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Date: 3/2/2021
WESTERN MASS. – While many companies and businesses struggled because of COVID-19, many non-profit organizations suffered as well. An event known as “The Big Cocktail Party,” hosted at the Basketball Hall of Fame, plans to take their 2020 loss and turn this event into something bigger and better than ever before.
Since 2018, “The Big Cocktail Party” has taken place to raise money for the Davis Family Heart and Vascular Center at Baystate Medical Center. The creator, reason, and brains behind this operation is AnnMarie Harding, public relations director of Max’s Tavern.
In October 2017, Harding underwent unexpected open-heart surgery. At first, she thought she would need to travel to Boston, before realizing that the ratings for Baystate’s Heart and Vascular Center were prominent in the country.
While in the hands of Baystate, Harding recalled, “The care was exceptional.”
She went on to say, “About a month later, I was sitting with my boss and I asked him if we could do a fundraiser for the Heart and Vascular Center at Baystate because they had been so good to me.”
“Traditionally, Max’s Tavern has always been a great philanthropic restaurant and we’ve always donated a lot to the community, but our events have always had childrens-based charities,” said Harding. Some of these charities include the Ronald McDonald House, the Springfield Boys & Girls Club, the Special Olympics, and Baystate Children’s Hospital.
Harding said, “Pivoting to a charity that didn’t have children as its main focus was a different theme for us, but it worked out great.”
To assist in Harding’s efforts of creating the Cocktail Party, she developed an event committee. The committee currently has Chris Connelly as Harding’s co-chair, while other members include Mark and Noreen Tolosky of Baystate Partners, Dennis Chalke of Baystate Health, Kathy Tobin of the Baystate Health Foundation, Dr. John Rousou, a prominent cardiac surgeon, and several more individuals.
With these combined group efforts, Harding and her dedicated committee worked to produce the first Cocktail Party. As a result, the 2018 event was a success. With 375 guests and approximately $50,000 raised, Harding decided to make this an annual occurrence.
“I was overwhelmed by how many people were excited about making a difference and making a contribution to the local Heart and Vascular Center,” said Harding.
Creative cocktails and lavish cuisine attracted even more partygoers in 2019. Five-hundred guests were in attendance and about another $50,000 was raised.
To date, $100,000 has been donated to the Baystate Heart and Vascular Program.
With plans of drawing bigger crowds, moving to center court, and even raising enough money to invest in a state-of-the -art heart/lung machine, the 2020 Cocktail Party was canceled due to the pandemic.
Harding explained, since sponsors had already donated and people had already begun purchasing tickets, she needed to contact them individually and ask to carry the money over until the event occurred. All sponsors agreed to this.
As of now, the Cocktail Party is planned to take place in the fall of 2021. Currently, there is no set date due to the ongoing changes and guidelines mandated by the state and the CDC. It’s difficult to tell how many guests will be able to attend, along with how food and drinks will be served.
“If there are too many restrictions, I think we should wait until some sort of a normalcy is felt and I think that makes for a better guest experience,” said Harding.
When people are able to go out again, Harding thinks, “the floodgates will open,” and people will want to celebrate life. “I would like this event to be a representative of the good times, but I don’t know when that will be,” she explained.
“All the nonprofits are going to want to start their events again, so we’re going to be in competition for dates and guests to come to our party,” claimed Harding. She remains hopeful that the successes from years one and two will be significant enough to have people choose her event.
Although missing out on a year has set them back, Harding plans to make the next event, whenever that may be, the best one yet.
“This event means the world to me. It means I took something that was very negative and turned it into something that was very positive. I took all the passion I have for my work at Max’s and directed it towards a personal piece of my life that’s made a real difference and I wouldn’t change any of it,” said Harding.
In return for Harding’s generosity and passion for giving back, Baystate Health Foundation members dedicated in her name, the room she recovered from surgery in.
She exclaimed, “It’s important to me and I hope that I can continue to raise money to be able to extend their exceptional service to our community.”
Harding emphasized, “I welcome anyone who would like to get involved in our event somehow.”
Those who wish to attend the event, sponsor, or join the committee can contact AnnMarie Harding directly at aharding@maxtavern.com.