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Merry Go Round 2012 gets a new home

(To purchase tickets, please click here.)

When Merry Go Round rolls around in May, a change of venue will embrace the spirit of its lively musical namesake. The dancers will take the stage at the Capitol Theatre in the Riffe Center downtown. Instead of a sit-down affair, dinner will be a veritable carousel of canapés, with hors d’oeuvres and carving stations. The character of The Childhood League’s marquee fundraiser since 1949 will remain the same, but the new arrangements will encourage the spirit of community and mingling that attendees love.

As The Childhood League Center prepares for the exciting push to develop a new home on the Fort Hayes Campus in cooperation with Columbus City Schools, Kristin Ray, a fifth-year member and the 2012 MGR chair, thought the time was right for a high-profile move. “I think it’ll be new and classy and fresh, but keeping with the traditions of Merry Go Round,” Ray said.

Ray knows those traditions well. Her mother-in-law Susan Ray is a member of Assisting Board VIII and Kristin’s husband Joe has fond memories of MGR as a child. “We want Merry Go Round to be the event in Columbus, something fun that people don’t want to miss,” said Ray.
With that in mind, planning is underway to end the evening in the spotlight with coffee, dessert and cocktails served after the show on the stage of the 903-seat theater as the band plays on. The evening’s theme is still in the planning stages, but will incorporate evocative screen scores that celebrate the magic and memories of the movies.

The 2011 Merry Go Round was the most successful ever, raising $489,643 to support the CHLC’s approximately $2.2 million operating budget. Chair Kim Stuckenbrock organized the May 7 event at the Aladdin Shrine Center with the theme “Helping Kids Take Flight. International Music. American Style.”

The Shrine Center has been a wonderful partner to the League over the years, but the new Riffe Center location provides the previously unavailable option of selecting our own caterer. The cocktail-style dinner arrangement also means that guests will have more time to chat and peruse the silent auction. Conversations can continue over cocktails right up until curtain. “Hopefully by the time guests get into the theater they’ll be ready to sit down and enjoy the show,” said Ray.

For tickets please click here.