The Evening of the Arts event, which was postponed over the last two years due to COVID concerns, was held at the Event Center last Thursday.  The event, which featured the contributions of a number of local artists and volunteers, returned as a resounding success.  The event raised several thousand dollars for the Nell J Redfield Memorial Hospital between the live auction and table auctions over the course of a lively evening.  All proceeds from the event will go toward updating the patient rooms on the acute care wing.

Over the course of the last month, the Enterprise has been featuring profiles of the artists involved in the event, who included Doug Adams, Cody and Annie Brower, Bob Crowther, the Hess family (Don Lee, Lois, and Rosemary), Linda Lundquist, Tony McClain, and the students of Dianne Adams, as well as the Malad Elementary School 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students of Christy Oja, and the MMS and MHS art students of Krystal Tavoian Fonnesbeck.  

As visitors walked into the Event Center, they were met by an impressively arranged selection of the artists’ work.  The finely crafted bell created by Doug Adams greeted people at the entrance, and was eventually raffled off at the end of the night.  An enormous mural by Lois Hess depicting the 1848 burning of the Nauvoo temple immediately grabbed attention on one side of the large event space, and finely crafted aluminum anthills on the other.  Between those extremes in size and media were watercolors, resin-works, oil paintings, taxidermy displays, photography, and other creations.

The artists themselves were on hand to answer questions and discuss their work.  Cody Brower, for example, ran through the process of creating aluminum anthill sculptures with many curious visitors, while Tony McClain went through the finer points of taxidermy.

The MHS Chamber Choir was in attendance to add music to the affair, featuring a number of students who received “Excellent” scores at districts.  The group performed several appropriately excellent renditions of chorale arrangements.

Tables featuring over 60 donated gift baskets from local and regional businesses, organizations, and individuals were set up, and saw busy traffic throughout the night.  Toys, beauty products, art, overnight stays at the Malad Hotel and the Black Swan, tickets to the Hale Center, Iron Door Playhouse, and Tuacahn, decorative rock and soil conditioner, car and truck accessories, gardening supplies, and gift cards for eateries and local services all ended up inspiring a lot of last minute silent bidding.  In addition to the items, many of the businesses involved made cash donations to the event, or provided other support.

The main event, the live auction portion of the evening, was an entertaining sight.  Emcee Steve Daniels kept the crowd lively and involved, and did his best to keep the bidding going as long as possible.  Several of the items, such as the fire ring and cabin rental, were heavily bid on.  The back and forth of bidders going at each other for the prize was vocally noted as being as fun for the audience as for the participants.

The event was set up and taken down by the MHS Baseball team, and the caramel popcorn was made by culinary arts students for Malad High School.

The event was put on by the Oneida Hosptial Board Foundation, whose members are: Roxanne Albretsen, Dianne Adams, Doug Adams, Kallie Blaisdell, Paula Davis, Sandy Facer, Kathy Hubbard, Angie Ihler, Lynn Moore, Caleen Pickett, Jean Thomas and John Williams.