Every other year URWA holds a formal Dinner Dance to raise funds that support the Association’s general operating budget. Historically, this event takes place in the spring, in the odd year. URWA’s dinner dances are known for their extraordinary decorations and environmental themes including The Willow Dance (2001), The Aqua Ball (2003), The H2O Ball (2005) and Calling All Wildlife (2007) held at the Hamilton Farm Golf Club in Gladstone. This wonderful event includes a cocktail hour, a four course meal, dancing to a live band, a cried and silent auction and a raffle.

In the even years there is a less formal Barn Dance that is held in June at the Upton Pyne Barns in Bernardsville. This fun buffet picnic style dinner dance also raises important funds to boost the general budget. In June of 2008, the Barn Dance theme was “An Amazonian Adventure – URWA’s Wild Night in the Rainforest. The barns were transformed into a rainforest with vines, jungle sounds and tropical flora that set the stage for a highly festive evening. According to Executive Director Cindy Ehrenclou, even the food and drinks featured rainforest specialties and the weather played a special role in creating just the right atmosphere – “It was a great night! The warm weather created an appropriate tropical ambiance and our guests embraced the opportunity to break out their Amazonian garb!”

Among the crowd of 150 in attendance were URWA President Christina Guido of Gladstone and her husband Christopher. They were especially impressed with how the committee had
incorporated a “green theme” into every aspect of the party. Even the silent auction featured environmentally responsible items. Guido said, “There was something of interest to everyone. Everything was donated, and much of it was in the form of locally produced goods like honey and potted jade trees grown by members of URWA. Other people donated their professional services, so we really achieved our goal of keeping the auction “green.” We had specialty imported products produced by people who earn a living wage, as opposed to lots of mass-produced merchandise.” Ehrenclou
echoed Christina’s comments, explaining that URWA recently launched a sustainability initiative, “The Barn Dance was our first large event since we began to fully analyze our energy and material consumption practices. Our Barn Dance committee worked very hard to produce a party that was high on fun, but low on waste. They did a great job of incorporating responsibly sourced food and beverages and environmentally-friendly, reusable decorations”

With music performed by the band Stolen Hearts, participants dined and danced the night away, and raised approximately $30,000 to support URWA’s efforts to preserve and protect natural resources across the watershed region.