Organizers have packed a little bit of everything, from bidding on memorabilia signed by Kansas City Chiefs superstars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, to getting a chance to hear world class opera singer and native son David Holloway perform an a capella number or two.
The occasion is the Allen Community College Endowment’s 23rd annual Scholarship Gala Saturday evening in the ACC gymnasium.
Festivities include a dinner, plus silent and live auctions, and remarks from Holloway, who grew up in Gas before embarking on a 50-year career as a world-renowned opera singer.
Proceeds will fund athletic scholarships at Allen.
There will be plenty to bid on for both the silent and live auctions, including a Kansas City Chiefs helmet signed by Mahomes, Kelce and head coach Andy Reid; or another Super Bowl LVII helmet autographed by Mahomes.
Other sports memorabilia include a vintage Kansas City Royals powder blue jersey signed by dual sports legend Bo Jackson, a bat carrying the signature of Bobby Witt Jr., or a signed poster carrying the signatures of the 2022 NCAA champion Kansas Jayhawks basketball team. Kansas State fans, understandably, may be more intrigued with a signed jersey from their dynamic running back Deuce Vaughn.
Tickets for the event are available for $25 in advance by visiting allenkindful.com or $30 at the door.
Attendance is not necessary, however, to get a chance to bid in the auction.
Scores of sale items, ACC merchandise and other products donated by local businesses, can be viewed and bid on by visiting galabid.com/2023allengala.
On top of the bidding, attendees will get an opportunity to visit with a small handful of Kansas City Chiefs Ambassadors, retired Chiefs players who still attend public functions to benefit various groups throughout the Midwest. Details on who will be in attendance were not finalized by press time Wednesday.
A raffle prize for those in attendance will be drawn at the gala’s conclusion, a lifetime state hunting and fishing license in Kansas.
The doors open at 5 p.m. with dinner being served at 6 o’clock. The live auction begins at 8.
Online bidding begins at 8 a.m. Saturday.
SATURDAY’S gala offers more than a few souvenirs for a display case.
Delivering the keynote address is Holloway, who made his singing debut with the New York City Opera as Gugielmo in “Cosí fan tutte” in 1972.
He sang with the City Opera for eight years while performing with major opera companies across the U.S., including Boston, Central City, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Fort Worth, Kansas City, New Orleans, Omaha, San Diego, Santa Fe, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
His repertoire of over 75 major roles encompasses Figaro in “Il Barbiere di Siviglia,” Figaro and Count Almaviva in ”Le nozze di Figaro,” Giovanni in “Don Giovanni,” Onegin in “Eugene Onegin,” the title character in “Julius Caesar,” Scarpia in “Tosca,” Papa Germont in “La Traviata” and Rigoletto in “Rigoletto.”
