The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce will host Ice on Ice, the holiday season's premiere fundraiser, at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the Crystal Ballroom of the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa, 239 Central Ave.
Each ticket holder will receive the signature drink of the night, containing an ice cube with either a half-carat cubic zirconium or half-carat diamond. Once the ice cube has melted, jewelers from Lauray's The Diamond Center will be available for appraisal.
"There will be four half-carat diamonds, which we have here in our vault presently. Lauray's will have a display of merchandise at the event like we always do and part of our staff will be there -- the ones that are lucky enough to show up," said Lauray's owner Mark Fleischner. "They all kind of fight for it."
Entertainment will be provided by The Ohio Club Players and heavy hors d'oeuvres will be served by the Arlington.
A portion of the night's proceeds will go to Cooperative Christian Ministries and Clinic, formerly known as Charitable Christian Medical Clinic.
"We made the Charitable Christian Clinic one of our recipients in the past and we went back to them this year, mainly because we found out that they had taken on a new approach to Hot Springs and the poverty that we have here," Fleischner said.
"We felt that people needed to be more aware of it in our community and be able to assist, whether it's through coming to this event or assisting through the Bridges Out of Poverty program that the clinic has."
Fleischner said that they have donated to a lot of worthy causes over the years through Ice on Ice, but with approximately 30 percent of the children in the local school systems being at or below the poverty level, the clinic is at the forefront of the community.
"We want to do everything we can to rid ourselves of as much poverty as we can," Fleischner added. "It's just not the way we need to be."
Individuals will have the chance to win two tickets to the event, a night's stay for two at the Arlington Hotel, and a variety of items from Lauray's by donating jars of peanut butter. Donations may be dropped off at either The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce, 659 Ouachita Ave., or radio station KLAZ, 208 Buena Vista. One ticket into the drawing will be exchanged for each jar of peanut butter.
"Everybody has a really good time; it's a wonderful evening," Fleischner said. "We've been doing this for six years and what I've been told is that the event is really the kickoff for the holiday season."
The venue size will increase this year; in addition to the Crystal Ballroom, the hotel's Mezzanine will be available to guests to allow for less crowding.
"Last year, we found that people got too crowded or it got too loud and they went downstairs. We don't want to lose those folks because there's a lot of fun going on inside," Fleischner said. "People will be able to stand out there and certainly be able to finish a conversation if the music is too loud."
Tickets are available for $37.50 each, or the Take the Elevator Home package, which includes two tickets and a hotel room for two, is available for $134.43.
Sponsors of the event include Lauray's, the Arlington and KLAZ radio.
Tickets may be purchased at http://www.hotspringschamber.com or http://www.laurays.com.
Local on 11/29/2015