ten party boxes for you and your friends! These boxes are filled with all sorts of goodies, most of which are sourced from local, Long Island-based businesses. If you’ve gotten a party box in past years, don’t expect to get all the same stuff this year. We’ve changed things up, and we’re really excited about some of the inclusions we’ve made.
Speaking of local businesses: if you have one, we want to hear about it! Each year, we publish a journal coinciding with our gala. In addition to discussing the work of the past year, the gala is the place for us to highlight our relationship with all sorts of local businesses! We print quarter, half, full, and cover page advertisements, the proceeds of which all go to supporting the Society! If you’re interested in advertising your business in our journal, follow the link here. Or, if you want to participate or contribute to the gala, click either here or here.
The Silent Auction
After the great gala event, the LIPBS will begin its silent auction! This is another way for you to support the Society, while also nabbing some really cool things! While we of course don’t want to spoil anything, there will be a wide range of available items, from sports memorabilia, to tickets to different events and experiences – there’s something for everyone at the LIPBS silent auction!
What Happens After
While the annual gala is our grandest, most significant yearly event, the fight to protect the Pine Barrens neither starts nor ends there. Each day is just another step towards our goal of preserving “The Best of the Rest” and ensuring that Long Island’s drinking water supply remains pure for generations to come. Whether you’re an honored contributor, a participant, an advertiser, a bidder, or a viewer, we’re excited and grateful for your interest in the Long Island Pine Barrens Society and our gala, and we hope you’ll stick with us for years to come.
By Travis Cutter, Long Island Pine Barrens Society