Join the Ward Foundation for the first Fall Migration Gala: Friday, October 11, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. at the Ward Museum.

This Gala is the Ward Foundation’s new seasonal event featuring live music, hors d’oeuvres highlighting local cuisine by Taste Events, live and silent auctions, a professional photo booth by Sam Ellis Photography, and open bars with local celebrity bartenders—including Salisbury mayor Jake Day, Maryland delegate Carl Anderton, WBOC’s Andrew Tawes and Lisa Bryant, Salisbury University’s Victoria Rasmussen and Eli Modlin, the National Folk Festival’s Caroline and Dan O’Hare, and more. There will also be live art demonstrations by award-winning artists, including decoy maker and Chincoteague mayor Arthur Leonard, painter Keith Whitelock, and bronze sculptor Paul Rhymer—and better still; you can bid on the creations they make on-site!

But that’s not all you can bid on. One of the highlights of the night will be the live auction, including champagne decoys. What’s a champagne decoy? These are exceptionally small, carved birds made by renowned artists nationwide. They will be floated in actual cocktail glasses and served with a side of bubbly. This fun is not to be missed, and it will be perfect for beginning or building your collection.

The Fall Migration Gala is being held to benefit the work of the Ward Foundation, the nonprofit that runs the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art, Salisbury University. Support raised through this event will allow the Foundation to continue to serve more than 27,000 students (PreK through adult) through educational programming, to work with more than 750 artists through events and exhibits, and to engage more than 12,000 visitors each year at the Museum and through annual events. In other words, all this will help the Ward Foundation continue to provide access to the arts, the natural environment, and our cultural heritage—all at low- or no cost to the public, through the Ward Museum.

Tickets are $50/person. For more information or to purchase visit the Ward Museum online at www.wardmuseum.org, give them a call at 10-742-4988, or purchase tickets in person at the museum.

Special thanks to event sponsors: GNI Properties, Hebron Savings Bank, Salisbury University, and Karl and Deb Yankey.