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Bethany Jazz Funeral just around the corner

August 29, 2016

The end is near, and everyone is invited to attend.

You can tell that the summer season in Bethany Beach is starting to fade away when it becomes easier and easier to find a parking spot on Garfield Parkway. The inevitable is taking place... it is the end of the summer season at the beach. To help ease the pain and sadness of the passing of the summer season, a group of folks from the Quiet Resorts get together to give the summer season an appropriate send-off.

This is, of course, the Bethany Beach Jazz Funeral, and this is your personal invitation to attend.

For the past 31 years, the Bethany Beach Jazz Funeral has been held each Labor Day Monday to say thank you to all those who have worked so hard to help please our summer visitors. This is truly a Labor Day celebration to recognize local business people and their dedicated staff members. The Jazz Funeral is also our way of saying good-bye to the Summer of 2016 with humor and music. Accompanied by a New Orleans-style jazz band, we march down the Bethany boardwalk to the bandstand with a mannequin (named Summer) in a casket to celebrate the passing of another summer season in Bethany Beach by burying "Summer" at the Bethany Bandstand. If you have not seen this before, it is great fun. All those in attendance participate in the end-of-summer parade by mourning the loss of the Summer of 2016. This is followed by a mini-concert of Dixieland jazz music by our group of talented jazz musicians. The Bethany Beach Jazz Funeral also lends a helping hand to a local charity by holding the Bethany Beach Jazz Funeral Silent Auction on the Friday afternoon before Labor Day. Habitat for Humanity of Sussex County will receive 100 percent of the funds raised by our Silent Auction to be held at Bethany Blues Restaurant Friday, Sept. 2, beginning at 3:15 p.m.

The Jazz Funeral is indebted to Jim Weisgerber for graciously donating the facilities of Bethany Blues on the busy Friday afternoon right before Labor Day. This is the 11th year Jim has generously hosted the Silent Auction, all in the name of raising funds for five local charities that included the American Red Cross of Sussex County, the American Cancer Society and their Relay For Life program, the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization, and the Delaware Audubon Society and the Chesapeake Audubon Society, as well as Sussex County Habitat for Humanity. Many thanks Jim!

We wish all the businesses in the Quiet Resorts continued success for the rest of the summer and on into the fall. We hope to see you at the Jazz Funeral at the Bethany Beach Boardwalk on Labor Day Monday at 5:30 p.m. and please try to participate in our Silent Auction at Bethany Blues at 3:15 p.m., Friday, Sept. 2. Both charitable events are free of charge and everyone is invited. Please tell your friends and pass the word.

Paul Jankovic
Chairman
Bethany Beach Jazz Funeral & Silent Auction

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