Coachlights for charity

Sunday, 12 March 2006

By RASHA ALY
rashaaly@sanduskyregister.com

SANDUSKY - One Friday night in April, she and her husband are leaving the slots of Las Vegas to return to Sandusky.

It's only for a couple of days, but they have to be in Sandusky, said Diane Ackerman. On Sunday, they will return to Las Vegas for a convention.

The reason for their quick foray in Sandusky is simple. She wants to be at the Coachlight Charity Ball April 19 at the Cedar Point Ballroom.

It is "a lot of fun to gather at Cedar Point, because that is memories for everyone," said Ackerman, a Sandusky native, who now spends half of her year in California. The other half, she stays in Sandusky.

The memories she speaks of are those of the old Lamplighter Dances, which also used to take place in the ballroom.

From 1971-91, the Lamplighter Dance was a big fundraiser for the community, where many residents got together for a night of fun, dancing and entertainment. Proceeds from the event went to the then three area hospitals, Providence Hospital, Good Samaritan Hospital and Memorial Hospital.

After about a 15-year hiatus, the Lamplighter Dance may return in two forms: the Coachlight Charity Ball, sponsored by the Providence Fund and the United Way of Erie County; and the Lamplighter Dance, sponsored by Firelands Regional Medical Center.

Already the Coachlight Charity Ball is a go.

On March 17, tickets will be go on sale to the public for $35 each. Individuals can purchase in advance tables of 10 or corporate sponsorships.

A spokesman for the hospital, Ron Parthemore, said the hospital planning is in its very preliminary stages. The new auxiliary president would like to have the dance as a fundraiser, he said.

The gold nugget for starting the first dance in 1971 came from a visit to Texas, said Jean Miller, 79, who was president of the Old Memorial Hospital Guild, the year the dances started. A member of the Good Samaritan Hospital Woman's Auxiliary had attended a dance in Texas, and she asked herself why not bring a dance to Sandusky.

So, she discussed the idea with the three presidents of each of the hospitals' women's organizations, including Miller.

The idea was then born.

The night of the first dance, Miller was concerned, she recalled.

She asked her husband, "What if there hardly isn't anybody there?"

Her husband, now deceased, replied, "We're going to go there and have a good time ... no matter what."

When they got there, the ballroom was crowded.

"It was really something," she said.

The ballroom -- "it almost shook" from the dancing, she said.

Afterward, "everybody was talking about it," Miller said. They kept asking, "are you going to do this again?"

They kept doing it for 20 years.

The dances were "always very nostalgic for the people in Sandusky," said Linda Reichenbach, another volunteer who was on the planning committee for the Lamplighter Dance for a number of years.

Those who went to the dances were in for a beautiful evening, Reichenbach said. "Everyone from town was there."

The last few dances moved away from the usual location.

Cedar Point had said no to having the dance in the ballroom again, Miller said. For one year, they moved the dance to the Sandusky Mall.

"That spoiled it," she said. "It was not all that great" as it was in the ballroom.

Now, the timing for the dance is perfect.

On the 100th anniversary of the Cedar Point Ballroom, the dance is returning to the community.

Nancy Beach, the executive director of the Providence Fund, and Jack Haplea, the executive director of the United Way of Erie County, said they want to make the ball an annual event.

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