It was easy to tell how many people came out to our AONE Winter Pot luck Dinner Party on February 7th — the Josiah Smith Tavern had set up six tables of eight places each, and they were filled to capacity. What a great turnout! And what a great time we all had!

Starting about 6 pm, folks started arriving bearing their fine offerings for the pot luck buffet. We kicked back and kibitzed for a while, it always being a great chance to catch up with friends we haven’t seen for some time and to get acquainted with some like-minded Alfa lovers whom we perhaps had never met. Then, at around 7, the aromas arising from the buffet table started becoming irresistible, so we formed a line and began filling our plates. It was a grand feast indeed, with a stunning array of pastas, antipastos, calzones, entrees, salads, fruit, breads, and more. Later, the desserts and coffee came out. Mark Ziburis (who drove up from Connecticut in his ‘92 Spider, since Alfas are the only cars he owns) even whipped up a terrific tiramisu right in the Tavern’s kitchen.

After we were all sufficiently sated, it was time to bring out the door prizes. AONE President Tom Lesko normally handles these (and other) duties, but alas he was in hospital again this year — having the exact same procedure done that prevented him from being with us last year! (We’re assuming that this one was done under warranty.) Tom’s fine and is looking forward to planning our April South Shore tour.

To start with, Kevin Murphy donated a large, colorful poster depicting Alfa models over the years and raffled it off, with John Basel winning it while raising a good chunk of change for the club. Then we started drawing for the large number of door prizes, some purchased by the club, some donated by members, and some donated by our generous sponsors. We’d like to offer our hearty thanks to Vick Autosports, International Auto Parts, Performatek, OKParts, and AR Ricambi for contributing so many great items and offering sizable discounts on our purchases. Please support these companies who support our club! The prizes ranged from gift certificates to fender covers to tire pressure gauges to calendars to posters to hats to glassware to badges to key chains to lighters — literally everybody in the room went home with something!

Then it was time for the evening’s entertainment (not that we weren’t already highly entertained). You may recall the exploits that some of your fellow members undertook last summer in campaigning their $500 Milanos in the 24 Hours of LeMons race weekend. Well, two of them were among us this night to tell us what it was all about. Kevin Redden enlightened and amused us with a great full-blown multimedia presentation on the epic saga, complete with photos from the start of the project early last year all the way through race weekend, with videos of the no-holds-barred racing action and hilarious sideshow attractions. Fellow co-conspirator Brian Shorey provided the color (well, at times off-color color). The show gave us an appreciation for what a wild and wacky experience it was for all concerned — including the spectators. They’re fixing to do it all again this year (the race is July 11-12), and you really must make plans to take it in.

By this time, we were all exhausted (mainly from laughing so hard), so we started picking up the place, packing up our door prizes (and the leftovers), and heading back toward home, having belted back another very fun AONE Winter Party. Our thanks go to Stephan de Penasse, Tom Lesko, Kevin Redden, Brian Shorey, and the others of you who helped in planning and effecting this fine event. And to the big crowd who showed up with such great food and provided such great company!

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