PORT ANGELES — It’s not any old night when you can bid on whiskey-maple-bacon cupcakes.
And depending on your fancy, you might also try for the French cooking lessons or the pickling party.
These and other items will be available at Midnight in Paris, the dinner and auction at C’est Si Bon restaurant, 23 Cedar Park Drive off U.S. Highway 101, on Saturday night.
The largest benefit of the year for First Step Family Support Center, the event generates critical operating funds, said Nita Lynn, the longtime executive director.
Tickets are $90, $50 of which is tax-deductible.
And despite the name, the evening will begin at 5:30 p.m. with champagne and a French feast prepared by C’est Si Bon’s Michele Juhasz, along with the auction and the dessert dash.
In the latter, each table of guests bids on homemade treats such as coconut cheesecake and the aforementioned tipsy cupcakes.
Among the auction items are one full year of massage at Renaissance in Port Angeles, a bird-watching tour around Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge replete with a native-birds book and a pair of high-powered binoculars, and a pickling party with Clallam Canning Co. pickler Betsy Wharton.
“One of my favorite packages will be the ‘All About Beavers,’” First Step staffer Amber Hosken added.
This comes with a children’s book; a PBS DVD about beavers; two tickets to Northwest Trek, the Pierce County wild animal park — with beavers, naturally — and two nights at any Red Lion Hotel.
Cherie Reeves Sperr, a former First Step development director who now lives in Olympia, is coming back to Port Angeles to serve as Midnight in Paris’ mistress of ceremonies. She’ll assist Dave Ryckman, the Stokes Auction Group auctioneer known for his high-speed style.
“There are lots of smiles, lots of laughs” at this annual event, said Lynn.
“People just have a really good time . . . and it’s a big deal for us,” she added.
“We can find money for programs, but this allows us to keep the agency going, to run those programs.”
First Step, a registered nonprofit since 1974, has drop-in centers for parents and their children at its main location, 323 E. Sixth St. in Port Angeles, and at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 525 N. Fifth Ave. in Sequim.
The agency also offers a variety of services for new mothers, play-and-learn groups, parenting classes and many other programs.
For reservations and details about Midnight in Paris, phone First Step at 360-457-8355 or email accounting_fstep@olypen.com.
For more information, find First Step Family Support Center on Facebook or go to www.FirstStepFamily.org.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
