About two hundred guests graced the restaurant venue at the Sonoran Sky Condominium Resort in Puerto Peñasco Saturday night
lending their support to raise funds for DIF; the city sponsored family assistance charity organization that has helped needy children and adults of this port city for 36 years.
The casino décor, complete with dealers in tux shirts and bright bow ties brought color and authenticity to 10 Black Jack Tables, four Poker Tables and a Roulette table that were full all evening long as players amassed chips to later be used for bidding on a plethora of prizes donated by generous local businesses and regular visitors to Rocky Point. The event was kept on a lively pace by our experienced emcees comprised of Rosie Glover, local radio personality and Director of the Rocky Point 
Tourism and Visitors Assistance Office along with Randy Van Hulle, owner of Ace Casino Rentals of Tucson which he founded in 1987 and now has over 3,000 corporate functions to his credit. Randy lent his expertise to our event, coordinating with Jim Ringquist, Event Coordinator on set up and gaming organization.
Most everyone, especially the women, used the Las Vegas atmosphere to “dress up” for the night. There were Mumu’s, bright sun dresses, gowns and fine jewelry adorning the ladies. Even the men wore their best tropical shirts and some donned summer suits and sport jackets, panama and cowboy hats. Attendees included just about every echelon of visitors, residents, business leaders, and civil leaders including Mayor Alejandro Zepeda Munro and his lovely wife, Marcela Albelaiz de Zepeda, the President of DIF.
Laughter and smiles and winning cheers filled the pure party atmosphere and were the expressions of the night with a few faces of concentration prevailing while some built their stash of chips at the various tables. Meanwhile, the Texas Hold ‘em elimination tournament started in the back of the room amid red and black balloons and giant playing cards posted on the 
walls with some serious holdin’ and foldin’ going on ‘til the wee hours, long after the final bids were over.
At least a hundred prizes of all varieties and values were on display in the front of the room all 
evening. Many were given away in drawings throughout the night or sold out right at pre-labeled prices. Bidding 
began at 11:00 o’clock, conducted by the effervescent Tony Ballesteros as auctioneer. There were some big winners amongstthe boisterous bidders who had their hearts and chips set on certain items that they had
been watching all evening. This got the bidding off to a roaring start.
A beautiful octagonal shaped shadow box of intricately arranged shell art work donated by internationally acclaimed artist Julio Meza claimed the highest bid price of the night. It took $4,700 in chips to take that rare piece of art home. We can’t thank Julio and all the donors enough for their generosity in helping to raise over $5,000 (the count so far) for this great cause. Please go to the Las Vegas tab on the www.sonoranresorts.mx website and click on “Staff” to see all 
the men and women without whom this event would have not been so successful; including Jim Ringquist, Sonoran Resorts own Director of Sales and Marketing who worked behind the scenes from the beginning with the City of Puerto Peñasco and DIF to insure the success of this charitable effort. If and when you see any of them around Rocky Point, don’t hesitate to tell them what a great job they did.
Some remaining prizes were donated to the Rolling Rockies wheel chair basketball team fundraiser that will be raffled off at their event on the 20th of July. Mark Olszewski, spokesman for the Rolling Rockies, well-known charity fundraiser and 
founder of Adopt-a-Classroom along with his wife, Barb, thanked Jim Ringquist, Event Coordinator and Director of Sales and Marketing for the raffle prizes. Look for more details on that event in tomorrow’s blog.
According to the vast majority present on Saturday, The Sonoran Resorts/City of Peñasco Las Vegas Night for DIF Charity was an overwhelming success and made itself an annual favorite from this, its first year, and forward! 
We’ll look forward to seeing you all next year when “the best party of the year in Rocky Point” will be even bigger and better! 
This blog is brought to you by The Sonoran Resorts Sales Group, Jim Ringquist, Director of Sales and Marketing.