Bras on Broadway celebrates 10 years of community support

The Hotel Donaldson has been helping to fight the good fight for the past 10 years. According to their website, “Bras on Broadway has donated more than $135,000 to the those fighting breast cancer in our region in 2014. More than $720,000 has been donated in its first nine years.” Teams and individual donors have helped raise money for the cause. In fact each bra on the iconic bra garlands that adorn the outside of The Hodo indicates a $5 plus donation. The garlands will be hung on The Hodo with care the week of Oct. 26.

“The bra garland came about at a post event meeting when we were thinking about how to increase capacity for raising funds beyond the art auction,” says Karen Stoker, proprietor of the HoDo. “Jane Alexander suggested doing something along the lines of the motorcycle ride for Roger Maris. Each rider pitches in $50. She had a big smile on her face and said, ‘Have people give an old bra and $5!’ Then it spun off to the garland, hanging them on The Hotel Donaldson, and now it's Bras On and Across Broadway. The money is important, of course. We also wanted the garland to represent the collective support of the community -- a spectacle, to give people reason to pause for thought. Images have been shown nationally and internationally.”

The event centerpiece for Bras on Broadway is The Bras on Broadway Benefit Auction, which will take place on Oct. 29. The benefit auction features the work of 75 regional artists celebrating the brassiere in various mediums, whether it be leather, metal, glass, fabric, papier mache or various other embellishments. Not only does it exhibit wearable art but non-wearable art as well. Each piece was photographed by John Borge and will be featured on the event poster and event program.

“What started 10 years ago as a one night art auction has evolved into a month of community-driven efforts to help cancer fighters in North Dakota and northwest Minnesota. The first year, it was a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society,” Stoker says.”The past nine years, every dollar has stayed in our region. That's the reason for its success -- we live where people want to help their neighbors. We know if everyone pitches in a little, we can get a lot done.”

The hustle and bustle starts before the doors even open for the event as the models arrive. The weight room is transformed into a dressing room as the models sip wine, meet with the artists of their bras and get ready for the evening. The room is filled with a positive, nervous energy as everyone surveys the room to see who’s there, what they are wearing, taking selfies and sharing stories.

The women who volunteer to model come from various backgrounds, whether they are survivors themselves, modelling in memory of someone who lost the fight or just strutting the good strut. In fact Miss North Dakota 2015, Jacky Arness, was a model last year.

Each year before the models make their way upstairs Karen Stoker will enter the room and give a pep talk that nearly moves the room to tears -- tears to the eyes that the folks at the downtown Olivieri’s Salon had so beautifully made up for the event.

During the night of the auction The Hodo is transformed with three separate model stops: the lounge, the restaurant and Stoker’s in the basement. Each station is hosted by a different radio personality and each location features a different local musician throughout the course of the evening. Once the bras are introduced and each model makes her stop, they are sent out into the crowd with clipboard in hand using their very wit and charm to sell the bras off their backs … well, not literally on site though (the winning bidders receive their lovingly packed pieces at the end of the night).

Shara Diers’ piece titled "Growth," which was featured last year, was Bras on Broadway’s highest-grossing bra to date with a whopping $2,000 bid.

Members of the community are encouraged to donate old bras (with a $5 minimum donation) at The Hodo, any Olivieri’s Salon location and Catalyst Medical Center. Individuals or teams are encouraged to donate online. Each $25 donation serves as an entry for prize drawings. Contributions will be accepted until Oct. 31.

IF YOU GO:

10th Annual Bras on Broadway

Thurs. Oct. 29, 7 p.m.

HoDo Lounge, 101 Broadway N, Fargo

Tickets available through www.brasonbroadway.com

All proceeds benefit those fighting breast cancer in North Dakota and NW Minnesota.