HOLYOKE — The Holyoke Rotary Club announced its premier tasting fundraiser and silent auction, Eat, Drink, and Be Holyoke, will take place on Thursday, May 1, at the Holyoke Council on Aging and Senior Center, 291 Pine St., at 5:30 p.m.
Rebecaa MacGregor from the Holyoke Rotary Club talked about the upcoming event and stated, “Guests can expect to have a fun evening with local food, delicious beverages, entertaining live music and an opportunity to bid on some great items available in the silent auction.”
The event will include live music performed by The Earls & Pearls and food prepared Amadeo’s, Choo Choo’s, Crave, Day Brook Village Senior Living, Fame, Pic’s Pub, Rusty’s Place, Sumo, UMass Dining and Woodstone Tavern.
The Rotary Club is still accepting applications, so the list could continue to grow as the date approaches.
Beverage tastings will be provided by Wine Haus, Quality Beverage, Easy Brewing, Fishers Island Lemonade, Cutwater Lemonade, Ultra Zero, Nutrul and Woodbridge wines.
Tasting samples will include craft beer, seltzers, canned cocktails and wine.
MacGregor also said they will have approximately 40 items to bid on, including gift cards, golf foursomes, jewelry, Patriot’s pre-season tickets, a one-year subscription to a Pie-of-the-Month club, event tickets and a regular favorite lottery scratch tickets “Frame of Fortune” with a guaranteed $20 winner.
Tickets are $50 and can be purchased at edbh2025.eventbrite.com.
Proceeds from the event will support Rotary projects, mostly within the Holyoke Rotary district of Holyoke, South Hadley and Granby.
Ongoing Holyoke Rotary projects include providing several annual scholarships, providing food for those in need through community collaborations, and fostering community engagement with free summer concerts, as well as funding international clean water initiatives.
MacGregor expressed how it feels to be able to help raise money to fund some of the Rotary projects.
She said, “The feeling I get in helping to put on this event and raising funds for Rotary projects is pride. I am really proud of all the generous sponsors who have contributed to raising over $20,000 to date. Those funds will be able to help local students pay for college with the several scholarships we offer every year to graduating high school seniors in Holyoke, South Hadley and Granby.”
The funds will also be used to help provide sandwiches and snacks to hungry community members at Kate’s Kitchen as well as larger projects in the area reach completion as they are presented, such as the $30,000 the Holyoke Rotary Club invested in towards the Miracle League Inclusive Playground in Holyoke’s Kennedy Park.
Since 2008, the Holyoke Rotary Club has raised over $150,000 to fund various projects, including the Miracle League of Western Massachusetts Inclusive Playground at Kennedy Field, the media room at the Holyoke Library, K-9 vests for the Holyoke Police Department, and literacy projects with Kelly School and Holyoke Boys’ and Girls’ Club, among others.
The Holyoke Rotary Club is still identifying additional event sponsors, as well as food and beverage vendors.
Local businesses interested in supporting and collaborating with the Holyoke Rotary Club for this event are encouraged to visit holyokerotary.com.
