Auction Chair's Message

Audette Sophia, our peacock-themed entertainer

Reflections on the Spring Soirée

It’s not a formal Gala, though champagne did flow.
It’s not just a fundraiser, though the Annual Fund did grow.
It’s a party where tickets and an auction raise $ for the school,
where you aren’t judged by your jewelry or if your dance moves aren’t cool.


More than two hundred of us gathered on a crisp April night,
to discover a theater transformed by silks, mirrors and lights.
a peacock-feather’d nymph painted temples and skin
While we sipped meyer lemon cocktails and bid in the Auction.





While its name may vary (last year it was called “Cirque du Soirée”), Spring Soirée continues to be one of Head of School John Carlstroem’s “5 star, can’t miss” events, up there with the All-School Picnic at the beginning of the school year and the Spring Concert at the end.  

What’s so special about Spring Soirée?

Unlike any other school event, Soirée is an event for the 550+ adult community of BPC.  It’s a chance to socialize and celebrate with parents both familiar and those just met that evening.  It’s even an opportunity to clink classes with a member of the faculty.  It also happens to be the singular fundraising event that the school depends on in order to sustain its tuition assistance program.


More than 3/4 of our community participates in Soirée in one or more ways.


220 attended the event, 250+ visited the online auction, 100 parents showed up to decorate, serve drinks, clean up, and so forth (and more lend a hand when they see the need), 50+ parents offer a party or personal service or something from their business, a dozen key players plan and execute the event, and another handful run the auction.  More than half the faculty go above and beyond what’s expected of them to offer invaluable assistance and auction items.  That adds up to a real barn-raising effort, a time when we, like disparate dots, all connect for the greater good.


Support for Spring Soirée is given in a surprisingly varied number of ways:

• Carly Dennett, owner of Flowerland Nursery on Solano, created artful arrangements of bamboo, blooming dogwood, delphiniums, azaleas, and scabiosa seed pods.

• Professional chefs Joan Gallagher and Richard Bartlett assembled a team and prepared a sumptuous and seasonal feast.  (view menu)
• In their first year at the school, Tracey & Jared Brandt of A Donkey and Goat Winery and Eli Bishop (in the vodka biz) kept our glasses full of cheer.
• Professional musician Hank Maninger took to the stage with his band The Tear Jerkers and had our guests dancing like there was no tomorrow!
• Anne Marie Elliott, owner of Grove Street Kids on MLK, brought her retailer’s insight to auction communications and print materials.

• Cary Whitney, a system administrator at Lawrence Berkeley Labs, found spare minutes at work and at home to help assemble the online auction.
• Individuals and Groups came together to host events where parents might socialize and share unique cultural and culinary experiences, among them Cooking and Savoring a Traditional Paella, Tapas and Salsa dancing, a Traditional Shabbat evening, and a Javanese Feast.
• A great many of our teachers, in addition to dozens of working and self-employed parents, offered their skills and time and hospitality, whether as an architect, electrician, hair stylist, somatic arts practitioner, music teacher, nature guide, expert guerilla filmmaker or ice skater, passionate Disneyland fan and on and on the list goes.

In short, parents and teachers made their own unique contribution, and the school prospers.


Many Black Pine Circle parents express their appreciate that participation in the life of the school is an invitation, not an obligation.  This is by design, since real partnership can’t be legislated.  Philanthropic contribution is encouraged but not required.  Fulfilling a handful of modest volunteer tasks is an expectation that few fail to fulfill.  And despite the pressure facing today’s independent school families, with high expectations and almost every parent working, when Spring Soirée comes around, there’s no shortage of folks stepping forward to help.  

Auction Chair, 2010 and 2011
3rd and 1st grade Dad