Bay City's Annual Tree Lighting

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By Bixyl Shuftan

On Sunday December 5, Bay City held it's annual Tree Lighting party. 

The event was held in the North Channel sim from 1 to 4 PM. 

Part of the event was the charity auction, also known as the silent auction. Various items from vehicles to gift cards were up for bid.

The money raised went to the Child's Play charity, which helps children in their stays at hospitals with games and gaming equipment. 

The main event was the music and dance party just in front of the stage.  

GoSpeed Rasere (GoSpeed Racer) was the DJ for the first part of the event, playing classics like "I'll Be Home For Christmas," by Frank Sinatra, "Christmas Time Is Here," "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch," twists on classics such as "Over The River And Through The Woods" by The Chipmunks and "Twelve Days Of Chirstmas" by John Denver and the Muppets, and modern tunes such as the parody "Toy Sack" by Bob Rivers.

Marianne McCann, Bay City's best known citizen, was there, wearing clip-on reindeer antlers.

Marianne would bring up some of the things in the silent auction, "I want to once again talk about some of the items today. First, there is a Bay City parcel on the auction block. It's in a lovely part of Falconmoon, and well worth considering for those who wish to join Bay City, or want a new parcel. You'll also find your choice of GenusProject mesh head next ot it ,as well as a full eBooy library from R. Jacques. Those will be usable on your e-book reader of choice."

Someone went, "Shhh about that Genus head Mari," grinning. Mari responded, "Oh, was not not supposed to mention the GenusProject head? Cuz that looks like a heck of a deal. ... Oh, sorry. Right." She went on, "There's a lot of great cars, boarts, and planes available. ... Lusch Motors, if you didn't see, is a two-for-one prize. a car for you, and a car to give to a friend. We'll leave it up to you to put a big, floppy red bow on it for the holidays."

Pygar Bu dances along next to someone who was "bearly" moving along.

At one point, a conga line formed.

And over time, more people hopped on it.

At 2PM, GoSpeed would close with "WKRP In Cincinnati Closing Credits." And then the first of the live musicians, Tamrya Haden (Tamrya Sands) went up on stage. 

There was various chatter, including some discussions about Christmas songs, "Amusingly, partridges (chukars) would usually nest on the ground, not in trees." "Maybe that's why it being in a pear tree is such a big thing."

There was a little joking around about the silent auction, "Sorry DeeDee, I can't let you outbid me. My kids will never let me hear the end of it." Marai went, "You'll find some really lovely art from Elan (Ineffable Mote), but again, stop bidding on the one I want." GoSpeed commented, "Bid on my books! They were inspired by Second Life, especially Bay City and E-Bar."

Other things to do included skating, but while I was there, I didn't see anyone at the rink. I wasn't there long enough to see the actual tree lighting.

In past years, April Linden would often show up. But as she retired this year, sadly she no longer appears.

At 2:28, Mari announced, "With a donation of 2500, we are over last year!" So besides people having fun, the party was also a success in raising money for Childs Play.

After an hour and a half longer, the party would end. But this isn't the last of the fun for the month. On Friday December 31 is the New Year's Eve bash, in which people say goodbye to 2021 and hello to the new year 2022.

Bixyl Shuftan

Scenes From The CDS Inaugural Ball, Bay City's Christmas Party

By Bixyl Shuftan

The weekend of Saturday December 7 and Sunday December 8 saw a number of happenings, such as the Designing Worlds Christmas party, the Chateau Trikassi Holiday Ball, and various events at the Christmas Expo. But there were others. On Saturday at Noon SL time, the Confederation of Democratic Simulators held it's Inaugural Ball.

The event was held in honor of the community's new Representative Assembly and the new Chancellor, Emilia Dagostino (Emilia Avindar). The theme was "Sugar Plum Delights," with lots of candy decorations around, as well as couches made to look like cake. "Your buns will be frosted," someone mused. Emilia spoke of the set, "thanks to Lyubov who couldn't join us after working all night with Lilith (Ivory) last night!"

Other community noteables such as Rosie Gray, Hand Held, former Chancellor Kyoko, and others were also there. "Thank you for two wonderful terms, Chancellor Kyoko," Hand Held would say. DJ Dino Viper provided the tunes for the fist hour, live performer AleyKat sung for the second.

"Here's to a great 32nd term, and long live the CDS!"

For Sunday, the big event was the "Annual Tree Lighting, Concert, and Fundraiser" in Bay City. Local residents of the community and their friends headed to the community center in North Channel for things to start up at 1PM SL time.

Welcome to Bay City's annual tree lighting, music event, and silent auction!" Marianne McCaan, Bay City's most noted resident greeted everyone, "The silent auction is ongoing, and there are some great deals to be had! Check out the goodies just south of the stage/north of the skating rink."

For the first hour, the music was provided by DJ GoSpeed Racer. She played music from classic Christmas shows such as "The Grinch," as well as traditional songs of the season and some more modern twists. Her audience in and out of Bay City was from around the world, "Listening in I have the US, UK, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, France, Canada, and the Netherlands!"

Many of the audience got into a conga line. This included artist Moya Patrick, and even Lacie Linden joined in. "I look forward to this conga line every year now," someone would say.

One resident, Moo Money, was the subject of some bovine humor, which was "udder chaos." "I'd like to submit a cow abuse report," she mused.

The other Linden at the party, Wendi Linden, was dressed for the season. While April Linden was asked about, it was explained she was busy with something at the time.

Not far from the dancing were the silent auctions. People would bid on various items, and those outbid got their Lindens back. The high bidders would get their items at the end of the event. The money raised went to the Child's Play charity, which provides games to the children of poor kids in hospitals. People could also just donate straight to the charity, Marianne announcing, "CaithLynnSayes also has put a donation into Child's Play on Bay City's behalf, to the tune of US $500.00."

GoSpeed's last song was "John Denver and The Muppets - Twelve Days Of Chirstmas." After the first hour were live performances by Mimi Carpenter and Wolfie Starfire.

It was a fun event for all. But this won't be the end for Bay City's fun this month. On New Year's Eve, the city is host to the annual "Prim Drop" event to ring in the New Year.

Bixyl Shuftan

Fall Fishing Festival Screenshots

 Pictures by Gemma Cleanslate

This weekend, Gemma spent some time at the 7Seas' Fall Fishing Festival.  Having earlier sent a story to tell about it just as it was starting, she sent a number of pictures as the weekend went on. 

Much of her time was spent at Party Island in Osimia, There were "contests held at the party island which is built like children's school desks."

  Gemma in front of one picture on the island

 People were both dancing to the music ...

 

And quietly sitting down to fish

 

 

Gemma had a number of people competing with her. Among them was Holocluc Henley.

 

 

 Gemma won at least one contest. Her prize: a rare seahorse.

 

The location of the party island is: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Osmium/136/127/25/ 

Pictures by Gemma Cleanslate

7Seas Fall Fishing Festival

By Gemma Cleanslate

 

It is that time of year. Everything happens on the same weekend and you wish you had bilocation. With everything else going on it is also time to sit and fish!

 

7Seas Fishing sponsors a wonderful three sim fishing event twice a year. Fishiversery in the spring and Fall Fishing Festival in November. All the builders of anything related to fishing, or not, created catches that draws fishers who just sit around and catch, filling up their inventories with goodies that may not get sorted by spring. It was great fun.

 

Many builders had little islands or shacks or quaint builds in the three sims and there was constant fishing going on. It was fun to park yourself in the middle of a group of servers and catch from many builders at the same time. There was comfortable lounging areas on their builds, or one could rezz a boat and move around the sims.

There are 24 fishing areas offering customs and things to buy and a party island where some short fishing contests will be held. There will be requests for donations to, and, auctions will be held to benefit  the  “Child's Play“ charity. This charity supplies toys and games to children's hospitals.

 

Seven Shikami and Meissa Thorne, the creators and owners of 7Seas Fishing are to be congratulated for hosting this event. They have the support of all the fishers in SL. Cudos also to the builders on the sims who created wonderful fishing places and really great catches. If you have time over the weekend to fish or just want to enjoy the view of the sims and the builds or make a contribution check my profile and I  will place the slurl there so you can get in to the sims. 

 

Gemma Cleanslate