t will be an event like none other you have ever attended in your career, and you will get this opportunity to be an integral part of it only once — never to be repeated, at least not within our lifetime!

The ASA Centennial Gala Celebration during this year’s ASA Annual Meeting in New Orleans will mix the old and the new, revisiting the memories of the past and heralding the hopes of our future, all within one glorious evening on Monday, October 24, 2005.

A limited number of tickets are available, and when they are sold out, there will not be any more for, well, another 100 years! Information about tickets is available on the Web site of the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research (FAER) <www.faer.org>, which is heading up the fundraising activities associated with the Gala.

Net proceeds from the sale of tickets will go to the four nonprofit foundations supported by ASA: FAER, the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation, the Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology and the Anesthesia Foundation.

The celebration includes a Gala Dinner and a Dessert Reception. ASA members, their guests and other visitors may attend either or both events that Monday evening. The dinner will be a black-tie optional affair, including dinner, speakers and special presentations plus entrée into the Dessert Reception that follows. Tickets for the Dessert Reception will be available for those who would like to attend only the post-dinner celebration with birthday cake and entertainment.

Master of Ceremony for the evening will be ASA’s own Peter L. McDermott, M.D., Ph.D., who since serving as ASA President in 1993 has embarked on a career as a university history professor and whose interest in and vast knowledge of history are exceeded only by his nonpareil command of the English language.

Several surprises have been planned for both the Gala Dinner and the Dessert Reception, to which we can only hint will include sights, sounds and tastes to delight all five senses.

Purchase of a ticket to either evening’s events will include a tax-deductible contribution to the four foundations noted above. In addition to tickets for individuals and couples, tickets also are being sold for entire tables, making this event a suitable substitute for alumni gatherings and exhibitor parties usually held in conjunction with the ASA Annual Meeting.

Sponsorships above the price of the tickets also are being sought. There are multiple levels of sponsorship, which are outlined in detail on the FAER Web site and in material sent to all ASA members last month.

Remember, tickets for the Gala Dinner and Dessert Reception are limited and will be available only on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, visit the FAER Web site or call FAER at (507) 266-6866. For tickets and sponsorships to be tax-deductible as charitable donations, all payments must be made out to FAER, not ASA.