21st Annual IAEC Cruise

The New York Region of the International Association of Elevator Consultants (IAEC-NY) successfully hosted its 21st annual dinner cruise aboard the World Yacht Princess in New York City (NYC) on August 21. The weather threatened rain all day, but to attendees’ delight, they enjoyed a beautiful New York City night filled with familiar faces in awe of the rising NYC skyline.

IAEC-NY Fundraising Committee Chairman Bill Mogg and your author welcomed 326 guests, who included elevator consultants, contractors, manufacturers and many more who traveled from all over the U.S. to help contribute to the Elevator Escalator Safety Foundation (EESF). The IAEC-NY donated US$15,000 this year and has donated a total exceeding US$281,500 to the Foundation to implement its safety-education programs. EESF Executive Director Barbara Allen and Associate Director Nikole Gore-Layton accepted the ceremonial check and expressed their appreciation at the event. They also thanked all attendees for their support, as well as all the hard work of event planning by Marisol Torres from Lift-Tech Ltd. and other volunteers.

Guests enjoyed delicious cuisine, from bacon-wrapped scallops to a dinner selection including pan-seared salmon with champagne-citrus beurre blanc sauce. All NYC palates were satisfied with New York Cheesecake and other treats. Guests danced the night away to a variety of music. The onboard casino gambling was also a huge success, with amazingly positive feedback from many guests. Elevator industry guests were excited to win raffle tickets by gambling and purchasing tickets for a chance to win one of many prizes, which totaled more than US$7,000. A 40-in. Samsung smart TV was the grand prize (donated by IAEC), among many other prizes, including an iPad mini and iPod nano won by Sameer Malik from PS Marcato Elevator.

After taking in the sights of the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, South Street Seaport and growing New Jersey skyline, as well as enjoying great food, drinks, music, gambling and prizes, guests left in happy spirits anticipating next year’s event.

Acknowledgements

Special thanks go to the Elevator Historical Society (www.elevatorhistory.org), which invited all attendees to a pre-cruise reception at its museum in Long Island City, New York. The directors of the museum believe all industry professionals should avail themselves of the opportunity to see how the history of our industry is being preserved, one artifact at a time.