Okay, mark your calendars—Saturday, July 15—and be prepared to dance the night away. This will be the fifth year that Splash! has opened its doors at the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center, and this year’s planning committee has gone all out to see that you have a fantastic time. Doors open at 8:30 p.m., and you’ll want to get there early in order to get the best seats.

Going to a dance is always a lot of fun, but what we don’t see is all the work that goes into a successful one. This year’s co-chairs, Kathy Davison (KD) and Mary McElhone (MM) took time out in their busy schedules to answer some of my questions about Splash! and what goes on beyond the scenes.

KD/MM: Water, water, water, it’s all about the water. We’re at the beach, and it’s summer!

KD: That’s what inspired the hottest auction item this year—it’s a trip to The Palms Resort in St. Croix.

This event used to be called Mermaid Splash, and I asked about the name change. Both Kathy and Mary emphasized that the change came to achieve the goal of throwing a dance that would appeal to a broader range of people. They want our community to get together for a night of great dancing, silent auctions, and fund raising to support non-profits in the community. The proceeds of this year’s dance are targeted to go to the Mautner Project, CAMP Rehoboth, and Safe Haven Animal Sanctuary. To date this event has donated almost $45,000 to different organizations.

KD: Jane Blue is this year’s chair with Mary and me as co-chairs along with a merry band of men and women volunteers who work very hard to make this a great event. We have been very lucky over the years to have individuals and local businesses volunteer to do whatever it takes to make Splash! successful.

MM: My partner dragged me along to the planning committee meeting last year, and since I couldn’t keep my mouth shut, I was asked to be on the steering committee for 2006.

KD: Cindy Johnson and Judy Turner, members of the "Founding Mermaids," recruited me and my partner Ruth three years ago. Who knew what that phone call would turn into!

MM: I would say the planning for this year’s event started with our post mortem on the 2005 event, I think that was in July. We changed the planning committee from around 12 people to a steering committee of 3. The three of us started meeting last September.

KD: Do we ever stop? Right now with this event being only a few weeks away, we are already talking about ideas and changes for 2007. That’s the great thing about being involved with Splash!, you’re always finding ways to make it a better event all year long!

KD: Since the major focus of this event is to have fun and to raise money, we start in January establishing a timeline that ends a month after the dance. We create sponsor level packages and then make presentations to local business people asking for their support.

We establish who will benefit from Splash!, develop the look of the marketing pieces, plan the media sponsors, solicit companies for donations to underwrite the cost of the bar, solicit other companies to underwrite any additional bar needs, and schedule when materials need to be printed and distributed. It is much more work than you might realize.

The better you plan, the better the event, and by now Splash! is a well oiled process. But we are always looking to change things a bit to make the event more interesting, and sometimes the changes don’t work . . . like not having tables and chairs last year. This year, we have lots of tables and chairs!

MM: The party, of course!!!

KD: When I walk into the middle of the Convention Center floor just before the doors open. You can hear the crowd waiting outside the door, the decorations are beautiful, there is a happy group poised behind the bar, sponsor banners are in place, the auction area looks terrific, you hear that dance music getting louder by the minute—and I remembered to put film in my camera. It’s a beautiful thing.

You can buy your tickets early for $25 either at CAMP Rehoboth (or call 302-227-5620) or you can purchase them at the door for $30. There’s going to be great dance music by IDJ4Fun, Peggy Castle, who’ll spin selections from the 70s, 80s and today. A great thing about Peggy is that she’ll take dedications all night long. Last dance will be at 12:30 a.m. There’s an open bar, and keeping with the ocean theme, there’ll be plenty of snacks in sand pails on every table. The silent auction will have lots of fun items (don’t forget the St. Croix trip!). AND, the 50/50. Last year that netted the lucky winner about $500!

MM: Remember you were asking about volunteers? Well, we can use some help at the end of the dance. Typically, it has been the planning committee chore. We have to remove all the decorations from the walls and tables before we leave. Any volunteers?!

KD: Honey, this is an event in Rehoboth; that possibility always exists!!