Check back often for details of the 2024 Great Gatsby Gala Fundraiser as planning has just begun!
2023 Great Gatsby Gala Fundraiser
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Special Guest Emcee
Roop Raj
Roop Raj is weekday evening anchor at FOX 2 News every weeknight. His career started at age 14 when he produced and hosted a television program in Troy. In his first two years at Michigan State University, Raj was on the air at the CBS & ABC stations in Lansing. In 1998, he was hired to report and anchor the news in Flint, Michigan. Roop also was a weatherman at WEYI.
He spent seven years at NBC in New Orleans. After 24 hurricanes including Katrina, he moved to Detroit in 2009 where an economic storm was brewing.
FOX 2 led the way during the 2020 elections, bringing you more exclusives than any other station in town. Raj differentiated himself in the market by nailing down three exclusive, one on one interviews with then candidate Joe Biden. He also secured three, one on one exclusives with former President Trump. His final interview landed him in the Rose Garden with a one on one with Trump for 15 minutes at the White House.
He lives with his wife, Julie, and he’s a dog dad to his boxer Louise. Raj loves to cook and bbq. For years on when he reported on the morning show he was criticized for not wearing winter caps. He still won’t. On the weekends, he says he lives in a baseball cap as he hacks around parks throughout the area with Julie.
Live Music
Live Music Sponsored By:
Family-owned and operated since 1956.
1948 Henney-Packard Hearse – Still in use in services today.
Live Music
Noah Jackson
Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Noah Jackson is a bassist, cellist, and composer specializing in black American music and classical music. Aimed with a curiosity to where sound could touch audiences from within, he has both written and performed music for large international audiences since 2010. A graduate of Michigan State University (B.M.), and Manhattan School of Music (M.M.), Noah has performed with world-renowned artists such as NEA Jazz Master Abdullah Ibrahim, Branford Marsails, Jason Marsalis, The Marsalis Family, Hugh Masekela, Nnenna Freelon, Kenny Garrett, Wizard Harper, George Burton, Jazzmeia Horn, and Christian Sands. Additionally, he’s performed in many prominent venues and jazz festivals including Radio City Music Hall, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Jazz @ Lincoln Center, Jazz Standard, Blue Note Jazz Club (New York City and Milan), Jazz Alley (Seattle, WA), Royal Albert Hall, Victoria Hall (Geneva), Body and Soul (Tokyo), Jazz in Marciac (Marciac, France), Nice Jazz Festival, The Library of Congress, The Kennedy Center, SFJAZZ, The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Joy of Jazz (Johannesburg, South Africa), London Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, and North Sea Jazz Festival. Noah Jackson also performed as part of the ceremony for the NEA Jazz Masters Award in 2019. He also recorded bass and cello on The Balance with Abdullah Ibrahim, which reached #3 on the Billboard Jazz Charts (June 2019).
As a band leader, Noah had put on performances of original creative work with his band Full Circle. In 2011, he made his self-produced debut album, Contemplations- A Suite to critical acclaim and led Full Circle in the Detroit Jazz Festival in 2012. Since then, Noah has collaborated with a wide variety of artists across the jazz spectrum. In 2017, he has worked in collaboration with the American Ballet Theater with his string quartet Asè at Grace Farms in New Canaan, CT. Noah, along with vocalist and co-producer Candice Hoyes, were named recipients of grants for a double jazz and string quartet project: Ellington to the World: Generational Power in Black Culture and Spaces from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and the New York Council of the Arts. The work premiered at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in September 2019 and was performed to a sold out audience in The CUBE @ DSO in February 2020. Noah has also performed with his band Full Circle featuring his original music. From March 2021- January 2023, Noah was Curator of Cliff Bell’s Jazz Club and is currently Artist-in-Residence where he performs with Full Circle and host sessions every Wednesday evening.
Noah is endorsed by Aguilar Amps, David Gage REAList LifeLine pickups, and NOAH Guitars of Italy. Noah currently resides in Detroit, Michigan.
Thank You to the Following Sponsors for Donating Their Products + Services
Partner Opportunities
Studio 9 Salon generously donated 25% of services performed related to the Great Gatsby Gala Fundraiser to the Packard Motor Car Foundation/Packard Proving Grounds to support this event.
Raffle Basket Donations
The New Maintenance Building
The Packard Proving Grounds originally included an additional building just west of the water tower. In the images above, the first picture showcases Packard employees partaking in America’s great pastime, baseball, and you can see the original building behind them.
It is believed that this building was general-use and may have been utilized for storing equipment used to maintain the property of the Packard Proving Grounds.
The exact timeline of when the building was torn down is uncertain but believed to be after 1961.
The next image shows the location of the old building and approximately where the new Maintenance Building will be located.
The concrete slab the old building was on remains in place, but may not suitable for the foundation of the new building. Low-hanging trees and the fence line, along with the ground will factor into determining the new building’s exact location.
The new building to replace this “missing” building on the property is planned to be 55′ x 20′ and include six double-door openings that swing along the front. See the planned building architectural drawing in the third image.
