Bridging the communication gap

In 2006, when Julie Evans was planning the 20th anniversary for her Forsyth Road boutique, Karats & Keepsakes, she decided to combine the celebration with a fundraiser to honor her great-nephew who had just been diagnosed with autism. That year, Evans raised $4,000 for Autism Speaks and for the Marcus Autism Center in Atlanta.

Since the inaugural event, Evans has joined forces with Central Georgia Autism and donates the proceeds to the local nonprofit agency that supports research, treatment and comprehensive services for the families of autistic children.

On April 28, the 30th anniversary of Karats & Keepsakes, the parking lot was the setting for Cocktails & Cupcakes, the party and silent auction that broke all past records, raising about $14,000. Under the tent, on the sidewalk and inside the shop, hors d’oeuvres, cocktails and cupcakes were served to patrons who bought $10 tickets and chances to win the raffle — for a Macon Night (on the town), a Big Green Egg grill or a $500 gift certificate to Karats & Keepsakes.

In an adjoining store front, the silent auction attracted as much attention as the fashion show outside, where models wore the latest trends in women’s resort wear. Maggie Renfroe, local guitarist, songwriter and vocalist, with a voice that belies her diminutive size, was the featured entertainer for the festive afternoon.

Evans recently visited with her great-nephew in Boston and was impressed with his progress, interacting with his siblings and parents.

“Although he is very smart, without a scientific breakthrough, he, like so many others with autism, may never live independently,” Evans said.

In a charming boutique in north Macon, she is campaigning, with cupcakes and cocktails, to raise funds for research to bridge the gap in communication for her great-nephew and others diagnosed with autism.

Tributes to the past and to the future

The repertoire for Once Upon a Symphony, the last performance of the Macon Symphony Orchestra’s season, on April 30, was one of briskly played tunes by contemporary composers, some of whose compositions have been adapted for movies and for radio and television programs.

John Williams’ “Liberty Fanfare,” written for the centennial of the Statue of Liberty in 1986, opened the program on a patriotic note. “Plink, Plank, Plunk” and “The Syncopated Clock,” both by Leroy Anderson, featured non-musical elements in songs that became recognizable as themes for “I’ve Got a Secret” and for “The Late Show,” respectively, on the CBS network.

Miss America 2016 Betty Cantrell was guest soloist, displaying her virtuosity in several genres with “I Dream a Dream,” by Claude-Michel Schoenberg, from “Les Miserables,” in the first half of the evening, and with “Over the Rainbow,” by Harold Arlan and Yip Harburg, after intermission. Conductor David Keith coaxed the home-grown celebrity to sing Ray Charles’ “Georgia on My Mind” as an encore.

Richard Kosowski, conductor for the Mercer University Children’s Choir, had coached his students well in the nuanced arrangement of Nick Page’s “Nursery Rhyme Cantata.” Beginning with “London Bridge,” the voices seamlessly segued to “A Little Curl” and “She Shall Have Music,” with harmonies clearly understood by these accomplished young singers.

The MSO paid tribute to two vitally important people in the orchestra’s history. Keith shared fond memories of Bob Barnette, who succumbed to a six-year illness on April 14. Barnette, for 30 years a bassist with the MSO, and his wife, Annette, hosted fellow musicians in their home for parties and lodging, keenly aware that many of them live on limited budgets.

Since Barnette regaled his friends with colorful tales of his experiences, Keith recounted several of the more significant events, including the impromptu saxophone solo by former President Bill Clinton who jammed with Central High School’s Sugarbear Band while visiting Macon, and autographed the sax for Barnette. Keith explained the single red rose, on an empty stool in the bass section, was the musicians’ memorial to their fallen comrade.

The evening’s performance was dedicated to the late Don Rosen, a fierce proponent of symphony music and a proactive member of the MSO who left a legacy of fundraising and dedication to an organization he loved from the time he moved to Macon in 1953 until a few years before his death in 2015.

Sheryl Towers, CEO of the symphony, praised Rosen’s tenacity in finding solutions to keep the symphony viable and his generosity and devotion to the MSO. Members of Rosen’s family, including his widow, Eleanor, and son and daughter-in-law, Glenn and Christina Rosen, were in the audience to hear the appreciation expressed for his lifelong support of the orchestra.

This story was originally published May 6, 2016 at 9:56 PM with the headline "Bridging the communication gap."