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A crowd gathered at the Firehouse Art Gallery on Friday night for the first of a new event, “Friday at the Firehouse.” These events may vary in their theme and form; for the first, it served as a fundraiser for Elephant Aid International (EAI), with founder Carol Buckley serving as guest speaker. Aside from admission fees, photographs of the sanctuary’s elephants, as well as elephant-themed artwork contributed by various local artists, and merchandise sold by EAI, were all available, with a portion of funds raised going to support the sanctuary.

Buckley recounted to the audience the story of how she met her elephant Tarra, and her journey from circus work to eventually founding the sanctuary in Attapulgus. Buckley also revealed to the audience that the sanctuary is preparing to receive it’s third elephant in the coming months. Following her speech, she accepted questions from the audience, and signed several copies of books she had written about her experiences with Tarra.

According to Firehouse executive director Jessica Polsky, art sales raised about $750 that would go to EAI, and according to EAI office administrator Suzanne Carr, $425 in merchandise were sold, with $100 also being donated. Artwork that was not sold that evening will continue to be sold throughout the month, with a portion of the proceeds still being shared with the sanctuary.

“Carol was a wonderful guest and we learned so much through her shared experiences and insight,” Polsky told the Post-Searchlight. The Firehouse’s next major event will be an exhibit featuring local artist John Baysides, which will open this Thursday, and will last until March 26. The Firehouse is also looking into another Friday at the Firehouse event, with Polsky stating that, “we are open to suggestions from the public if they have any interests they would like to learn about!”

For more information on these events, contact the Firehouse at 229-243-1010.