By Kathy Chaffin
kchaffin@salisburypost.com
It was an enchanted evening in an enchanted building overlooking a pristine 189-acre ecological preserve.
Luminarias lined the path to the Center for the Environment at Catawba College Friday night, while white lights outlined the three-level building. “It’s like a fairyland,” said Karen Alexander of KKA Architecture, who designed the green facility.
Alexander was attending her first Ugly Bug Ball fundraiser, having been out of town for the previous three.
“It’s exciting to see people using the building and loving being in it,” she said. “I’m excited about the way they decorated it. It really is enchanting.”
Paul Fisher, chairman and chief executive officer of F&M Bank, walked by, pausing to tell Alexander, “Every time I come here, I’m very proud of this building.”
Alexander said she was working with Dr. John Wear, the founding director of the Center for the Environment, on another project when he related a verbal description of what he and the board of directors wanted in an environmentally-friendly facility.
“It would be like a treehouse and we would disturb as little of the surroundings as possible,” she recalled.
Alexander said she designed the crescent-shaped building so that only two trees had to be cut, and they were used for the mantles on the second and third levels.
About 250 people turned out for the fourth annual Ugly Bug Ball, Wear said, not bad for a year of economic woes. “We were surprised,” he said.
Wear said it was exciting to see the number of people who volunteered to help with the fundraiser, including decorating, providing music, food for the meals and art and pottery for the silent auction.
This was the first year for the silent auction, and the response seemed to be positive. Jay Laurens, director of resource development for the Center, handcrafted pen holders out of tree limbs and affixed them next to each item up for bids.
“We hope it’s going to get real competitive,” he said about midway through the evening.
Items in the silent auction included original works by Plein Air artists and pottery by Brent Smith and the late Connie McNeill.
Diana and Scott Aldridge of Salisbury bid $125 for Smith’s brown low bowl with glaze. “I’d like to have that sitting in the middle of my dining room table,” Diana said.
“We’re going to bid on more,” she said, adding that there was an even larger low bowl by Smith downstairs.
The Aldridges have been to all four Ugly Bug Balls, and she said they look forward to coming every year. Their oldest son, Ben, graduated from Catawba with an environmental degree and now works as an environmental health specialist for Iredell County.
Their youngest son, Charlie, graduated from the college last December and and is working as a one-on-one language facilitator at Knox Middle School and may be going to South Korea to teach English.
Linda Speaks’ red dress was part of a ladybug costume she put together for her very first Ugly Bug Ball. “A couple of people thought I was a butterfly,” she said. “I’ve gotten compliments and a lot of comments.”
She and her husband, Tom, seemed to be having a great time. Linda said she had attended several educational events at the Center for the Environment and even brought their teenage daughters, Scarlett and Tara, to hear internationally renowned environmentalist Lester Brown speak last November.
Lillian Gascoigne selected a table in the Lizard Lounge for dinner, which she helped decorate, and enjoyed a meal with Dr. Samuel Fort.
Others helping to decorate the Lizard Lounge were Susan Norville, Sue Fisher, Frances McGill, Martha Lou Gascoigne and Judy Currin.
Gascoigne said they picked a lizard theme because it goes with nature. And lizards eat bugs, she said, and bugs is the theme of the annual fundraiser, which raises money to help support the educational goals of the Center.
Some people ate dinner in a large dining room set up on the third floor, where Wear welcomed them and talked about the Center for the Environment, while others ó including Catawba graduates Alex Lopez, Elisa Alfieri and Catherine Goodnight ó opted for more private dining on one of several balconies decorated with white lights.
They said they look forward to the Ugly Bug Ball each year. “This year, it’s really decorated,” Goodnight said. “It looks great.”
Jessica Gilmore, a Catawba student and intern for the Center for the Environment, and Cindy Cook, also a student at Catawba, wore green dresses for the occasion.
The Ugly Bug Ball lasted from 6 p.m. to midnight and featured entertainment by Steve Etters and the Salisbury Swing Band, Paul Oakley and Quartet and live dance music with Sweet Dreams from 9 to midnight.
A local farm dinner was served at 7:30 p.m. with desserts provided by Debbie Suggs and coffee service by Tastebuds. For more information on the Center, call 704-637-4727 or log onto its Web site at centerfortheenvironment.com.
Contact Kathy Chaffin at 704-797-4249.