NayahMbilain

On Friday, Feb. 7, Marian girls participated in the annual celebration of MarianFEST.

The event was held at the Marriott hotel downtown. Tickets were sold for $150 per person, $75 for young alumni and companies and guests had the option to buy a table for their friends, co-workers and families.

MarianFEST is held yearly to raise money for tuition assistance and scholarships. The fest consists of a cocktail hour, silent auction, raffle drawings, dinner and entertainment and a live auction. Items from a Goldendoodle puppy to concert tickets to a trip to Hawaii got auctioned off all night. They also sold things like class pictures, gift baskets and other items donated to the fest.

There’s a new theme each year and this year’s theme was Mahalo Marian. Each guest was greeted with a lai and a warm aloha from the students who worked the event.

The event started with cocktails at 5:30 p.m. then eased itself into dinner by 7 p.m. Guests were first served a signature spinach salad with nuts and berries, Hulu Huli chicken for their main course and topped dinner off with a guava cake coated by cream cheese frosting and pink guava glaze.

During dinner senior Grace Bentley and her sister freshman Claire Bentley made a speech about what Marian meant to them.

“My sister and I practiced a lot for our speech and we find MarianFEST super important because it gives the opportunity for bright girls who want to attend Marian but don’t have the resources to,” Grace said.

The night ended with the live auction and bursts of laughs due to the heartfelt Marian community video.

Freshman Erika Ramírez-Henriquez said “I decided to volunteer for MarianFEST because I wanted to try something new and see what it was about. I liked helping Marian and learning how to communicate with people I didn’t know. I gained more customer service skills and learned new ways Marian raises money for students.”