In spite of all the umbrellas on hand, there was nothing but warm weather and generous bidders at Saturday’s Just Imagine event, which raised $502,600 for the 1,400 students of the St. Helena Unified School District.

The final tally exceeded the $440,000 raised last year, allaying fears that a faltering economy would result in more conservative bidding.

The theme of this year’s event was “Umbrellas for Peace.” Each of the school district’s K-8 students worked with St. Helena High School students to decorate their own umbrellas. On the inside they painted their fears, and on the outside they painted their hopes.

The 950-or-so umbrellas were hung from the rafters of Trinchero Family Estates. The splash of color was complemented by student-made art for sale in the silent auction and the bright hues of portraits of various students modeled after Andy Warhol’s prints of celebrities like Marilyn Monroe.

The school district worked with artist Matt Lamb on the project, which Lamb originally designed for the 100 children who had lost parents in the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon. A painting donated to Just Imagine by Lamb sold for $12,000.

Students will carry their umbrellas during a parade through downtown St. Helena at 11 a.m. Friday, April 25.

Local kids got involved in the live auction lots as well. When Lampson Tractor donated a Kubota Worksite Utility Vehicle, St. Helena High School biology teacher Chris O’Connor, whose classes have turned used vegetable oil into fuel, threw in a year’s worth of biodiesel to run it.

The result was one of the highest-grossing lots of the evening, drawing a winning bid of $11,500.

The school district continued its Just Imagine tradition of auctioning off a magnum of zinfandel produced by the St. Helena High School viticulture class. David Abreu bought this year’s vintage for $8,500.

The Fund-A-Need lot drew the most bidders, raising $75,650 for new technology at all four schools.

The next most successful lot was a seven-day stay for four couples at a villa in Bourdeaux owned by Sharon Harris, one of the event’s co-chairs, and her husband John. Two groups each pledged $24,000 for the lot, which also includes a guided tour of Bourdeaux by Cherie and Philippe Melka.

One group included April Gargiulo and Mitch Lowe, Shana and Dave Graham, Sharon and Devinder Sidhu and Kara and Jason Scoggins. The other was made up of the owners and staff of Parallel Wines, where Philippe Melka is employed as winemaker: Mike and Toni Doilney, Steve and Val Chin, Mac and Ann MacQuoid, and Joe and Paula Sargetakis.

Another successful lot was donated by Kevin Twohey, owner of Whiting Nursery, coach of the St. Helena High School Waves Swim Club and St. Helena fire chief. Twohey and the swim team pledged to come to the winner’s house and plant 2,008 tulips or daffodils.

Three separate bidders — Mary Novak, Gary and Pam Jaffe, and Paul and Lorelei Tuttle — each paid $4,500 for the lot, resulting in a total of $13,500 and exactly 6,024 flowers for Twohey and the swim team to plant.

“I’m going to need a backhoe to plant that many,” joked Twohey. “But we’re really looking forward to it.”

Other successful lots included two large-format Abreu Madrona Ranch wines ($13,000), three large-format wines from Harlan Estate Winery ($11,000), a dinner at Martin Design prepared by Jude Wilmoth from Cook restaurant ($10,000), a Mexican fiesta and tequila tasting ($9,500), and a dinner at Spottswoode prepared by Cindy Pawlcyn ($9,000).

The main event featured performances by Sonoma County Taiko and Craig Bond’s Jazz@7 group. It was followed by an after-party at Louis M. Martini Winery with dancing and music by local band Wristrocket.

Just Imagine benefits local schools, but district administrators take a back seat to parents and teachers in organizing the annual event. This year’s fundraiser was co-chaired by Laura Bremer, Sue Conrad, Sharon Harris and Lisa Morse.

Organizers credited Michelle Parriott, a teacher at St. Helena Primary School and mother of an RLS Middle School student, with coordinating the efforts of hundreds of volunteers. Parriott said Leslie Ellis led the team that was responsible for the event’s visual flair.

Ellis, who has children at the primary and elementary schools, said her team strung the umbrellas together and used a scissor lift to hang them from the ceiling.

Looking up at the lovingly painted umbrellas dangling upside-down with the students’ dreams on display, one could almost imagine those dreams coming true.

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