One room featured an elegant, reserved setting – at least until Dale Hansen took over the stage – while another offered children a place to really let loose as Canterbury Episcopal School of DeSoto held its annual fundraising gala March 8 at the Adams Mark Hotel.

Parents, teachers, staff and boosters of the school spent several hours looking over dozens of items up for bid in a silent auction, and they had several opportunities to donate to various school projects thanks to a giving tree.

Down the hall and away from the main dining area, children of those in attendance had a huge room all to themselves, and they kept busy with videogames, Twister and karaoke — or just chasing each other around.

But the highlight of the night was the live auction, co-hosted by Hansen, WFAA’s sports anchor, and Tim Brown, a Heisman trophy winner and one of the most prolific receivers in NFL history.

The live auction raised more than $37,000 from the more than 300 guests in attendance. The numbers are still being tallied for the silent auction.

Hansen served as the auctioneer and Brown – who has children enrolled at Canterbury – described each item and started the bidding. The two played off one another well.

“Tim, why do you keep coming back with these weird numbers?” Hansen asked as Brown started the bidding on one item at $400.

Later, as Brown had a little difficulty getting through one of the item descriptions, Hansen said, “I love to hear you read those off, Tim. It’s why I strongly support No Pass, No Play. Apparently that education at Notre Dame is not all that they say it is.”

Hansen, who played the part of the host of a celebrity roast every bit as well as he played the part of an auctioneer, relentlessly chided one side of the room when it couldn’t keep up with the other side’s bids.

“Why do I bother asking?” he sighed at one point.

A package that included a round of golf with Hansen at Dallas National Golf Club went for $2,000, prompting the winner of an earlier golf day with Brown to increase his bid to $2,000 as well.

“That’s good because Tim will actually show up for his golf date,” Hansen said. “I’m not going golfing at Dallas National.”

Hansen urged the crowd to bid ever higher on big-ticket items, saying that with current Republican tax breaks figured in, “it’ll come to about 12 bucks.”

Several items drew high bids, including $3,200 for a trip to Wyoming, $7,000 (for two bids) for a dinner party with Brown and his wife at their home, $900 for prime center-ice seats to a Dallas Stars game, a parking pass and an autographed jersey from Stars captain Brendan Morrow, $2,100 for a wine-tasting event, $1,600 for a resort trip and $2,400 (for two bids) for a group of Canterbury supporters to come to a home and perform several cleanup chores.

Guests also had a chance to take home table centerpieces designed by Canterbury parent Jane Mills Pearle of Branded Spaces/Living Places and donated by Dr. and Mrs. Juan Arias, Christie Hamric, Beth Wright and an anonymous CES supporter. 

The centerpieces featured a Hollywood film-canister design ringed by several frosted – and quite real – cupcakes.

“If you ate one of those thinking that was dessert, congratulations,” Hansen said. “You owe Canterbury Episcopal School $2,400.”