- November 29, 2024
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Veronica Johnson and Annie Evert decorating one of the many Casement Christmas trees (Photo by Emily Blackwood).
A.J. Clemonts has a lot of love for annual Christmas Gala (Photo by Emily Blackwood).
Didi Blanchard peeks out behind one of The Casements' larger nutcrackers (Photo by Emily Blackwood).
Marilyn Soderquist and Phyllis Lowry look around in awe of the volunteer and staff's hard work (Photo by Emily Blackwood).
Ginny Miller and Anne Dufresne work together to tinsel a tree (Photo by Emily Blackwood).
It took many hands and many hours to finish the largest Casements Christmas tree (Photo by Emily Blackwood).
President of the Ormond Beach Garden Club Zetta Gillespie shows off the group's unique ornaments (Photo by Emily Blackwood).
A.J. Clemonts reached to hang another ornament onto the 14-foot tree that stood at the center of The Casements. Clemonts and his team of Casement Guild volunteers had been working for a few hours now and only the top of the tree was finished.
"Chop chop," Clemonts called down to Didi Blanchard. She handed him the next ornament with that slight look in her eyes that said "Watch it."
It took six staff members, 40 working volunteers and dozens of other groups from the community to prepare for the Holiday Memories at The Casements annual Christmas Gala. Casements Cultural Center Coordinator Siobhan Daly said they had a lot of help from the Mainland High School Reserve Officers' Training Corps.
"For nine years now, they've been decorating the outside of The Casements," she said. "This year they did it under two hours. I asked them how, and the major said they didn't have any freshman this year. We motivated them with pizza too, so I think that helped."
The gala is the major fundraiser for The Casements Guild, generating somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000 a year. However, Daly said that the event's importance is more than just lucrative for the historic house of John D. Rockefeller.
"It is in keeping in tradition of what Rockefeller would do," she said. "He was called 'Neighbor John' because he opened his doors to everyone. That's the mission of guild."
"We all get busy with out day-to-day lives, and there are so many people who live here and have never been inside The Casements. It's one goodwill we can give back." — Siobhan Daly, Casements cultural coordinator
The three-day event will include an ice cream social, pictures with Santa, balloon art, a gift and gourmet shop, and a holiday tea. For Daly personally, her favorite part about the gala is the tree lighting.
"We have the three floors go on one right after the other," she said. "Sometimes we feel like we're Disney."
