Wow! Not only was The Whale Museum’s 10th annual “Greeting Ceremony” event a lot of fun, it raised much needed funds for our exhibitsand facility. Our heartfelt thanks are expressed to everyone who helped make this such a successful event.

Our deep appreciation goes to our committee who worked tirelessly to get the word out and coordinate the event held at Brickworks. Thefood and drink were delicious, thanks to Market Chef, Northwest Totem Cellars, Island Hoppin’ Brewery and San Juan Roasters as well asthe dessert creators, including Shona Aitken, Bakery San Juan, Jodi Calhoun, Kerry Hartjen, Ruth Ann Krooswyk and Alli Moalli, MarketChef and Mike’s Café and Wine Bar. Gorgeous flowers were donated by Robin’s Nest and beautiful music was provided by cellist Sasha vonDassow. The auction items were amazing, contributed by individuals as well as many businesses on-island and from farther away. Pleasecheck out the full list printed on our website (http://whalemuseum.org/pages/thank-you). We cannot thank them enough forcontributing items that were so enticing to our attendees. Our emcee and auctioneer Farhad Ghatan of the Friday Harbor Grand B&B did awonderful job leading us through the evening. We had great event sponsors – thanks to Islanders Insurance, Islanders Bank, Petro SanJuan, Coldwell Banker-SJI, Windermere, Friday Harbor Pet Supplies, Ace Hardware and John and Marcy Aschoff. And the volunteers andMuseum staff were amazing – more than 20 people were on-hand to decorate, run the event and clean up, including a wonderful studentchef from Friday Harbor High’s Food For Thought Program.

Thanks to everyone who attended and supported our 10th annual “Greeting Ceremony” fundraiser. Because of you, we raised just over$18,000 to further The Whale Museum’s mission of promoting stewardship of whales and the Salish Sea ecosystem through educationand research.

John Aschoff, Board President

Jenny L. Atkinson, Executive Director

San Juan Island