Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Girl of the Year Aleison Kowalski, 9, of Dearborn Heights is shown with her mother, Christine, and the Boy of the Year, Jackson Moceri, 8, of Chesterfield Township, and his father, Peter Moceri, at a reception kicking off the society’s Man & Woman of the Year Campaign. Winners of the campaign will be honored June 10 at “Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Bash 2011” at the Westin Book Cadillac in Detroit.
By Evelyn Cairns
Eight beautiful married women will strut across the stage of the Trenton Village Theatre Saturday when the theater becomes the venue for the Mrs. Michigan United States Pageant, the preliminary competition for the Mrs. United States Pageant.
The Trenton pageant will begin a 7 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults, and $15 for children 12 and under. The box office will open at 6 p.m. for ticket sales.
A $15,000 package, including a trip to Las Vegas to participate in the Mrs. United States Pageant, will go to the winner of the preliminary contest.
Vying for the Mrs. Michigan title will be Nikka Jones Bowers, Jennifer Seuss, Natasha Ross, Wendy Zamora, Kimberly Hodsdon, Krista Duffin, Annette Kelly and Dr. Elizabeth McGhee.
The contestants will compete in swimsuit, evening gown, interview and question segments. In addition, they will appear during the Wyandotte Third Friday celebration May 20, when they will sign autographs and pose for photos at 6 p.m. on a stage on Biddle Avenue in downtown Wyandotte.
Kristina Austin Scarcelli, a former Mrs. Michigan United, is the Trenton pageant host.
Additional information is available on the Website www.mrs.michiganunitedstates.com.
Cancer benefit slated at estate
Oak Tree Farm, in South Rockwood, the 10-acre estate of John “Corky” Hancock and his wife, Catherine Teifer, will be the setting Saturday for A Bit of Broadway Downriver, a benefit for the expansion of the Henry Ford Health System’s Josephine Ford Cancer Center in Brownstown Township.
According to the Cancer Center, the farm’s “exceptionally manicured equestrian horse barn and horse-showing arena will be transformed into a dinner-dance spectacle with the ambiance of Broadway and its big lights” for the occasion.
Cocktails will be served from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., with entertainment by members of the Downriver Youth Performing Arts Center. A strolling dinner catered by The Rhapsody and dancing to the music of Hidden Agenda will follow.
Wayne and Maureen Doran are honorary chairs, and honorary committee members are Dan Grant, Greg Mahar, Waltraud Prechter, John and Kathy Polanski, Robert and Sandra Riney, James and Lana Sexton and Ron and Cheryl Slyter.
Dr. Noel Jackson and Teifer are executive chairs.
Tickets, $150, and additional information are available by calling Jill Nestman at (734) 479-1056 or Kim Streich at (734) 246-9639. Casual cocktail attire is suggested.
Neal Rubin to be emcee
Detroit News columnist Neal Rubin will be the master of ceremonies for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Bash 2011, to be held June 10 at the Westin Book Cadillac.
Guests will gather at 7 p.m. for cocktails, to be followed by dinner and silent and live auctions. Cocktail attire is requested.
A highlight of the event will be the naming of the society’s Michigan Chapter Man & Woman of the Year. Competing for the title are seven metropolitan Detroit community leaders who will be honored for collecting funds in honor of the chapter’s Boy and Girl of the year.
Each dollar raised by the Man & Woman of the Year candidates represents one vote, and those who acquire the most votes will win the coveted chapter titles. The contest began with a campaign kickoff party this spring and will end at the bash.
The honored Boy & Girl of the Year, both blood-cancer survivors, are Aleison Kowalski, 9, whose parents are Gary and Christine Kowalski of Dearborn Heights, and Jackson Moceri, 8, son of Peter and Angela Moceri of Chesterfield Township.
The Man & Woman of the Year honorees include Gary Davis of Prairie Farms Dairy; Cathy Hackenberger, WAC Web Design; Dr. Andrzej Jakubowiak, University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center; and Tom Con-nelly, Ewie Co.
Others are Mary Jane Nowak, Fifth Third Bank; Kelley LaFontaine, La Fontaine Automotive Group; and Jeff Rysenga, Onstar.
Bash tickets, $150, are available by calling (248) 581-3903.
Save the date . . .
May 19 — Southern Wayne County Regional Chamber Business & Lifestyles Exposition Black-Tie Preview Party; 6 to 9 p.m. at Benjamin F. Yack Arena, 3131 Third St., Wyandotte; for tickets ($65, chamber members; $75, non-members), call (734) 284-6000.
May 21 — Dinner tour along the Detroit River aboard a Diamond Jack boat as guides discuss and point out favorite locations of bootleggers during Prohibition; the boat will depart the Stroh River Place dock at 5:30 p.m. and return at 8 p.m.; for more information or tickets ($60), call (313) 577-7674; sponsored by Preservation Wayne and the Detroit Historical Society.
May 26 — Dinner honoring Waltraud (Wally) Prechter for her advocacy work on behalf of those experiencing mental illness; 6 p.m. reception; 7 p.m. dinner; at the Glen Oaks Golf Course, 30500 W. 13 Mile Road, Farmington Hills; for tickets, $125, and more information, call (248) 647-1711.