Ladies and gentleman, find your finest hats and most stylish bowties.
It’s time to dress to the nines for an evening at Wildhorse at Parker Farms in Longs for the first ever Jockeys and Juleps event to benefit McLeod Health Loris and McLeod Health Seacoast on May 15.
“We want to connect with as many friends as we can for McLeod and the healthcare systems so we can increase awareness and educate the communities about McLeod,” said Christina Johnson with McLeod Health.
The Kentucky Derby style event will feature dinner, a silent auction and two separate cocktail hours, one for the event’s sponsors at 5 p.m. and the other for all other guests at 6 p.m. With the silent auction being online for this event, Johnson said that guests can bid on their phones and will be alerted when they are outbid or win one of the auctions.
There are more than 40 items up for auction at the event, ranging from “jewelry to golf packages to gift cards to health and wellness package,” Johnson said, hinting there will also be some “special surprises” for guests.
“We will have photo opportunities, as well as some other guests that will be out in the pasture,” Johnson said.
Proceeds from the event will go to support the “greatest needs” of McLeod Health Loris and McLeod Health Seacoast.
“It can [go] towards our cancer services, our children services, hospice, COVID, whatever our greatest need is,” Johnson said.
Discussions to plan the event started in December.
“We just decided to try something new,” Johnson said.
The event is set to have a maximum capacity of 275 people and according to Johnson, about 20 tickets remain for the event as of Thursday.
Originally, the event was set to host just 250 people but with “incredible support” coming in from the community, Johnson and McLeod worked with the venue to raise the capacity to 275.
“I think people are so excited that they’re able to get out and go to something and enjoy and have a great time,” Johnson said.
With at least 250 tickets already sold and tickets going for $125 per person or $250 for a couple, that’s a total of $31,250 raised for McLeod Health.
“I think that says they believe in McLeod and they believe that McLeod provides excellent care for their patients and their families,” Johnson said.
If you’d like to snag one of the remaining tickets, click here.
It wouldn’t be a “Kentucky Derby” event without horse racing. The day of the event coincides with the running of the 146th Preakness Stakes, the second leg in horse racing’s triple crown. TVs will be set up so that attendees can view the race and place bets on races, with the proceeds going to McLeod Health.
Along with the auctions, the food, the photo opportunities and surprise guests, a hat contest is also planned as well as a bowtie contest.
“We are going to see all kinds of hats,” Johnson said. “It’s just going to be an exciting time.”
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