The four-year-old Mr. Marina competition added to its accomplishments in 2015 by bringing in $190,000. The money was not earned for a pageant company or for program organizers. This event brings in all of that money (a total of $525,000 since the competition started) for a good cause: the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
The March 18 event took place at the Regency Ballroom; judges for the competition included District 2 Supervisor Mark Farrell. Winning contestant Michael Thomas, who was profiled in these pages along with other competitors last month, announced that he is the son of a cancer survivor; his mother even traveled from the Midwest for the event.
In addition to the good feeling of having helped raise a record amount for blood cancer research, winner Thomas receives a number of prizes, including bottomless mimosas at Ottimista Restaurant and Bar, Chubbies shorts, free burgers from Super Duper Burgers, monthly flowers from BloomThat, a tab at HiFi, and sushi at Ace Wasabi’s Rock-N-Roll Sushi.
OVERHEARD ON DOWNTOWN STREET
Man to companion: Let me tell you as someone who used to be a valet parker. It’s always the person with a 20-year-old Toyota Tercel who tips, but the guy with the Maserati never tips.
![Photo: Annie Albagli, We Become [Vessels] (video still) / THECJM.ORG](https://www.marinatimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/video_still_we_are_vessels-640x360.jpg)
