Music, auctions and interactive experiences will fill the Crown Coliseum Ballroom Oct. 17, while an online silent auction gives the larger community a way to support children and families affected by abuse.
The Child Advocacy Center’s Fall Gala is sold out. Before you stop reading and wonder why I’m telling you about an event you can no longer buy a ticket to, keep going. The sold-out ballroom is only the beginning of this story.
“Turning Awareness Into Action” is more than this year’s theme. Selling every ticket before the Oct. 17 event proves people have already taken the first step. Ticket holders understand the Child Advocacy Center’s purpose and have put that awareness into action by supporting its work.
The gala will take place from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the Crown Coliseum Ballroom.
“We are completely sold out of tickets,” said Genique Freeman, a Child Advocacy Center board member and the event organizer. “To my knowledge, that has never happened at our center for any event that we have done.”
So, what are those of us without tickets supposed to do with information about the gala? Keep reading, because support for the Child Advocacy Center was never meant to begin and end in one ballroom.
“Awareness is where change begins. But it’s the action that actually makes the change happen,” Freeman said.
The sold-out gala brings that idea into the ballroom, but its call to action connects to work happening every day. The center provides forensic interviews and trauma-focused therapy for children and families who have experienced abuse. Executive Director John Webster said it is the only organization in the area providing specialized forensic interviews. Some children interviewed there can continue at the center for therapy, allowing families to receive services in a familiar place.
“The Child Advocacy Center is a place of hope and healing and action for children and families who have experienced abuse,” Freeman said.
The fundraiser has taken several forms through the years. It was previously the Pinwheel Masquerade Ball and Auction and, before that, the Blue Jean Ball. The 2026 Fall Gala gives the event a new name, focus and experience while keeping live and silent auctions as fundamental parts of the evening.
Freeman designed this year’s gala so guests will not remain passive observers. She wants them to learn, laugh, connect with community partners and identify what action looks like after the room empties.
The evening will include live music from Rivermist, a pop-up shop, a caricature artist and a community trivia game. A social media action station will challenge attendees to share what they learned and explain how they plan to take action. Those posts can carry the center’s message beyond the ballroom to people who cannot be there.
Child Advocacy Center partners will also be represented throughout the event. The community trivia game will introduce businesses, organizations and partners while keeping guests involved in the experience.
Rivermist was selected for more than its music. Freeman said committee members were familiar with the band’s involvement in community events, making it a natural choice for a celebration centered on participation and local support.
The teddy bears in the live auction provide one of the evening’s strongest visual connections to the center’s mission. Each bear represents one of the center’s services and will be themed, dressed and staged with accessories, an adoption certificate and information about the program it represents.
The bears will be auctioned inside the ballroom, but the silent auction creates another point of entry for the rest of us. It will be posted on the Child Advocacy Center’s website before the gala, and bidders do not have to attend. Items include gas cards, a date-night package, a downtown experience and a golf package.
Yes, I will be one of those people experiencing FOMO on Oct. 17 because I did not get a ticket. But missing the event does not mean missing the opportunity to support the work.
Those of us without tickets can still bid online, make direct or monthly donations, volunteer, arrange prevention training for a business or community group, organize a third-party fundraiser or participate in future awareness programs.
Webster wants ticket holders to leave the gala thinking about what comes next.
“We want them to go home, think about it and find ways that they can connect with us,” he said.
That same call applies to those inside the ballroom and those supporting the center from elsewhere. The ballroom may be full, but the invitation to support the Child Advocacy Center remains open.
“If I don’t move and I don’t take any action, then I really don’t make a difference in the community,” Webster said.
For more information on ways to donate, volunteer and get involved, visit the Child Advocacy Center’s website at https://www.cacfaync.org/

(Photo: Pinwheels outside of the Child Advocacy Center are lit up in blue to bring awareness to child abuse in April. Photos courtesy of the Child Advocacy Center's Facebook page)