Let the good times roll at Mardi Gras 2024!

The biggest event of the year, coinciding with FOJ’s 25th anniversary, will showcase great music, food and auction items on Sunday, March 3.

Few annual Friends of Jazz events are better and none are bigger than the king of all major fundraising events, the Mardi Gras Ball, to be held March 3 at the Fullerton Elks Lodge.

Guests have plenty to celebrate at FOJ’s biggest party of the year. And it is all for a good cause:  Keeping music in the schools since 1999.

There will be plenty of dancing, parading, eating, drinking, bidding on auction items and just plain merriment.

At 5pm, doors will open for cocktail hour, and guests will be greeted by the Fullerton College Quintet.  There will be delicious hors-d’oeuvres, they’ll get a drink ticket, beads, a colorful mask, and a ticket for a free photo while the band entertains. They’ll also get their first look at the array of 75 silent auction items beautifully displayed in numerous baskets, and they can purchase tickets for a 50/50 drawing and the wine table (which includes a chance for dinner at the Summit House).

Dressed in their finest clothes, masks and costumes, guests are encouraged to join in the krewe parade led by FOJ’s dragon and CSUF’s Titan Ramblers throughout the venue, dancing and waving beautifully decorated parasols, while the krewe plays “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

In the ballroom, the Fullerton College Jazz Band, directed by Bruce Babad, will provide some great entertainment for listening and dancing. Of course, what ball would not be complete without the 2023 king and queen, Bob & Doris Muschek. Then the new royal couple for 2024 will be crowned.

During dinner and afterwards, guests can listen and dance to crowd-pleasing jazz standards with Fullerton College Jazz Band, directed by Bruce Babad, along with Jamie Shew and vocalists from Fullerton College’s J-Train.

Come join us and help keep music in the schools by supporting this wonderful event. Hope to see you all at other fun FOJ events this year and at next year’s Mardi Gras!