Starry Summer Nights rocks Sisters

Folks in Sisters Country turned out Friday night to shake it on the dance floor and shell out their hard-earned money to support cash-strapped Sisters school programs.

The High Street Band kept the dance floor at Brand 33 Restaurant full, playing their signature mix of swing, pop, rock and Motown, offering everything from "Zoot Suit Riot" to a little Sinatra to Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" and The Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Women."

The fundraising portion of the program never got in the way of the entertainment. A silent auction ran for a couple of hours, and auctioneer Dennis Turman kept the live auction moving at a crisp pace. The high-bid item was a golf date with Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts. The winning bidder put up $2,500 and Fouts offered the same package to the second highest bidder at $2,400.

That kind of bidding pushed the net to approximately $26,000, according to Rod Morris, who handled the accounting for the event.

Attendance was up by about 100 over last summer's inaugural event.

Event co-organizer Melinda Witt said that it was the effort of many volunteers that made the evening a success. She made special note of the "dessert crew" of Nancy Dempsey, Pinky Pagano, Chris Davenport, Karen Stoneback and Mim Burke, who put up 1,800 dessert pieces.

"They cooked for days at the high school," Witt said.

The event was a swan song for music teacher Jody Henderson, who has taken a teaching position in Woodstock, Vermont. Henderson and the Sisters High School Jazz Combo entertained as the opening act.

"It was kind of a nice send-off for him," Witt said. "His last performance in Sisters, probably."

Starry Summer Nights is part of a decade-long effort to support the Sisters Schools Foundation through concerts and other arts events. Over the years, Sisters Starry Summer Nights has raised over $900,000 for local schools.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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