Sunrise light on a grove of tufa towers emerging from the water of Mono Lake with soft green and dusty-red wild grasses in the foreground, Canada geese in the shallow water with reflections of the rocky towers, and desert hills in the distance.

Trail Chic fashion show fundraiser: July 24, 2015

trail-runner-hiker-web

When: Friday, July 24, 2015 7:30pm
Where: Lee Vining Community Center

Trail Chic is a fashion show fundraiser for the Mono Lake Committee’s Outdoor Education Center Access Fund. Entrance to the event is free, and our friends from Barefoot Wine & Bubbly will be pouring wine and bubbly (for a donation) and there will be a silent auction with an affordable selection of wines and outdoor gear.

And then, there are the fashions … in years past we’ve had climbers, cyclists, snowboarders, birders, woodsmen, aliens, tufa towers, invasive plant species, pirates, research biologists, and small dogs. You’ll have a good chance of seeing gold lamé, glitter, feathers, and sequins mixing with polypro, hiking socks, binocular straps, zip-off pants, farmer’s tans, and the like walking the pine cone-lined astroturf runway. Something magic happens when you put it all together with some groovy music, so we hope that you’ll be there to join in the fun.

2 Comments

  1. We cannot attend this year but LOVE the idea. Who does this fundraiser support? Details for contributions, please.

  2. Hey Sarah!

    I’m so sorry to take so long to respond to your question! Funds raised during Trail Chic support the Mono Basin Outdoor Education Center Access Fund. Our education team uses the Access Fund when there are community groups or student groups that show dedicated interest in participating in the program, but hit last-minute hurdles that can sometimes derails the months of planning, fundraising, paperwork, and chaperon-wrangling that trips like this require. Basically, the idea is to have a little pot of money that we can use to break down any barriers that might prevent students from getting to Mono Lake for 3-5 days worth of life-changing watershed education experiences. Because the Mono Basin Outdoor Education Center focuses on underserved communities, things like unexpected rental van fees can make a group cancel their trip at the last minute.

    Generally the grants from the Access Fund are in the ballpark of $500. This year at Trail Chic we raised $3,500 for the fund—enough to give seven groups the boost they need! We do the fundraiser every-other-year, so we hope this money can last us until 2017.

    If you would like more specific details on the program, the groups we work with, the event, or anything else, please don’t hesitate to email me: arya@monolake.org.

    And I hope you can make it in 2017!

    Arya