We never expected such a huge turnout! Our 2nd Birthday Party last year had 250 attend and this year we were shooting for 350. We saw exponential growth however due to our wonderful assortment of non-profit, local business and food vendors, the live band, magician, dancers, and photobooth.
The event started at 5:30 and immediately we saw a huge influx of attendees. At 6:30 our program began. Presenting Sponsor Ommegang gave a toast to kickoff the night. I gave a speech outlining Believe in Syracuse, our accomplishments, our plans and spoke about the progress Syracuse is making. Then Phil Van Horne of BlueRock Energy introduced Chris Fowler and presented the 2016 Believe in Syracuse Individual Award to him and I presented the 2016 Believe in Syracuse Organization Award to the Samaritan Center and Mary Beth Frey. The crowd cheered and made it clear that they believe that Central New York's best days are yet to come!
Around 6PM Syracuse Jeopardy Began with contestants Phil Van Horne, Chris Fowler and Paul Colabuffo. Jim Flint did a tremendous job running the whole thing and played the part of Alex Trebec.
The event went on until about 8:30 or 9 with an afterparty at Maxwells. It was an incredible feeling being part of something so big and promising for our community.
One of the things we talked about at the event was our General Interest Meeting on March 10th. We're bringing the whole organization together and welcoming anyone interested in learning more or getting involved. I really hope you can make it so we can do more than celebrate what we love about Syracuse. We're all about taking action to make it an even better place, improving neighborhoods and city education for our future generations.
For more info on our plans going forward or to RSVP to join us March 10th, visit believeinsyracuse.org/join-believe-in-syracuse-organizational-meeting
Check out these beautiful photos from the event below. Photos taken by Stephanie Palmer. Also a huge thank you to Elegant Memories Photography for their work and photo booth! To see the photo booth pictures, click here!