The inaugural Met Gala is counting down to Saturday, July 29 when Lismore and Northern Rivers residents will be walking the red carpet in their most elaborate and fun outfits at The Metropole Hotel.

The Met Gala is based on the U.S. version where glitz and glamour is the order of the night and having fun is a prerequisite to purchasing a ticket. Feathers & Bling is the theme for 2023.

Tickets cost $120 with money raised going to popular charity Our Kids this year. The charity recipients will change each year.

To help raise money on the night, Met Gala will be holding Live Auctions, Silent Auctions and Lucky Door Prizes.

One of the key items in the Live Auction is a handmade didgeridoo by Tristan O’Meara, founder of “O’Meara Didgeridoos Australia”.

Tristan spends 6 to 10 weeks each year living in the bush under the stars, working from dusk til dawn 7 days a week to harvest the finest termite-hollowed didgeridoo logs available in the world.

Once the timber has been selected, Tristan then makes the didges one at a time with love, care and patience to create an instrument that is not just an instrument, but is a unique piece to be showcased, cherished and played for a lifetime.

This particular didge is made from a Darwin black woolybutt selected from a cattle station called Big Station on the Mary River floodplain on the border of the Kakadu. The mouthpiece is from a local acacia blackwood.

The didgeridoo is signed by Xavier Rudd – an award-winning Australian musician. Xavier is extremely proud of his aboriginal heritage. He incorporates the didgeridoo in nearly all of his original music. It is well known he used his mother’s vacuum cleaner as a makeshift didgeridoo growing up.

Other Live Auction Items include:

1. 4 tickets to the Brisbane Test on day 2 with a Adam Gilchrist meet & greet as well as a tour of the media/commentary box. Then a walk on the Gabba during a break in play.

(donated by Adam Gilchrist)

2. Xavier Rudd signed Didgeridoo & Kirk Pengilly $20 note (donated by Somerville Laundry Lomax)

3. 2 x nights accommodation and breakfast at Elements in Byron with a balloon ride for two from Balloon Aloft with breakfast from 3 Blue Ducks & dinner for 2 at Barrio (dontaed by Elements & Balloon Aloft)

4. Voucher from the Palour $1,650, 2 nights accommodation at Sunrise Studio on the Gold Coast & dinner for 2 at Rick Shores at Burleigh Heads (donated by the Palour and LJ Hooker)

5. Cricket combination Cricket Bat signed by Sachin Tendulkar & Yuvraj Singh & Glenn MacGrath signed shirt (donated by Gray Nicholls & LJ Hooker)

6. Frigidair Fridge worth $2,500 plus a case of beer and 6 bottles of wine (donated by Fridgidair, The Metropole Hotel and Rest Media)

The Silent Auction Items include:

• Signed Reds Jersey (Donated by LJ Hooker)

• 1 x Nights accommodation at Victorias Byron Bay (donated by Somerville Laundry

Lomax)

• Plant Music gift box guitar care package (Donated by Planet Music)

• Adam Gilchrist signed stump (Donated by Somerville Laundry Lomax)

• Signed Craig Johnston Liverpool soccer ball (Donated by Far North Coast Football)

• Signed shirts by Thierry Henry & Henry Bergkamp from Arsenal (Donated by LJ Hooker Coolangatta)

• Signed photo of Patrick Vierra from Arsenal (Donated by LJ Hooker Coolangatta)

• Ongmac Stihl battery operated hand held tree trimmer & Kubota jacket (Donated by Ongmac)

• Port Macquarie accommodation (Donated by Hastings Co-Op)

• Artwork Danielle Slattery (donated by the artist)

Lucky Door Prizes include:

• Photography Session with Milly & Me

• Lismore Embroidery voucher $100

• Hortons voucher$100

• lntimo voucher value $100

• Hamper from Made in Lismore

Organising committee member Tanya Jones said, "We will start the night with Cheeky Cabaret from Brunswick Picture House, they'll do a mini show for us for about 45 minutes, then we're going to have Mandy Nolan entertaining us, she's hysterically funny.”

“We've got an amazing 6-piece band from Brisbane called Radio Club Band, who are coming down and will dance the night away.”

“We will have substantial food drops throughout the evening and grazing platters through the night, so everyone will be sufficiently fed too.”

“We're going to have a whiskey bar at the back, and we're going to have a lovely prep area for ladies who want to actually freshen up again throughout the night.”

Tickets are $120 each and there are limited numbers for Saturday, July 29. If you would like more information about the event, click this link: https://events.humanitix.com/the-met-gala-lismore.