![]() ![]() “I can’t take any credit for what it’s become because it’s amazing, just amazing.” “It makes me proud that we started it,” Grimm said. Last year’s event welcomed a record 820 attendees and raised $720,000, and the hope is to surpass even that in 2023. The third event exceeded 400 tickets, topped $100,000, and the rest is history. In Year Two, 400 people attended, and $90,000 was raised, nearly double the committee’s goal. The maiden voyage may have been rocky, but the event struck a chord with the public. She said very graciously, ‘Let me help you.’ She knew we needed all the help we could get.” Deanna Fleming, who was with Catering Creations, came in with this chocolate fountain, and she saw our arrangement on the table. It really looked more like a church potluck, because none of us had any experience setting up for a ball. “We worked really, really hard, but as we were setting up our chocolate donations, I had to laugh. Even our emcee was not able to get there. “We had an ice storm, and many people were not able to get there from West Little Rock. “We only had, even counting all of our helpers, 11 people on the whole committee,” she said. Linda Grimm, a former board member who was also instrumental in putting on the first ball, remembers the committee working on a shoestring to pull the event together through uncooperative weather. We held it at the then-Arkansas Arts Center, and there were probably 100 people that attended. ![]() “When we did the first Chocolate Fantasy Ball, I was actually chair of the Ronald McDonald House board,” Hall said. As the elder stateman of the event, Hall remembers well how the inaugural event was a far cry from the star of the social calendar it is today. ![]()
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