The brewery was packed with lemur fans!

Last Thursday, March 19, we held our launch party at Right Proper Brewing Company in Washington, D.C. It was a blast!

So Many Friends Helped Us Celebrate

Over 150 people came out to the brewery to celebrate. Guests from several of our member organizations were in attendance, including the Duke Lemur Center, Conservation International, and ICTE/Centre Val Bio.

Other guests came from all over the D.C. area, including many who work for environmental and international development organizations like the Smithsonian National Zoo, Chemonics International, Conservation X Labs, the Environmental Defense Fund, AAAS Science Fellows, Science Sites Communications, the Environmental Protection Agency, Save the Chimps, USAID, and more. It was great to see a big group of Madagascar Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, as well as several people from the Malagasy community in the Washington Metropolitan Area.

Kids had a great time with lemur coloring books and other lemur goodies, and even got to meet a couple lemurs (in costume of course!).

And that’s not even counting the lemur fans! You don’t have to be a scientist or work in conservation or international development to love lemurs and Madagascar. Our lemur fan base is growing, and we couldn’t be more excited! Thanks to all of you for joining us to support lemur conservation!

We Raised a Bunch of Money for Lemurs!

We raised money for three member organizations. Sadabe earned $300 from the 7pm and 9pm raffles and guest donations. Raffle prizes were donated by Conservation International (books, journals, tote bags, tshirts, bobbleheads and even a sifaka tie!) and Centre Val Bio (signed Island of Lemurs: Madagascar movie posters, and copies of Pat Wright’s two books!). These items were all raffled off to benefit Sadabe. Centre Val Bio also conducted their own raffle at 8pm, raffling two gift baskets of crafts and unique items from Madagascar.

Additionally, the #ilovelemurs tweeting event to benefit Conservation Fusion was a success! Over 100 friends in the D.C. area and beyond posted away on Twitter and Facebook about their love for lemurs in support of Conservation Fusion, raising $500! The Art Monkey (the D.C. design firm ran by our Creative Director Lynne Venart) used this #ilovelemurs promotion to raise awareness about the Lemur Conservation Network, and to support Conservation Fusion’s inspiring education work in Madagascar.

Party Highlights

Introducing Alison Jolly’s Thank You, Madagascar

Staff from D.C.’s Kramer Books were on hand to sell copies of Alison Jolly’s new book Thank You, Madagascar—before it was even available in the stores! One lucky lemur fan won a copy of the new book, along with a copy of Pat Wright’s For the Love of Lemurs. Thank you to the University of Chicago Press, and Jolly’s family for making our event even more special.

The Bitter Dose Combo

Amazing Music from the Bitter Dose Combo

Guests of the launch party were treated to two hours of jazz and swing from the Bitter Dose Combo. These talented musicians sang, and played guitar and accordion, providing the perfect music to add fun and flair to our festive launch. Thanks Bitter Dose!

Event Photography from Woolif Fotog

Matthew Voshell from Woolif Fotog provided our event photography of the night—taking photographs of the crowd, the speeches, the slideshow, and all of the fun festivities. All photographs in this post are courtesy of the talented Woolif Fotog—many thanks, Matthew!

Thank You, Lemur Fans!

Thank you to everyone who joined the party in D.C., and everyone all over the world who tweeted us all night with support! We love all of our lemur fans!