Arts Around Terrace: Crab and comedy a good combo at Senior Center fundraiser

Mountlake Terrace City Manager John Caulfield and City Councilmember Seaun Richards with members of the Huckabillys. MLT Mayor Jerry Smith is in the left foreground. (Photos by Jonathan Heppner, PS Photography and Video)

By Lori Knight

With well over 300 tickets sold, the stage was set last Sunday for a successful Mountlake Terrace Senior Center fundraiser at the Nile Temple Grand Ball Room in Mountlake Terrace. Billed as the best night of comedy and crab feed, the evening’s festivities opened with the Huckabillys, a local folk and rockabilly combination band complimented by a flute, keyboardist and mandolin player.

Auction attendees bid on baskets.
Richards and Caulfield show the poster honoring the Senior Center’s founders.

Guests had the opportunity to bid on silent auction items, including a hand-signed Wayne Gretsky hockey stick (donated by previous center president Al O’Brien)  and hand-crafted items made by many of the members, themed baskets and raffles.

Diners dig in to endless crab, donated by Mayor Smith, who caught it fresh the day before.

The endless crab and prime rib flowed as the guests held down some very coveted places in line, enjoying one another’s camaraderie. Founding members of the center were honored by city manager John Caulfield and councilmember Shaun Richards. and four of them — Virginia Lincoln, Robert Lytle, Arvy Toms and Jerry Smith — were featured on a poster shown to the crowd.

The evening was highlighted by the comedic talents of Mountlake Terrace’s own Kermit Apio. While Apio hales from Hawaii  (he came to Seattle to attend the University of Washington), his brand of self-deprecating humor is aimed at all age levels, and everyone in the audience could relate to his well-timed one liners. Apio noted that while he has been married for 12 years, his wife is the first to point out they’ve been together for 20 years, describing it “as time served”.

Kermit Apio

Apio told the audience that he chose a life of standup comedy after one evening at Seattle’s Comedy Underground. He then pointed to his website bio, which notes that he is not only a past winner of the Seattle Comedy Competition, but dishwasher of the month at the SeaTac Airport Denny’s!

After the show, I had a chance to ask him who his comedic idols were. His answer: David Letterman and Garry Shandling.

You can find more information about joining the Mountlake Terrace Senior Center here.

Kermet Apio tours nationally with his stand-up comedy. To learn how to book him for your next function, visit his website.

Arts Around Terrace columnist  Lori Knight co-owns — with her husband Eric — the Knight Visions Studio Gallery.A Brier resident, Knight has been selling, promoting, marketing and framing art for 25 years. She opened her studio at 19533 Filbert Dr., in nearby Bothell. in 1987. Both of her children — Briana and Chris — are Mountlake Terrace High School graduates. (Photo by Patty Linna)

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