The Brookhaven Animal Rescue League officials gearing up fortheir yearly Celebrity Dinner and Auction and are encouraging thepublic to get involved this year.

BARL volunteers said the sixth annual event, which takes placeTues., Oct. 13, will feature a new twist this year.

“This is our first time to have a live auction and a silentauction,” said volunteer Beth Adcock. “We felt that some peoplelove the fun of a live auction, while others prefer the more laidback silent auction.”

The dinner begins at 6 p.m., but doors open at 5:30 to allowviewing of the auction items, Adcock said.

Fellow volunteer Rusty Adcock said the Celebrity Dinner is therescue league’s biggest fundraiser each year. He said the moneygoes into BARL’s general fund, which provides medical expenses andsome employee pay.

“This probably accounts for 15 percent or more of our annualbudget, or it has in the past couple of years,” he said. “We haveto utilize the money mostly for vet fees- that’s our biggest budgetitem.”

There are around 15 “celebrity” waiters and waitresses lined upto serve the guests on the night of the Celebrity Dinner, andAdcock said it’s always hard to tell who will show up. He saidlocal personalities will be in attendance to help the no-killshelter, and will don their Halloween best.

“Everyone took advantage of the costumes last year,” he said.”Batman and Robin showed up last year, the Wicked Witch showed up,and I hear she’s going to be back this year.”

Adcock said the event is guaranteed fun for everyone, and therewill be auction items for every preference.

“We’ve seen the service items, like the lawn service, or amassage, seem to go over really well,” he said. “We also havedifferent hunting trips, and we got some different unique itemsthat seemed to go over well last year back again this year. Weusually always have a good abundance of items that people reallywant.”

The event should be over by 8 p.m., Adcock said, in order to geteveryone fed and back home at a decent hour since it’s a schoolnight. And for that reason, BARL officials said people should bringthe whole family.

“It’s fun,” he said. “Everybody that is somebody in Brookhavenwill be there.”

Tickets are $25 and can be purchased from Rusty’s FamilyRestaurant.