HP_030719

8 | March 7, 2019 | The highland park landmark community
hplandmark.com
Lucy
Submitted by the Kelly family
Lucy is a feisty and affectionate
3-year-old cockapoo mix who was
found wandering the streets in
Tbilisi, Georgia, where her owners,
Ambassador Ian Kelly and his wife
Francesca, were living. Now that Ian has retired
from the State Department, all three are living in
Highland Park, where Lucy is enjoying the high life
of squirrel-chasing and napping by the fire. There
are many street dogs in countries like Georgia,
but there the problem is visible. Here in the U.S.,
unwanted dogs and cats are put in shelters and
euthanized each year away from public eyes.
Please consider rescuing a homeless dog.
To see your pet featured as Pet of the Week, send a photo
and information to Editor Erin Yarnall at erin@hplandmark.com.
MYAC wins big at Celebrate Highwood casino event
Doug Rapp
Freelance Reporter
The Mayor of Highwood
was in a back room
on Saturday night, trying
to win at the craps table.
But he wasn’t squandering
taxpayer dollars on
gambling—he was there
to raise money for a good
cause.
Mayor Charlie Pecaro
and other North Shore
residents were attending
the third annual Jazzed
Up Dining & Classical
Cocktails, a benefit for the
Midwestern Young Artists
Conservatory (MYAC)
and Celebrate Highwood,
a non-profit organization
that runs charitable
community events.
Held in MYAC’s facility,
a restored army stockade
building for Fort Sheridan,
on Lyster Road, the event
featured cocktails, dinner
and dessert buffets, a silent
auction, casino games
and live jazz and classical
from some MYAC musical
groups.
“MYAC is such a big
part of Highwood,” Pecaro
said. “It brings families
from all over the
North Shore into this great
building. We get to listen
to these wonderful kids
play music all night. It’s
unbelievable.”
Ilyse Strongin, who
handles media and PR for
Celebrate Highwood, said
the third year’s a charm for
any event.
“This has always been
a smashing success,” she
said.
Although this is the third
year for the MYAC fundraiser,
Eric Falberg, president
of Celebrate Highwood,
said this is the first
time they’ve added the
casino.
“We wanted to add a
little spice and give people
something to do,” Falberg
Highwood Mayor, Charlie Pecaro, with his wife, Jessica
(left), Dave Puttlak, and Lorenzo DeVito are pleased
with the dice Lindy Fox threw Feb. 23 at Celebrate Highwood’s
Jazzed Up Dining and Classical Cocktails event.
Nicole Carrow/22nd Century Media
said. “It’s not just going
to eat and listening to
jazz. Now you get a casino
night.”
Falberg said students
from MYAC go on to
“phenomenal schools” and
professional careers. “It’s
keeping music alive,” he
added.
Allan Dennis, founder
and president of MYAC,
said his nonprofit youth
organization serves 900
students a year, some international,
with orchestras,
jazz bands, chamber
music, choruses, and early
childhood education.
“We’re really happy
they’re [Celebrate Highwood]
coming here,” Dennis
said. “It gives us not
only a chance to have fun
ourselves and to use our
beautiful facility, but it
raises awareness of who
we are and what we do
here.”
Dennis said a lot of people
in the area don’t know
what MYAC does and it’s
a “great opportunity” to
show people. He said they
money raised at Jazzed Up
helps with MYAC scholarships
and supporting
students who otherwise
couldn’t afford to attend.
Grace Mockus, a junior
at Lake Forest High
School and MYAC student,
played with the
chamber quartet during
the opening cocktail hour
as guests mingled, eating
appetizers and taking redcarpet
style photos in front
of a Celebrate Highwood
backdrop.
“It’s a great atmosphere,”
said Mockus,
whose twin sister, Jane, is
also an MYAC student and
played with the chamber
quartet.
Regarding her time at
MYAC, Mockus said, “It’s
been absolutely amazing.
It’s a really fantastic
experience to get more
knowledge about playing
in an ensemble with a
lot of great teachers and
mentors.”
In the South Hall, casino
gaming ran the entire time
of the event, from 6:30
p.m. to 10 p.m.
At the craps table, Jim
Hospodarsky, a Highwood
alderman, said the casino
was a great addition that
added even more fun. He
joked that he’d been “playing
but not winning.”
“It’s a great event for
MYAC and a great start
of the year for Celebrate
Highwood,” Hospodarsky
said. “It’s a fun event
that brings the community
together for a good cause.”
Ilyse Strongin said the
casino was added this year
to raise more funds.
Guests received one $5
chip with their purchase
of a $75 ticket. Additional
chips could be bought but
there was no cash buyback
since all proceeds
were considered donations.
The prizes, in order,
for the three highest earners
were a 55-inch smart
TV, a full auto detail and
safety check plus a weeklong
test drive of an Alfa
Romeo or Maserati, and
a $500 gift card to Capital
Grille Restaurant and
Steakhouse.
Chips could also be used
toward the silent auction,
which included gift baskets,
gym memberships,
musical memorabilia, and
packaged spirits.
Doug Blount, of Highwood,
and Enrique Lipezker,
of Highland Park were
viewing items in the silent
auction together.
“It’s a good event that
supports the arts and that’s
something we’re for,”
Blount said.
Lipezker said he was
supporting the event because
his son, Enrique, is
in the MYAC choir and his
daughter, Elise, is a former
MYAC student.
M. Brad Slavin, an
alderman, a Celebrate
Highwood board member
and owner of Farmers
Insurance in Highwood,
said it was his third time
attending the event.
“It’s great,” Slavin said.
“In combination with
MYAC we’re able to combine
our charitable organizations…it
keeps it in
Highwood, it keeps it fun.
[The casino] adds a whole
new element to it. The
event’s been building and
building, and this is certainly
going to be our best
year ever.”