Bay City's Tree Lighting Party

By Bixyl Shuftan

On Saturday December 3, Bay City held it's annual Tree Lighting party. The event ran from 1 to 4PM SL time in the Bay City Fairgrounds in the North Channel sim. For locals and visitors alike, it was a chance to have a little Christmas fun, and perhaps donate a little to charity.

For the first hour, the music was provided by DJ Gospeed Racer. About the time I arrived was when Christov Kohnke was singing while playing his guitar. Third was Zachh Cale, who did his singing while his fingers went across his electronic keyboard. Next to the stage where they played were a bunch of Christmas presents, whixh prompted someone to joke,"Are all those presents on the stage for ME?"

While some people just danced where they stood or with a partner, "Joining in with the cool guy dance." "(laughter) or the sad dad dance," most went into the circular conga line, which has been a part of most Bay City parties in the Fairgrounds, going around and around. Even April Linden, whom has been dropping by Bay City events for a while, got into the act. "Christmas is my favorite time of year in SL each year," the furry Linden told everyone. Someone was dancing while having their pet sheep still at their side. "Why wouldn't there be a bunch of sheep in the conga line?" April mused when others brought it up. Other personalities showing up included Kenny Luckless and Pygar Bu.

There also a newcomer to Second Life in the audience, "This is my friend Foomf," Kain Scalia (Maus Merryjest) told me, "I finally corrupted hi-er, convinced him to join Second Life today." Foomf commented, "Yes, it's all Mausie's fault." Kain retorted, "It is *always my fault*." Not everyone was dancing. One upright chimpanzee dressed in a Christmas outfit had a tree over his shoulder, "I'm really impressed you've been able to carry that tree around for the last couple of hours," he was told.

There were a couple kiosks on stage to dontate to the Child's Play charity, "Please take the time to donate to the kiosks either side of the stage - Bay City is raising funds for Child's Play - a charity who provide toys and games to children in hospitals and shelters - a wonderful charity indeed." When Zachh was playing, a friend of his pointed out to the crowd, "You may notice too that Zachh does NOT have a tip board out - he has asked that you donate to the charity please."

Besides the party, there was also a "silent auction," with a number of items up for bid. (www.childsplaycharity.org). "I think Anthony is just shocked by the bidding on the train," Marianne Mccann, mused. One guy responded, "I like the train.  I like trains in general." The auction was already over 49,000 Lindens when I arrived.

Eventually, it was time for the main event, Marianne McCann announcing, "Who's ready to see the tree light up?" And a number of people answered yes. And so the lights on the tree as well as the star lit up, with a few fireworks going off. Besides the lights, there were a number of ornaments on it, Marianne saying, "(the) ornaments were all donated by Bay City residents." One resident mused, "I somehow expected a fire." Someone else joked back, "That's Burning Man Christmas you are thinking about."

When the event ended at 4PM, so did the Silent Auction, which raised thousands. Among the items was a "Singularity of Kumiko arcade game" sold to Artistik Oluja with a final bid of 10,000L. Marianne announced that the Childs' Play kiosks would be staying up for further donations.

And so, the Bay City Tree Lighting was over. But it won't be much longer until the next big party here. On New Years Eve, Bay City has their annual "Prim Drop," when a giant prim goes down a pole at one minute to Midnight.

Bixyl Shuftan

The Bay City Tree Lighting

by DrFran Babcock 

On Sunday December 8th Bay City celebrated three hours of music, dancing, ice skating and fun to mark the lighting of the Bay City Christmas Tree. The festivities were also for a cause: Child's Play whose charitable aim is to help children in hospitals with money raised by the gaming industry. Their slogan is: When gamers give back, it makes a difference. To help raise funds many content creators had donated items to Bay City, and these were placed in an area where residents could 

Entertainment 

GoSpeed Racer was the deejay for the beginning hour, and she spun holiday tunes that were well-known and esoteric. The crowd made a conga line and cheered on the music choices. All of the revelers decided to load test the conga pose balls, and managed to crash the parcel. This is just the kind of fun Second Life™ residents expect at an event.. 

Christov Kohnke was up next. He might have been short in stature, but  this kid rock pounded out blues on his assorted classical and rock guitars, that he used to accompany his folksy, bluesy voice. By the time he finished his set, the crowd had grown to one frame per second slowness, and Marianne McCann was screaming holiday wishes to all: "Laggy Christmas!" 

The last performer was Grace McDunnough, adored by many for her sultry voice, and her ability to connect with her audience. She told use that we would be tortured for the next hour with holiday songs, but, alas, she was wrong. The crowd was appreciative of her talent, and the day closed out with most of the crowd wishing for more. 

Fun 

If you weren't in the mood for dancing you could go ice skating, or wander the Linden-created lands of Bay City. In addition, the tree is located right in the center of the skating rink. The tree had a number of decorations, including ornaments by BlueGin Yifu and Hyper Mole, whom have passed away.

The event was a great one for people watching, and the paparazzi from the press (cough, cough) snapped pictures with abandon.  

Charity 

 Here are the auction totals hot off the press, thanks to Marianne McCann: The event raised a stunning L$50,207. Here are the individual silent auction winners: 

The Secret Store - Rag Dolls Collection - Lily RARE is... Salome Strangelove, with a final bid of L$400! 
 

The winner of Dark Wicker and Floral Outdoor Seating Set #2 is... Galileo Moleno, with a final bid of L$400 

 
The winner of Dreamscape Life & Alts Insurance Policy is... Vick Forcella, with a final bid of L$2001! 
 

The winner of 2Zm Bread Truck Proof of Purchase Prim is... SeanMcPherson Senior, with a final bid of L$3860! (Ed note: Sean later gave the truck to Marianne McCann  
 

The winner of Bay City Tree Lightning 2012 is... Alx Zeiler, with a final bid of L$200! 
 

The winner of [ContraptioN] Music Box GACHA: Isvandt's Waltz No. 1 is... HomeownerOrCurrent Resident, with a final bid of L$4610! 
 

Trompe L'oeil Gift Card shouts: SOLD! The winner of Trompe L'oeil Gift Card $L500 v2.08 [packaged] transfer only is... Cali Souther, with a final bid of L$1300! 

Bay City Scenes #2 Photos shoutThe winner of Bay City Scenes #2 [boxed] is... Uccello Poultry, with a final bid of L$200! 
 

~FCD~ Tree of the Bay Decor BOXED is... Evola Courtois, with a final bid of L$350! 
 

The winner of bop! Thousand Miles is... Pygar Bu, with a final bid of L$850! 

The winner of Dark Wicker and Floral Outdoor Seating Set #3 is... Linsey Carter, with a final bid of L$500! 
 

The winner of African Wax Print Dress Voucher is... Ever Dreamscape, with a final bid of L$200! 
 

The winner of ER L$2000 Store Credit Voucher is... Vick Forcella, with a final bid of L$1500! 
 

The winner of R(S)W Nutcracker - Bay City King is... Galileo Moleno, with a final bid of L$5000! 
 

The winner of Dark Wicker and Floral Outdoor Seating Set #1 is... zombiegal Resident, with a final bid of L$400! 

The winner of Army of Saint Pygarmas! is... Rachel Seelowe, with a final bid of L$2000! 
 

The winner of Bay City Scenes #1 [boxed] is... Sylvia Tamalyn, with a final bid of L$500! 
 

The winner of Shopping in the City is... Sylvia Tamalyn, with a final bid of L$500! 
 

The winner of Brazier with chairs, poses, sound and smoke is... Dakota Schwade, with a final bid of L$300! 
 

The winner of Carrie's Lingerie Giftcard Box(OPEN) 1000L is... Linsey Carter, with a final bid of L$500! 
 

The winner of <: span="">BoOgErS*:> 5000L Gift Card Prize Bay City Boxed is... XSerenaVonCureX Resident, with a final bid of L$1500! 
 

The winner of Escapades Treehouse - folktales is... Uccello Poultry, with a final bid of L$600!

Near the end, Ever Dreamscape gave her thanks, "On behalf of the Bay City Alliance I would like to thank the many people who came out today and who helped organize and donated to this event. 

"We would like to thank our wonderful performers: GoSpeed Racer, Christov Kohnke and Grace McDunnough! 

"We would like to thank the many talented artisans who donated such fabulous items to the silent auction:Ever Dreamscape, hey thats me ;P  Pygar Bu, Cory Edo of Trompe L'oeil, Loki Eliot, ADudeNamed Anthony of 2Zoetic Motors, Robin (Sojourner) Wood, Laetizia "Tish" Coronet, Marianne McCann, Pamela Galli of La Galleria, Zen Zarco of <: oogers="">, Wildstar Beaumont, Zak from Bop!, Winter Ventura of Eclectic Randomness, Isley Oodles of Fraidy Cat Designs, Eden Malik and Hendrix Portal for donating the Contraption music box.

"A BIG thank you to the the many generous persons who bid and also donated to the childsplaycharity.org kiosks!

"We would like to thank Marianne McCann, Pygar Bu, and The Linden Department of Public Works, esp. Michael Linden for decorating this beautiful sim!

"We would like to thank the Bay City Alliance for organizing this wonderful event, in particular Marianne McCann our (unofficial) Mayor! (yay)

"And a very special thanks to ALL of the people who came out and made this such a success today! We LOVE having you here in Bay City!! Please come back again SOON!!!"

DrFran Babcock

A Bay City Christmas

By Grease Coakes

Every year in Second life just like real life people get into the Christmas spirit, and Bay City is no exception. On December 8^th they held a Christmas party. From 1-4 PM there was an auction featuring incredible items for sale to benefit “Childs Play” the charity that buys children in hospitals video game systems so they have something fun to do. You can find more at http://www.childsplaycharity.org/ to bid on item all you had to do was pay a board and outbid the previous bid.

One of the featured items was a bomber plane from the 1940’s. Someone had a bid for 1,500L. By the design and detail of the plane they were getting a bargain the plane looked very realistic and fun to play with. The party was a huge success with popularity with over 40 avatars on the sim the Bay City sim crashed at least twice. The sim seemed very laggy, and at one point crashed. However that didn’t dampen the spirit of Christmas and the party. There were also fur coats and whole forests up for bid for Childsplay.

At the start of the event Gospeed Racer was playing Christmas music like “Twelve days of Christmas” by the Muppets and Alvin and the chipmunks music for the holiday season for children of all ages to listen to. By clicking one of the landmark giving prims you got a free pair of skates to skate around on an ice rink where the Christmas tree was. I tried it for a little bit watching my foxy avatar skate around.

Later on Grace McDonough a live singer sang for the party. Her voice was soft and graceful just like her name singing excellent Christmas music. Bluemonk Rau a singer from Gspot came on and sang after her singing live with a piano with a country folk voice he was very entertaining.

Around 3pm SL time they lit up the Christmas tree and it began snowing. Marianne McCann wearing a child avatar told me she did the set up and her buddy Kriss Kehmann made the tree himself for the event. He’s a tree builder/seller in SL. Kriss also made the mesh trees around the sim.

Gemma Cleanslate my friend and co-worker thought she saw a Linden Derrick Linden hang around the event. She may be right I remember seeing a blue dot on my mini map. Lindens show up as blue dots on mini maps. I was upset I missed seeing him I could have asked for his Linden bear Aargh!

All in all it was a fun event and the Bay City greeters did a wonderful job greeting people through the event.  The sim crash did knock people offline, but they relogged and came back. One thing this party made me think of was the Christmas season is commercialized with buying toys on TV and stressing yourself out buying gifts for your friends and family. I think what this event symbolized that it’s also about having a good time and to support those who are less fortunate then yourself. Enjoy the Christmas season with your loved ones and more and don’t get bogged down. There’s more to the season then getting gifts.

Grease Coakes