By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Comedy fashion show benefits VA patients
Placeholder Image

Nearly two-dozen models will strut their stuff at the Comedy Fashion Show put together by the Ripon VFW Post 1051 Ladies Auxiliary.

This is not your ordinary fashion show. The evening of fun and flashy fashion is for adults only, which means one has to be 18 years old to purchase an admission ticket for $15.

Admission to the Saturday, Sept. 21, dinner and show is age-restricted because “we’re dressing up the men to look like women, so they will be coming out with lipstick and they’ll dance around; sometimes they get a little provocative. It’s just for fun,” explained “Auxiliary president Terry Emslie.

All of the male models are already lined up. One of them will be Ripon Mayor Dean Uecker, Emslie said.

Some of the men’s clothes are from the Ladies Auxiliary members like Sherie Layson who uses this occasion to clean up her closet and brings them down to the hall for whoever would want to use them.

“There are a lot of other women who do the same thing,” Emslie said. Laughing, she added jokingly, “The scary part is, some of the guys provide their own!”

There are actually some of their male models who already provide their own costumes because they have been doing the same gig at the Tracy Moose Lodge, Emslie explained. In fact, it was the Tracy Moose members which gave the idea of doing the same fund-raiser to Ripon Ladies Auxiliary.

The show may be all for fun, but it’s for a philanthropic and patriotic cause.

All proceeds from the admission fee will go to the group’s general fund which they then use to send packages to American service men and women overseas.

“We send care packages every two months,” Emslie said.

They get the names of these soldiers serving their country from family members and friends. Some of the money will also go to support cancer research.

Money coming from the models’ tips will go to the Veterans Hospital in Livermore “for their Christmas wish list, because we get a wish list from them every year – sweats and stuff like that,” Emslie said.

“Models of this fashion show try to get tips. It’s amazing how many women will give them tips,” she laughed.

There are limited tickets available for the comedy fashion show. They may be purchased in advance at the VFW Hall at 12455 West Ripon Road, or by calling Terry at 456-4546 or Melinda at 985-2663.

The admission will cover dinner which will consist of chicken cordon bleu with all the trimmings. Dinner will be served at 5 p.m., with the fashion show and drawing for door prizes to begin at 7:30 p.m.

The Ripon VFW 1051 Ladies Auxiliary is more than 200-members strong. Membership is open to those with family members who was in the service.

“If you have an immediate relative – mother, father, grandparents, brother, sister, child – you could join as an auxiliary member,” Emslie said.