Just as children like to play, imagine and explore, so do adults, but with more expensive toys.
The Children’s Museum of Wilmington held its premier fundraiser, the fourth annual YachtVenture, Saturday, Oct. 18, inviting guests to step into a fantastical world of luxury. The dramatic sunset over the marsh provided an appropriate backdrop to the evening as men wearing elegant jackets and women in cocktail dresses mingled on the docks of MarineMax or stepped aboard any of the stylish yachts on display.
Event creator and chair Harriett Loweth said the event was modeled after a yacht show in Monaco.
“We were looking for something where we could incorporate the imagination and play of adults the same way in which a child would go to the children’s museum,” Loweth said. “We have jewelry back there and wonderful Audi’s that you can go look at,” Loweth said.
In addition to browsing fine jewelry and automobiles, guests were granted rare access to step aboard any of the 13 yachts on display for the event, which ranged in size from 36 to 65 feet.
MarineMax sales director Joe Jackson said he sees a spike in interest in his boats following YachtVenture.
“People go to these types of events and they get excited about the product,” Jackson said. “What you sell first is the lifestyle and then you start focusing on the actual product.”
Jackson said the type of exposure his business receives from the event is especially important going into the off-season. Furthermore, he said, YachtVenture benefits a cause he cares about.
The Children’s Museum of Wilmington chief development director Joan Greback Clarke said the goal is to raise $50,000 for the museum through ticket sales, silent auction, raffle, and sponsorships donations. With 350 guests preregistered and even more buying tickets at the door, Clarke said this year’s attendance was the highest yet.
Clarke said funds raised from YachtVenture would go toward upgrading the museum’s exhibits, enhancing the facility and subsidizing museum memberships for children needing financial assistance.
“We want to help those deserving youth in the community that normally would not be able to come to the museum,” Clarke said. “We feel that everyone should have access to the museum.”
The museum is not only a valuable environment for children, she added.
“We like to say that the children play with a purpose, and learn through play, but we like the families to come too,” Clarke said. “The children learn through play but the parents relearn how to play.”
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