“Picnic in Paris” benefits the Humane Society on Galentine’s Day
 

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[February 09, 2025]    Saturday, February 8, a “Picnic in Paris” Galentine’s Day event was held at the Lincoln Women’s Club Building with all proceeds benefiting the Humane Society of Logan County.

Nancy Schaub was the event chair and Julie King served as Emcee and event co-chair. Brenda Short did the publicity for Galentine’s Day. The Galentine’s Day Committee was made up of Ruth Green, Connie Block and DiAnne Turner. Members of the Lincoln High School National Honor Society also played a role in helping to set up for the event.

Schaub said she and the committee spent several hours setting everything up Friday and came in early Saturday morning to do final preparations. She thanked the committee for their hard work and everyone gave them a round of applause.

Additionally, many businesses sponsored the event to help make it possible.

More than anything, though, Schaub said, “we are here to support animals at the Humane Society.”

As the day’s events began, Julie King welcomed around 80 women to what she called an incredible celebration of friendship and sisterhood. King said the people in the room represented many years of friendship.

For example, King said she had known friends such as Nancy Schaub and Brenda (Maddox) Popham for over forty years. King and Schaub initially met through Lincoln Community Theater when each of them got the role the other one had wanted. Another friend of Kings at the event was her friend Julie, who she met in 1978 when they worked together.

King asked if any groups of friends had known one another five years or less and two women raised their hands. One pair of women had been friends for 70 years. Another pair had known each other for 75 years and at some point, became sisters-in-law. There were a few tables with family members there together.

One woman said she has a four legged friend named Baby, a Chihuahua she got at the Humane Society of Logan County.

Two of the women at the event became friends at the prison. Though they had worked together at the prison, one of them joked they were cellmates.

Each place setting had a little food boat filled with chicken salad on croissant, chips and an iced cookie. Drinks were lemon and lime infused water or red punch. Barry King acted as waiter as he went around with a tray filled with drinks. In the middle of each table was a charcuterie board containing crackers, cheeses, jams, cucumbers and pickles.

To finish off the meal, women could go over to the “patisserie table” to fill a plate of cookies and cupcakes made by Barb Stinson, Debbie Bruns, Brenda Short, Ruth Green, DiAnne Turner and Nancy Schaub.

Bouquets decorating each table were available for purchase. Those who wanted to create their own bouquets could go over to the “bloom bar” and buy three flowers for five dollars.

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At the Pont de Arts display, women could purchase a small lock. They could then place this lock on a frame and write their name and their pet’s name in a notebook to honor or memorialize their pet. The frame will be displayed at the Humane Society building.

A table filled with books wrapped in brown paper was called the “Red Wheelbarrow Bookstore.” Here, women could purchase a “blind date with a book.” A brief description of each book’s genre and plot was all they could see before unwrapping it.

Area businesses donated a variety of items for the seventeen raffle baskets and tickets were six for ten dollars. With many tickets purchased, these baskets proved to be a big draw.

For entertainment, King and Patty Noonan led the women in the song “Freres Jacques.” After everyone sang the song together, King and Noonan each led one side of the room in a round of the song. People were asked to applaud to choose which side did the best, but Schaub said she thought everyone did well.

Next up was Paris Bingo. The Bingo cards had pictures of Parisian items such as the Eiffel Tower and Arc De Triumph plus other Paris related items. King called out the items and awarded prizes to those who got a Bingo. The game ended when King ran out of prizes.

Towards the end of the event, King and Schaub drew and called out raffle ticket numbers for the baskets. Raffle items included tumblers, purses, beach bags, a door hanging, gift cards, lotions, bath bombs, body wash, popcorn, puzzles, holiday décor, chocolate, tequila, wine and wine glasses. Women excitedly yelled out, “that’s me” when their raffle ticket numbers were called.

The final drawing was for door prize items such as a book and colored pencils, a soft blanket, a basket with a book, chocolates, napkins and other things, a bouquet and a travel bag with paw prints.

After the event ended some of the women posed in front of a tree decorated with hearts for Valentine’s Day.

It was a great day for women to celebrate friendship as they enjoyed good food and had fun visiting with one another.

[Angela Reiners]

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