By Charly SHELTON

The La Crescenta Woman’s Club is proudly presenting its annual fundraiser, the Tropical Lu’au, on Saturday, April 9. The funds raised will go toward maintaining the clubhouse and continuing the ongoing financial and volunteer support it has provided to the community over the last 100-plus years.

“It’s our largest fundraiser of the year. Every year we have one large fundraiser,” said Mary Ann Baghdasarian, marketing liaison with the La Crescenta Woman’s Club. “And this money will benefit not only local high school scholarships, which we provide every year, but also other philanthropic endeavors throughout the community, which is our primary goal.”

The Lu’au is a nighttime event, hosted at the Woman’s Club headquarters at 4004 La Crescenta Ave., and will feature cocktails, hors d’oeuvres a Hawaiian dinner and live entertainment. During the cocktail hour, Baghdasarian said, a local dance group in the community that does hula dancing will be on hand to teach guests the art of hula. During the dinner hour, the Honolulu Avenue Strummers, a local ukulele group, will serenade the audience with Hawaiian music. After dinner, there will be a Tahitian dancer and drummer show, as well as a luminary fire show.

Baghdasarian said that in addition to raising money for its philanthropic endeavors, another objective of the lu’au is to educate and remind the community of what the La Crescenta Woman’s Club is and what its club members do.

“We do a lot of volunteer work and make a lot of monetary donations to children in the community. We would like all of the families and all of the people in the community to support us,” she said. “There are a lot of people who don’t know who we are. They still don’t know we’re here. I’m surprised because the club has been in existence for over 100 years.”

Tickets include hors d’oeuvres and dinner, with a no host bar, and are $50 per person through March 31 when making a prepaid reservation. Starting tomorrow, tickets will be $55 per person. For more information, visit lacrescentawomansclub.org.

  Charly Shelton