VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, [8] ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 21:59:52 05/25/04 Tue
Author: josh
Subject: Miss Universe SILENT AUCTION article

05.24.04 - A Night of Food, Gifts and Beauties – Miss Universe 2004 Charity Auction
May 24, 2004


The Miss Universe Pageant is considered the world's premiere beauty contest. Its prestige stems from its core of nearly 80 national directors who run pageants in their individual countries and then send the winners on to the Miss Universe Pageant. This worldwide network has been cultivated for the last 53 years.

As part of each year’s pageant, an event is held with gifts brought by delegates of each country auctioned off with proceeds to be donated to charity. This year’s elegant charity event was no different than previous ones.

This year’s charity auction was scheduled yesterday, May 24, 2004 and was held at the Swissotel grand ballroom. The invitation, as they called the tickets, indicated that the event would start at 6:00 PM. Due to tight security, it took quite some time to arrive at the venue. Upon arriving at the hotel, you would notice the elegantly dressed people trickling in and lining up on the staircase leading to the auction area waiting for the event to start. The doors leading to the function finally opened at 8:00 PM.

The room was arranged in such a way that the delegates’ gifts to be auctioned were displayed on tables. Beside each gift was a sign that bears the name of the country of the delegate that brought the gift, a short description of the gift, the minimum bid one can place, and the original retail value of the gift. Along side the signs were sheets of paper where people could write their bids.

Notable gifts being auctioned that night included gifts from:

Austria – A big diamond-shaped Swarovski Crystal valued at $6,000 with a minimum bid of $2,000

Colombia – A reproduction of a gold pre-Columbian golden statue from Galleria Cano with a minimum bid of $250

USA – A 3-day 2-night trip to New York including accommodations at the
Trump International Hotel with a minimum bid of $2,000

Poland – A sculptured rose with a minimum bid of $100

Philippines – A big jewelry box and 2 picture frames made of Mother of Pearl valued at $2,500 with a minimum bid of $1,000

Peru – A big painting of a Peruvian Indian woman valued at $3,000 with a minimum bid of $1,000

Thailand – An intricately carved silver tray valued at $700 with a minimum bid of $ 300

Japan – A big antique Japanese doll with a minimum bid of $450

Chinese Taipei – A beautiful blue vase with a minimum bid of $350

Venezuela – A necklace with a minimum bid of $ 100

The auction end prices ranged from $50.00 to Austria’s $2,000.00. Items that had minimum prices above $500.00 unfortunately didn’t receive too many bids with the exception of Miss USA’s Trump Vacation Package. Miss Philippines’ Mother of Pearl items was very popular but had only one bid at the very last moment.

An open bar was on hand and a variety of sushi was served during the 2½ hours that were allotted for the silent auction. A number of nationalities graced the occasion that included several guests from Asian countries such as Korea, Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines.

After the silent auction, attendees were led to the grand ballroom beautifully decorated with cascading light fixtures as centerpieces on each table. At each table were names of two of the delegates allowing them to socialize with the event’s guests. At the table where we were seated were Misses Singapore and El Salvador. Just behind us was the table that had Misses Philippines and Czech Republic.

Each candidate was presented to the guests soon as everyone was settled at their tables. A handsome man seated at the table where Miss Philippines was assigned to had to switch the place cards of the other delegate so he would be able to sit close to Miss Philippines. Handsome, young men in tuxedos escorted the lovely ladies to their tables as they were introduced.

We had the opportunity to converse with Miss Singapore, a very beautiful and eloquent young lady who was already feeling homesick. Although having fun, she could not wait to get back home that she actually booked her flight out of Ecuador 7 am the day after the pageant proper.

On the contrary, Miss Philippines was having a blast engaging in lively conversations with everyone at her table. At one point, she even got up and embraced everyone at the table to show her appreciation. Everyone at the table wrote her a note to let her know that it was a very special night for them meeting such a special lady. Miss Philippines found this gesture to be very touching.

The dinner was uneventful. Appetizers served included salmon and shrimp cocktail shortly followed by an intermezzo of lime sorbet. The main dish was pork with gravy. Crown-shaped pastries with mangoes completed the course.

After dinner was served, the delegates were called on stage to present their gifts to the highest bidders. The night continued with more picture takings with the delegates until 11:30 Quito Time.

.: back to main menu | back to top

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]
[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-5
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.