Pebble Beach, CA – October 19, 2010 — The 2010 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance raised more than $1m for charity for the fifth consecutive year, bringing the total of charitable donations throughout the event’s history to more than $14m. Primary Concours charities include United Way Monterey County, Pebble Beach Company Foundation, and Boys & Girls Clubs of Monterey County. The 60th annual event, conducted August 15 at The Lodge at Pebble Beach, also included an Opportunity Drawing that ended in spectacular fashion with a generous impromptu offer by The Tonight Show host Jay Leno, who invited the audience to tour his […]
Pebble Beach, CA – October 19, 2010 — The 2010 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance raised more than $1m for charity for the fifth consecutive year, bringing the total of charitable donations throughout the event’s history to more than $14m. Primary Concours charities include United Way Monterey County, Pebble Beach Company Foundation, and Boys & Girls Clubs of Monterey County.
The 60th annual event, conducted August 15 at The Lodge at Pebble Beach, also included an Opportunity Drawing that ended in spectacular fashion with a generous impromptu offer by The Tonight Show host Jay Leno, who invited the audience to tour his garage and attend The Tonight Show for an on-the-spot donation of $1,000 to benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Monterey County. Spectators flooded the stage, raising more than $50,000.
Entrants and judges, volunteers and spectators all contributed to the total, and Pebble Beach Auctions presented by Gooding & Company donated a portion of the proceeds from sales of a slot model of the Pebble Beach Road Race course and the 2010 Pebble Beach RetroAuto poster paintin
Generous sponsors of the Concours donated exciting cars, watches, and jewelry as prizes for the Opportunity Drawing to benefit the following local charities: Animal Friends Rescue Project, Boys & Girls Clubs of Monterey County, Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children (CASA), Kinship Center and Natividad Medical Foundation.
In another Opportunity Drawing surprise, there was a spur-of-the-moment marriage proposal.
Amanda McLean and Ken Nixon, winners of a 3-carat diamond ring, will tell you some things are worth waiting for. As Ken approached the stage with Amanda, he had no plans of proposing to his girlfriend of nine years. But after a nudge from Jay Leno and encouragement from the crowd, Ken got down on one knee and proposed.
“I had a moment of calmness and peace and then felt like it was the right thing to do,” said Ken. “I got down on one knee and proposed, and she immediately said yes. Jay yelled in the microphone, ‘She said yes!’ and the crowd went wild.”
“It was the most happy and exciting five minutes of my life,” said Amanda. “Winning the beautiful ring, getting a hug from Jay Leno, and becoming engaged to a man I’ve loved a long time… all of this in the grand setting of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. I feel tremendously blessed.”
