Post #GarbageGala

A quick note about last night's Garbage Bag Gala at the Moonrise Hotel. This will be short since I really need to study, but I promise to continue writing about it as more pictures and videos are made public.

I showed up a little early. I wasn't supposed to get there until 4 pm, but I thought that since Rob Cruse with Cruse Entertainment was supposed to be there at 3, I should probably be there too and give the wonderful St. Louis Salvation Army crew a hand at setting up if they needed it. Plus, tweeting pre-show seemed like a good idea to keep up the buzz and maybe get a few more guests.

Laura, Chris, and Angie with the St. Louis Salvation Army getting ready

Danni Eickenhorst setting up the judges table

I think my Twitter feed yesterday was all consumed with #GarbageGala tweets. That's totally okay because that was one of my contributions to the St. Louis Salvation Army for this event.

The back of the winning design modeled by Aaron Perlut
courtesy of University City Patch.

The Garbage Bag Gala itself was amazing. I was very impressed with all the designers and their models. Aaron Perlut and his designer, June won the fashion contest. This video does show one of Mr. Perlut's outfits. Totally not surprised he won. It was very much deserved.

The video also features Brad Hogenmiller, Jenn Cloud, Bryan Womack, Elissa Plastino, Stephanie Lynch, and yours truly.

Personally, I had an amazing time. I loved the fashion show. I never thought I was the modeling type, but it was a ton of fun participating! And for my friends and others in audience cheering for me when I walked the runway, I totally heard you! Hahaha. I love you! You guys are awesome!

Almost almost all the models changed after the fashion show. I decided to stay in my dress. I did this for one reason. I wanted to draw attention to homelessness. By staying in my dress, I had gala guests and even Moonrise Hotel guests ask me about the gala and the Salvation Army. I was overjoyed to tell them that the St. Louis Salvation Army helps the homeless community in St. Louis.  Plus, my designer, Erin Kilfoy, worked super hard on this and I wanted to make it worth her efforts.

I was super proud of Rob an Dashelle with Cruse Entertainment as well as DJ Epic for providing the music. They did a great job! I danced, and when I saw others not dancing, I grabbed them from the sidelines and got them to dance too. They ended up having fun so it was all good.

So I did post some pictures on Facebook. University City Patch also posted Garbage Bag Gala pictures on Facebook. I'll post more as I get/find them. In the meantime, enjoy. Michael Kilfoy of Studio X posted these pictures of the gala.

It looks like even though I may be in Atlanta, I am going to help with next year's Garbage Bag Gala.   The St. Louis Salvation Army asked me if I was willing to be on the Garbage Bag Gala committee, participating virtually and coming back for the event. I, of course, said yes.

So this is it for now on the gala. More to come later as I get info and pictures. I want to personally thank everyone who participated and made the event so fabulous. Lots of love and smiles your way.