Dear Harbor Families,

The morning after last year’s 50th Anniversary Golden Gala, as I was looking at photos of the night before and reveling in all the moments of the evening, I thought to myself, “how are we going to top THAT next year?” It was such an incredible night at the KID Museum in Bethesda last spring, with alumni, faculty, and families coming together to celebrate fifty years of excellence in early childhood and early elementary education - a grand birthday party fitting for the occasion! My only regret was that we had to shut down the party at 10 PM which felt too early - so this year we’ll be going until eleven!

Thanks to a generous family, this year's Gala is taking us to the big leagues! We are happy that so many of our families, faculty, and staff have decided to join us for an event at Nationals Park that is sure to be a home run! (Okay okay, I’ll stop with the baseball puns now!) If you haven’t yet gotten your tickets, please do so by tomorrow. Next Saturday evening, we are all in for a treat! Here are a few tips and tidbits about what to expect:

• Dress for the event is “cocktail attire” (though you may want to bring a pair of flats for the walk from the parking lot to the PNC Diamond Club).

• If you decide to drive rather than ride share, we have access to a parking lot at no additional charge. We’ll share more about the location next week.

• As you walk through the stadium to get to the Diamond Club (which we’ll have to ourselves that evening), you’ll see images of our students on the jumbo screen along with the Harbor logo - what a cool “photo booth”!

• In addition to appetizers and desserts, our buffet dinner mains will be lemon herb chicken breast, wild salmon with a chardonnay butter emulsion, and vegetarian ravioli with cream corn sauce - along with a selection of delicious sides!

• That evening, we will be raising our virtual paddles to fund improvements on our school space, including classroom furniture and building enhancements. We are excited to share more about our goals that evening (and remember that you can raise your paddles from home as well)!

• Our live auction that evening will feature Terra Club tickets to a Nationals game (with batting practice!), a magnum bottle of Dom Perignon champagne, and four nights at a ski-in, ski-out vacation home in Whitefish, Montana!

• We’ll have a raffle drawing for a Harbor swag basket, and our silent auction will close that evening at 9:45!

Whether you are able to join us at the Grand Slam Gala or not, please consider bidding on items in our silent auction! There are a lot of wonderful items and experiences, such as “uniquely Harbor” experiences like Head of School for the Day and a Day with Archer the School Dog, gift certificates to restaurants, self-care services, and family-friendly experiences, vacation getaways, and other exciting items. And, you won’t want to miss the opportunity to bid on your child’s class artwork and class basket, or to secure a spot for them to join their teacher in a special experience (these are first come first serve!)

The silent auction opens on Wednesday morning at 9 AM, so mark your calendars and look for an email to prompt the bidding to begin!

Funds raised at the Gala/Auction are used directly in support of our classroom learning! Thank you for your support of Harbor. Let's knock this out of the park!

Warmly,

Leah Musico
Head of School