Mont Vernon held its 26th Spring Gala Saturday, and Zoe Fimbel, one of the first organizers, remembers how it got started.

“Mont Vernon used to have something called Spring Fling which had fizzled out. In late 1992 I saw an ad or a story in the Cabinet seeking interested volunteers willing get together and discuss beginning a fun spring event. Dawn Lyon had placed the write up in the paper. Well a few of us showed up to that meeting. Dawn, myself, Freida Day and Sally Hogan are who I remember being present but I think there were a couple more people. Maybe Sandy Kent and Eileen Naber?”

“Anyway, we talked about and came up with some fun ideas and the name. We met in the school library and when we got to discussing what to call this event so we pulled out a thesaurus. We wanted a word that evoked fun and celebrating with a theme. We did not like carnival and festival. At some point I suggested gala. We studied that word, and we all liked it! We had our name: The Mont Vernon Spring Gala.”

“As the meeting progressed we came up with many ideas that would include all the various groups of the town. We started having regular meetings that included invited representatives from the historical society, library, fire department, school, the kindergarten and the church. Together we put together a spectacular first annual Spring Gala which had a Boston Tea Party theme.”