If someone had asked Stephen Sinclair to look into a crystal ball one night last weekend and predict the future of the Mental Health Association in Illinois, he would have said it looks rosy.
”What`s really nice about this is it`s a celebration,” said Sinclair, president of the association`s board of directors.
He stood tuxedoed, sipping a glass of spirits, in the Million Room at the Arlington International Racecourse, which looked more like a sorcerer`s den, bedecked with decorative stars, moons, glitter and things ethereal for the occasion: the association`s Sixth Annual Gold Bell Gala.
Kimberly Duchossois Lenczuk, co-chair of the event with husband Paul, said the $175-a-plate extravanganza, attended by some 550 guests, is expected to raise about $85,000 for the association. The money will help fund the association`s advocacy, education and volunteer programs, Sinclair said.
Lenczuk attributed the evening`s success largely to the inventiveness that went into its preparation. ”Once you decide what you think your theme is going to be, it starts to snowball. If we make it a unique experience, people want to come back.”
Outfitted in a gown fairly glowing with shimmery sequins, Lenczuk, daughter of track owner Richard Duchossois, described the nights`s theme as
”sort of a mish-mash of the mystical.”
There were psychics, astrologers, numerologists, tarot card readers, palm readers, all manner of mystics peering into the futures of anyone courageous enough to ask for a reading.
WLUP-FM`s Garry Meier was one of the luckiest raffle ticket buyers, winning a 1993 Honda Civic del Sol.
Meanwhile, the fortune-tellers were getting good reviews. ”It was funny, because he said something about a car, and my husband and I are looking for a new car,” said Kathryn Doty, of Barrington, after an apparently convincing tarot card reading.
