The 14th annual Taste of Newport is here

The 14th annual Taste of Newport arrived Friday night at Newport

Center and will be successful once again because of some 900 chamber

and community volunteers who make it go, says Karin Graves, event

coordinator for the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce. Some

volunteers, like Lula Halfacre of Traditional Jewelers, work on the

Taste of Newport for 10 months of the year, with Lula serving as

chair of the Taste of Newport Event Committee. Volunteers serving

with Halfacre are Dorothy Larson, CPA; Nicole Lawson, Shayne Voorheis

and Joe Woldenberg of Fashion Island Management; Joseph Parker, CPA;

Armand Sahakian, Hyatt Newporter; and Bill Strateman of Inter

Communications.

This year, Wells Fargo Bank is providing some 200 volunteers to

staff the admission and ticket sales booths.

Husband and wife team Christy and Richard Fishbeck have been

volunteering at the Taste of Newport for 10 years. Orange Coast Yacht

Broker Morrie Kirk is a perennial volunteer, as are Mary Ann Marks of

FORMA; Brian Amendt of Newport Channel Inn; Newport Beach Fire Chief

Tim Riley; and Tom Johnson, publisher of the Daily Pilot, to name a

few.

One special volunteer at the Taste is Pat Smith. Pat, a Chamber of

Commerce staff member when the Taste started 14 years ago, is now a

staff member at Corona del Mar High School. Pat has graciously served

as the host of the Sponsor Hospitality for the Taste of Newport for

the past eight years. Pat, dressed in red, white and blue, brings her

own booth decorations and bar utensils and maintains the 20-foot by

60-foot hospitality booth for several hundred Taste of Newport

sponsors. This year, Pat, who served as co-chair of the successful

Relay for Life fund-raiser for the American Cancer Society with

Newport Beach City Manager Homer Bludau, is coordinating the Relay

for Life’s presence at the Taste’s community activities booth.

Their reward for volunteering? Maybe it’s the free Taste of

Newport T-shirt they receive or the free admission. More than likely

they volunteer because they enjoy working alongside old and new

friends, and it’s a way to give back to the community while having

fun!

Graves says there are still openings for volunteers at this year’s

Taste. She needs help on Saturday night from 7 to 11 p.m. when Cool and the Gang are on stage. To volunteer, call the chamber at (949)

729-4400. You will get a free T-shirt!

WORTH REPEATING

From the “Thought for the Day,” provided by Greg Kelley of the

Newport Mesa Irvine Interfaith Council: “Life becomes harder for us

when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.” --

Albert Schweitzer

SERVICE CLUB MEETINGS THIS COMING WEEK:

TUESDAY

7:30 a.m.: The Newport Beach Sunrise Rotary Club will meet at Five

Crowns.

6:30 p.m.: The Costa Mesa Newport Harbor Lions Club will meet at

the Costa Mesa Country Club.

WEDNESDAY

7:15 a.m.: The 20-member South Coast Metro Rotary Club will meet

at the Center Club (www.southcoastmet rorotary.org) and the Newport

Harbor Kiwanis Club meets at the University Athletic Club.

Noon: The 35-member Exchange Club of the Orange Coast will meet at

the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club for presentation of the ACE awards.

6 p.m.: The Rotary Club of Newport-Balboa will meet at the Bahia

Corinthian Yacht Club with special guests from the Newport Beach Fire

Department and a program by the Rev. Dennis Short of Harbor Christian

Church on “How America has changed since 9/11.”

THURSDAY

7 a.m.: The 20-plus member Costa Mesa-Orange Costa Breakfast Lions

Club will meet at Mimi’s Cafe.

Noon: The 50-member Costa Mesa Kiwanis Club will meet at the

Holiday Inn (www.kiwanis.org/club/ costamesa); the Newport

Beach-Corona del Mar Kiwanis Club will meet at the Bahia Corinthian

Yacht Club; the 80-member Exchange Club of Newport Harbor will meet

at the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum; and the 100-member

Newport-Irvine Rotary Club will meet at the Irvine Marriott Hotel

(www.nirotary.org).

* COMMUNITY & CLUBS is published Saturdays in the Daily Pilot.

Send your service club’s meeting information by fax to (949)

660-8667; e-mail to jdeboom@aol.com or by mail to 2082 S.E. Bristol,

Suite 201, Newport Beach, CA 92660-1740.