The 110th Annual Monte Rio Variety Show

Save the Date for the 110^th Annual Monte Rio Variety Show – Take 2!

If you have not marked your calendar for our online auction, please do it now! Check out our website for updates and log onto Greater Giving to sign up or log into your account https://mrvs2021.ggo.bid. If you need support to log in, please email info@monterioshow.org.

You will be amazed at our virtual show coming up in July which will be posted on our website. The show will have over 60 minutes of entertainment featuring Conan O’Brien (yes, that Conan O’Brien!) providing introductions of each entertainer and perspective on our event that is now in its 110^th year.

Our online auction website will have over 40 items, ranging from wine cases or packages to fabulous dinner opportunities, truffles, desserts and packages with pet, garden or ecology themes. And, of course, our legacy package – The Taste of Monte Rio – with approximately $500 in items merchants, restaurants and other wonderful offerings, all donated directly from our community.

Our advice as volunteers (and long standing) committee members: Get your family together between July 23rd and July 29^th and prepare to participate in the auction as an individual or as a group.

This year, if you want to make a direct donation, a matching fund is being established by several of our neighbors. We will keep you posted!

And, now a word from our volunteers:

“The best part about volunteering is getting to interact with community members and seeing everyone’s collective excitement leading up to the show. My favorite memory was selling raffle tickets for the grand prize of the Stratocaster Guitar, and then getting to see Zac Brown Band perform live. In my opinion,  there’s no better atmosphere to spend time with friends and family, and enjoy amazing live music.” ~ James Parry, an annual volunteer since he was nine years old and who is currently attending UCLA – since the inception of our raffle, he has been the lead raffle ticket seller!

“Working with the Variety Show all these years means way more to me than the ultimate goal of raising funds for the school’s arts program. It is like an old fashion barn raising with so much of the community coming together to make this larger than life remarkable show happen year after year.”  – Kristin Thurman-Fein, former Monte Rio Union School District Board President, Proud Monte Rio Union School Parent, and Committee Volunteer for the Monte Rio Variety Show

“As a child, I remember making my annual trek to the Monte Rio Roller Rink at the end of each July to watch the Bohemian Show as it was billed back in the day. As kids, we were fortunate to sit on blankets on the rink floor directly in front of the small stage. During the 1960s, the annual show had been presented for almost a half of a century, with the proceeds of ticket sales benefiting St. Catherine’s church, the local beneficiary of the Bohemian Club. Charlie Valencia hosted Amateur hour which preceded the arrival of the Bohemian members who would perform later in the evening. By the close of the 1960s, Charlie had passed the baton to my father, Bob Perussina, who would act as host for the next 20 years.  Each year the show got more notorious, and it moved from the Roller Rink to the gym at the Monte Rio School. This venue offered a larger capacity, better seating arrangements and a bigger stage.

“My dad was no stranger to hosting in front of a crowd. His skills as a teacher had fine-tuned his ability to communicate with an audience. Numerous local acts would take to the stage to perform. Some were doing their inaugural acts, while others were seasoned performers. As host, my dad would try to give each act their due and encourage the crowd to warmly receive them.

“Perhaps the biggest challenge for the Amateur Hour host was to manage the timeline for the arrival of the Bohemian performers. Since the show was strictly voluntary, members who would commit to perform for Judge Emmett Daly, the Club’s talent coordinator, would often lose track of time at their parties in the Grove and miss the bus that would take them to the show. There would be a scramble to find some of these gentlemen while my dad would work with Judge Daly to coordinate the performers that did in fact make the bus on time. Judge Daly would have a hand-written list in his hand of the volunteer members that promised to perform. My dad, then working off stage, would identify the members and assemble them in the order Judge Daly wanted for introductions. While most of the audience paid little attention to this ordering, I always found it fascinating. Getting the members to pay attention to their order while being in a festive mode was almost as fun to watch as the show itself. I will never forget those wonderful times.“   – Bob Perussina, Long-time Variety Show attendee, supporter and volunteer.