BEVERLY — The Snowflake Ball — a formal gala and fundraiser for the Beverly Area Planning Association — will not return this winter.
Margot Burke Holland, executive director for the neighborhood group, said the Snowflake Ball never materialized as a viable fundraiser, despite three consecutive attempts.
"We are open to a winter event. But the Snowflake Ball as it happened last year and years before is not going to happen in 2016," Holland said on Thursday.
The Snowflake Ball was revived in December 2012 by several members of the association, including Jessica McCarihan, who remembered her parents attending the annual gala.
"The intention was for it to be like the good old days of the Snowflake Ball," McCarihan said.
She and others fondly remembered their parents getting dolled up for the neighborhood social event that was held at The Plaza in suburban Evergreen Park for many years. The event's long, successful run ended in 2005.
Indeed, the Snowflake Ball was once the top fundraiser for the association, Holland said.
When the event returned, tickets cost $75. The rejuvenated Snowflake Ball was held at the Beverly Country Club and included an open bar, hors d’oeuvres and live music.
The intent of revival was to raise money for the neighborhood group as well as attract a young audience who might then consider volunteer positions. Unfortunately, neither ended up happening, McCarihan said.
Holland said she's willing to consider other winter events and even looked at holding the Snowflake Ball within the shuttered Chesterfield Bank building at 10801 S Western Ave. in Morgan Park.
But the long vacant venue isn't heated and thus would not work as a viable banquet hall. She said the neighborhood group is willing to listen to any and all ideas that area residents may have.
"I think it just ran its course again," she said. "The numbers don't lie."
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