Biggest-ever Novel Night held Saturday to benefit Pelham library (with slideshow)
Editor’s note: This press release was provided by the Friends of the Pelham Public Library.
It was perhaps Pelham’s biggest-ever extravaganza. Novel Night 2018, which took place on Nov. 17, attracted its largest crowd since the biennial fundraiser started in 1994. Some 105 hosts held 32 dinners with more than 1,000 attendees. Funds benefited the Town of Pelham Public Library.
As usual, hosts held book-themed dinners in private homes or other venues, followed by a party for all attendees at the New York Athletic Club for drinks, dancing, dessert and, for the first time, sandwiches and other light fare.
Dinners ranged from intimate 12-person sit-down meals to 60-person bashes. At the Last of the Giants: The True Story of Guns N’ Roses, guests enjoyed a buffet and danced to a band playing covers of the hard rock group’s hits. Another dinner based around Outlander, Diana Gabaldon’s tale of 1945 and 1743 Scotland, featured four Highland dancers, a fiddler and a bagpiper, as well as a reading of Burns’ Ode to Haggis. And at We’ll Always Have Casablanca: The Life, Legend, and Afterlife of Hollywood’s Most Beloved Movie, guests had drinks in a darkened, moody basement reminiscent of Rick’s Café, complete with a life-size cutout of Bogey in trench coat and fedora.
At the packed After Party, the convergence of guests created a riot of costumes, from 1920’s flapper finery to hockey uniforms. Attendees could have their pictures taken against appropriate book-themed backdrops. There also was a raffle drawing for a three-night stay at the Casa de Campo resort in the Dominican Republic.
Eight photographers took pictures of dinners and the After Party. For the first time, people will be able to see and buy photos from a Novel Night gallery, which will go live on Wednesday at https://pelhamnovelnight.shootproof.com/gallery/2018. Proceeds will benefit the Library.
“We’re thrilled that Novel Night 2018 was such a success and that so many people in Peham came out to support the Library,” said Debbie Winstead, co-chair of the Novel Night committee and a member of the Friends of the Town of Pelham Public Library Board, which organized Novel Night.
Agreed Melissa Mulrooney Deighton: “With the extensive support of local businesses, this was a true community-wide event.”
