Hydroplane legend Chip Hanauer to host NPI’s 2018 Spring Gala reception on April 7th

Last sum­mer, when we announced that NPI’s tenth Spring Fundrais­ing Gala would be held on Sat­ur­day April 7th, 2018 at the Ren­ton Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­ter, I men­tioned that we were work­ing on a num­ber of excit­ing sur­pris­es to enliv­en the evening.

We have since announced that Major Gen­er­al Paul Eaton (Retired) will be join­ing us to accept a Lynn Allen Award for indis­pens­able con­tri­bu­tions to pro­gres­sive caus­es, while But­ton­smith CEO Dar­cy Burn­er will be our Mas­ter of Cer­e­monies.

Today, I’m delight­ed to reveal that hydroplane leg­end Chip Hanauer — who, like Dar­cy and Paul, also spoke at our inau­gur­al gala all the way back in 2008 — will also be part of our tenth Spring Fundrais­ing Gala this April 7th.

Chip will host our gala recep­tion (5:30 — 7 PM), which has been length­ened to an hour and a half for the first time in the his­to­ry of the event. We made the deci­sion to length­en the recep­tion after hear­ing from many guests that they real­ly enjoy the oppor­tu­ni­ty to con­nect with fel­low pro­gres­sive activists from around the region and would appre­ci­ate more time to peruse the book sale and silent auction.

As this year’s gala host, Chip will make sure every­one knows about the titles avail­able through our book sale, when it’s time to vis­it the din­ner buf­fet to get a plate of deli­cious food, and will wel­come our Mas­ter of Cer­e­monies Dar­cy Burn­er to the stage to begin the speak­ing pro­gram at the end of the reception.

As read­ers may know, Chip is one of the most suc­cess­ful Unlim­it­ed Hydroplane rac­ers in the his­to­ry of the sport. An eleven time win­ner of the Amer­i­can Pow­er Boat Asso­ci­a­tion’s Gold Cup, Hanauer was a famil­iar sight on the waters of Lake Wash­ing­ton dur­ing the 1980s and 1990s, pilot­ing the Miss Bud­weis­er and oth­er hydros, some of which are on dis­play at the Hydroplane and Race­boat Museum.

As men­tioned, Chip was a fea­tured speak­er at our very first Spring Fundrais­ing Gala on May 16th, 2008. More recent­ly, he host­ed the Per­ma­nent Defense Fif­teenth Anniver­sary Cel­e­bra­tion in Feb­ru­ary 2017 at the Hydroplane and Race­boat Muse­um. We are grate­ful to Chip for his con­tin­u­ing sup­port of NPI.

Hav­ing Chip, Dar­cy, and Paul back at the gala is going to be so much fun. It will be a a ten-year reunion worth wit­ness­ing. We hope you’ll con­sid­er join­ing us on April 7th. If you haven’t yet bought your tick­et yet, we urge you to do so now.

A house­hold tick­et admits all the mem­bers of an imme­di­ate fam­i­ly and is a good val­ue if you plan to attend with your spouse or chil­dren. (The gala is a fam­i­ly-friend­ly event, and young peo­ple of all ages are welcome!).

These are our tick­et rates:

• Indi­vid­ual ($70, admits one person)
• House­hold ($100, admits an entire family)
• Liv­ing Light­ly ($25, for stu­dents and activists on lim­it­ed incomes)

In the days to come, we’ll be shar­ing more details about our 2018 gala, includ­ing the names of our oth­er speak­ers. We hope you’ll help us make our biggest event of the year a suc­cess by buy­ing your tick­et and com­mit­ting to attend.

See you on April 7th!