It was another successful Great Grove Bed Race

Yesterday's Great Grove Bed Race was another amazing event. Grand Marshal Vanilla Ice did a job way past the expectations of the committee, we assumed he would come out, meet the crowd and lay back, but he took control and announced the whole race from beginning to end (along with Jay Rand and Jane Decker), handing out the trophies at the end. "Real Housewife of Miami" star, Cristy Rice also was a great asset to the bed race. Fans were enthralled by her beauty and charm. We were lucky to have them both. (Winners listed here).

At left are Al Borrero from the Sandbar sports bar and Daisy Lewis-Salazar, at right, Natalie Salas-Restrepo. While there are a handful of us on the Great Grove Bed Race Steering Committee and a lot of extra helpers and volunteers including the orange-shirted Jaycees, lead by Jane Decker, the bulk of the work is done by Daisy and Natalie. I am always amazed at how much these two ladies get done. Each week, we meet at our Bed Race Meeting and it's astounding to see what they had accomplished from week to week. I often ask them when they have time to sleep, because it doesn't seem as if they have time for that. The success of yesterday's races is due to Daisy and Natalie. And Barbara Ferenczi should be thanked for all the sponsorships she brought in. Without these generous donations, the Bed Races could not go on.

Of course the Bed Races wouldn't happen without the actual teams, who always come through and put on quite a show each year. They go out of their way to build the beds and then really come through at race time. The Coconut Grove BID was very generous this year with their usual donation. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Miami-Dade was the beneficiary of the Bed Race. Astrid Ehrenstein, from their team was part of the Bed Race team from the start, she was at every meeting and very instrumental in the success. And the guys from Markham Unlimited, Mark Cronin, Jack Bagdadi and Tim Grand, along with Nathalie, were always on top of the printed materials and promotions despite the non-stop changes and mad schedule. And Brian Davis from Barracuda, who was at every meeting and instrumental in running the Pajama Pub Crawl along with so many other important things. And I helped a little as a member of the Steering Committee, too, along with Felice Dubin and Steve Licata.

Here are some of the beautiful faces involved in yesterday's race.

Even Pirates were part of the act.


One of the best parts of the Great Grove Bed Race is seeing all our Grove friends all in one spot for one day. Dan Travieso, who runs FestiDan, a charity event, which took place in Peacock Park last month, did an excellent job with his team. They were thisclosetowinning. I always enjoy seeing them, they are a lot of fun.
The Coconut Grove Bank were a major sponsor this year and they really went all out with their participation before, during and after the race. They gave it their all and enjoyed every bit of the event.

And it looks as if we are going to have to endure another year of Channel 6's "Grove-50" commercials since the almighty Grove-50 has won again this year! Here are Commanders, current and past, apparently passing the tourch from one winning team to another. At left is current Commander Richard Gentry and our former Commander Jorge Colina, who is now head of the South District Substation on Flagler Street, which includes Coconut Grove.

We have almost 70 photos on our Facebook fan page, which you may see here.