It’s going to be an “enchanted” evening at the St. Helens Senior Center, Saturday, May 18, during the 2024 dinner and auction, with doors opening to the public at 5:30 p.m.

Tickets are already on sale for the event, which will feature a live and silent auction, dance and music, “rustic and hearty” food and a costume contest to support the center’s home-delivered meals program.

Center Executive Director Melissa Watson said the theme will be “The Enchanted Forest.”

“Starting out, we were going to do an Alice in Wonderland Teacup party, then didn’t want to have 15 Alices and 12 Cheshire cats,” Watson said. “So, it just, kind of, opened up for people who want to dress and get into the spirit, so we thought with it being spring, an Enchanted Forest would be a lot of fun.”

“We’re doing the catering here — our cooks are getting involved here at the center,” she said. “We’re going to have a rustic — think ‘Lord of the Rings’ tavern — fun, themed meal.”

After the doors are open, dinner will be served between 6-6:30 p.m. After a silent auction, the evening will conclude with a live auction.

Tickets are $25 apiece and can be purchased at the senior center or the Top Notch Thrift Store. Because of capacity, the center can sell up to 140 tickets. Top Notch Thrift store is largely run by volunteers and helps raise money for senior center programs, including home-delivered meals.

The auction and dinner event is open to the public.

Watson said, “It is open to the public for anybody who wants to come in, partake and have a fun night with us, and get to see our center, and what it can do … and support our home-delivered meal program.”

St. Helens Senior Center makes between 200 and 250 meals a day for Columbia County residents.

Watson, as well as the senior center staff, stays busy putting on this event.

“All of the decorating and planning is being done by us, in house, at the center,” she said. “We’re going to be catering this event, so we’ll be cooking and having the meal available.”

Watson added, “We started planning this in December … It’s a lot going into it and there are a couple of things that we are working on finalizing, because that’s my life, it’s chaos.”

The sky is the limit as to what guests can wear at the dinner and auction.

“People can dress up as whatever they want,” Watson said. “They can bring their favorite Dungeons and Dragons character, or what have you. It’s just going to be fun.”