Thanks in part to some creative planning by host Darcel Stevens, Babes in Bonnets raised the most funds ever at this year’s event.
Held March 28 at Parliament House’s Footlight Theatre, the annual event, where attendees bid on over-the-top bonnets modeled by drag performers, raised $26,000 for the Orlando Youth Alliance. That crushes the goal of $20,000.
Ahead of the event, Stevens created a Go Fund Me account with the goal of raising $1,000. As of press time, the campaign raised $2,350. Stevens says he wanted to move the event “into the next evolution of fundraising, online donations with limitless donor boundaries.”
Babes in Bonnets has evolved in other ways, as well. Originally, the drag performers also created the bonnets, but Stevens says that responsibility has been shifted to local gay and gay-friendly businesses, which has turned the event into a city-wide fundraiser. He says 2016 is the first-year businesses from Daytona and Tampa participated, and he expects more cities to be involved next year, which is also the event’s 20th anniversary.
“I’ve set an ambitious financial goal and being the twentieth year of Babes in Bonnets, expect a grand campaign in 2017 and the return of [Babes in Bonnets] founder, Carmella Marcella Garcia,” Stevens says.
Blue Star served as auctioneer for the 2016 event, and D-Squared Productions, Embellish FX and The Center, Funky Monkey Wine Company, Hamburger Mary’s Daytona, Hamburger Mary’s Tampa, JCruzStyle, Orlando Dental Group, Orlando International Fringe Festival, Orlando Youth Alliance, Outback Stake House Florida Mall, Parliament House Resort, Southern Nights Orlando & Tampa, Stonewall Orlando, The Hammered Lamb, The Venue, The Queen ofVersailles (Jackie Siegel), and Miss Wanda Woolworth contributed bonnets or supported the event in other ways.
