The Boys & Girls Club of Collier County throbbed throughout to a high-energy beat on April 5 when more than 250 casually clad supporters gathered at the Poolside Pavilion to begin “The Mix,” a marathon of nighttime fun.

“All Access Passes” hanging from lanyards were the open sesame to a world of all-inclusive club experiences covered by the $250 ticket price.

A steel drummer set the cocktail hour tone where frosty beverages, warm hors d’oeuvres and two costumed hotties from Miami’s CIRC X, including an exotic Carnival stilt walker, energized the crowd.

Staffers were at the ready, “selling” $50-per-month additional pledge lanyards with flashing stars or hearts from their “cigarette girl” trays. Eschewing any auctions or raffles, this fresh approach to fundraising really took off when Mary Boyce-Johnson, Boys & Girls Club president/CEO for Collier County, called for even higher pledges to help offset student program annual costs. As she put it, “We’re here to party with a serious purpose.”

Marge Kirby and dance pro Nick Koempel make their moves in the Blue Note "club" created in the gamesroom of the Boys & Girls Club of Collier County.

Diana Griffith, Barbra Reed, Eliana Torres, Jeanne Moran, Sonia Rocha, Johnn Griffith, & Denise Gay went for the Cuban Cigar tent.

Catherine Richman, left, Ashleigh Poirer, Kim Martin & Deborah Foss chose to kick it up in the classy Copacabana.

Partygoers followed the red carpeting into individual nightclubs, bypassing the velvet ropes at each. Sitting while dining and sipping cocktails at the bars was about the only time they took a break from the dance floors. Two animated, feathered “parrots” from CIRC X as well danced their ways through all the clubs.

Club Copacabana was all light with ceramic monkeys perched atop mandarin orange centerpieces in keeping with the Latin fusion theme. The Copa featured Mojitos and Margaritas, exclusively Latin music with “DJ Chris” and Zumba (that’s rhumba for the uninitiated) numbers led by Mauxy Fontalvo.

Food included chicken satay and beef skewers served from pineapple towers, sushi and pork lettuce wraps.

On to the Blue Note there were the jazzy sounds of the Rebecca Richardson Quartet. Patrons chowed down on Cajun cuisine and drank at the Hurricane Bar. Here, decor was visibly blue through the magic of special lighting, with centerpieces of blue hydrangeas and other blue-hued flowers.

8 Trax, largest of the clubs, featured dance tunes of the 60s, 70s and 80s presented by the 10-piece Bob Gaffney Group of Florida bands; a martini bar; and American classic taste favorites.

Here decor glitterd, right down to the lighted Lucite cube centerpieces filled with small disco balls. Margie Kirby and Nick Koempel, who owns the Standing Ovation Dance School and are friends of board member Arlene Nichols, cleared the floor several times with their routines.

“We love to dance for a great cause,” said Koempel.

The clubs all shared a signature dessert: colorfully iced (with olives, of course,) martini-glass shaped cookies.

Lisa Resch of Carolina Catering coordinated all food service, lighting and decor throughout the party scene with the help

of 50/50 florist Mathew Huddleston and KC Tecs lighting and sound.

The Cuban Cigar Tent was the favored late evening destination. Evocative recorded music, a professional Cuban cigar roller with samples for all, a selection of single malts, and masses of deep red roses topped black-clothed tables to end the evening on a sensual note.

The Mix committee chair and board member Dulce Dudley has announced that more than $80,000 in net proceeds was raised in support of the Boys & Girls Club of Collier County.