DOWNTOWN MERCHANTS TO HOLD 'BEACH PARTY'

Visitors who head to the "beach" in downtown Cape Girardeau Saturday night are in for a treat.

* They can dance the limbo in the sand.

* They can have their picture made in the sand.

* They can view movies of old Cape Girardeau.

* They can munch on hors d'oeuvres.

* They may find a bargain on some valuable merchandise during he Downtown Merchants Association's annual fund-raising auction.

"It's all designed for a fun time for everyone," said Dionne Hoffmeister, who is directing the extravaganza for a third straight year. "We have more space this year and expect more people"

About 200 people paid a $10 admission to attend last year's party, which featured more than 100 items that were auctioned off.

Last year's event topped all previous years in funds raised and attendance.

"We realized about $20,000 from the auction," said Hoffmeister. The verbal auction totals were $14,875. The rest came from the silent auction, admission and special events.

One of the special events was the "limbo" dance, held in a sand pit that had been placed in one corner of the building.

"We had about 214 entries last year and expect twice that many this year," said Hoffmeister.

The "Beach Party" starts about 6 p.m. Saturday with hors d'oeuvres, compliments of Port Cape Girardeau Restaurant.

A silent auction will be held throughout the evening, with the verbal auction to get under way at 8.

Headlining a list of items to be auctioned at the Beach Party event are a mink vest, St. Louis Cardinal baseball game tickets, a weekend at Turtle Bay, Land Between the Lakes (Kentucky and Barkley), tickets to the Kenny Rogers Christmas show, a year's subscription to the Southeast Missouri newspaper, furniture, and various broadcast media advertising packages.

"We have a good variety of items for the auction," said Hoffmeister, "and more items are coming in every day this week."

The 13th extravaganza will be held inside the vacant building at 45 N. Main.

The event is open to the public. Tickets, at $10 a person, are available at a number of merchants, including the Plant Lady, 1. S. Main; Shivelbine's Music Store, 535 Broadway; Jayson Jewelers-Ervin's Metalsmith's, 115 Themis; Hutson Furniture Co., 43 S. Main, and The Pyramid Group in the former Montgomery Ward building on Themis.

This marks the second year since the auction started that it will be in a site other than the Port Cape Girardeau Yacht Club. The building on Main Street offers more room for the beach party theme, said auction planners. This is also the second year for the Beach Party theme.

The annual auction has provided more than $165,000 for downtown improvements and projects over the past decade. Money raised from the auction have helped fund a number of projects and special events, including the annual Christmas of Lights Parade; two floodwall murals, including the Wall of Fame; Christmas lighting; speakers for Main Street music; and more recently, some funding for Old Town Cape's Main Street Program.

Members of Old Town Cape are helping with the party this year.

The auction, which features clothes, jewelry, furniture, collectibles, art prints, savings bonds, movie passes, and a number of gift certificates. The items are auctioned through the donation of Chugs Auction Service.

rowen@semissourian.com.

335-6611 ext. 133