There were two large fundraisers at opposite ends of Verona on Wednesday night, and many people wound up spending time at both.
While the Verona Inn hosted an event for the Verona Foundation for Educational Excellence, the Annin Flag Company was the site of an off-cycle fundraiser for Councilman Michael Nochimson. Though there will be three seats up for a vote on the Verona Town Council in 2013, Nochimson’s is not one of them. But the event had all the trappings of a major fundraiser, down to the appearance of a major headliner, Sen. Frank Lautenberg. With about 150 people in attendance, the senator, a Nochimson family friend, thanked Nochimson for his service on the Verona Town Council and accepted an Annnin-made American flag that had been flown in Afghanistan from Carter Beard, Annin’s president.
Nochimson’s term on the Council runs into 2015. Those of Deputy Mayor Bob Manley, Jay Sniatkowski and Kevin Ryan expire next year; Ryan was the only one of the three in attendance at the Nochimson fundraiser, which cost cost $150 per person or $200 for a couple. The main floor of Annin, which has operated in Verona since World War I, had been decked out with flags, Nochimson Now banners and red, white and blue balloons.
