ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 15, 1996 TAG: 9612140011
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL
*At Washington and Lee University in Lexington, the school and partygoers split the bill for an annual staff dinner-dance. The university pays for the band - this year, the Charlottesville Swing Orchestra - and guests buy $15 tickets for the prime rib and chicken dinner, plus pay for their own drinks. The party also includes a carol sing-along.
"We try and do a little something for the different age groups," said W&L spokesman Brian Shaw. "The hardest part is finding a band that appeals to everybody."
The crowd of professors and staff members is usually well behaved, Shaw said. Usually. "Well, one year, we had one of our faculty members break into a Cossack dance," he said.
*The Uttermost Co., a Franklin County manufacturer of mirrors and home accessories, holds a traditional Christmas dinner, complete with Christmas music, for its employees. The dinner used to be a potluck, but the company has grown so much in its 25 years that the owners now provide all the food. Employees also get paid vacation for the week of Christmas, when the plant is closed.
*At General Electric Co.'s plants in Salem, many departments hold their own potluck lunches, said employee Phyllis Jones. The company's employee association sponsors an annual Christmas dance at the Roanoke Civic Center, but the lunches are usually a lot more fun, she said. There are almost 50 people in her department this year, and everybody is bringing something to eat. She's baking a carrot cake.
"Our party is the best," Jones said.
*About 225 employees and retirees of the Sears store at Valley View Mall will eat a traditional Christmas dinner at work this week, a gift of the company. The store's department managers also were treated to dinner and cocktails at the Hotel Roanoke last week.
*The Packett Group, a Roanoke advertising agency, invites 300 to 400 clients to its annual party, held at its downtown offices. Packett's party is the event of the season, according to several experienced partygoers, and receiving an invitation is tantamount to "arriving."
In 1991, the company, then The Edmonds Packett Group, canceled the party and instead donated the money it would have spent on shrimp cocktails and chocolate truffles to the Salvation Army. The party resumed the next year - with the addition of a Salvation Army bell-ringer, now a fixture.
LENGTH: Short : 49 linesby CNB