The Hartland Area Historical Society invites the community to celebrate Mardi Gras at a Feb. 24 fundraising gala — costumes optional. The annual event will be at Waldenwoods Banquet & Conference Center, featuring music and dancing, dinner, a silent auction, a cash bar, and door prizes.

"Everybody is going to get some beads," said Treasurer Barbara Krueger, of the Hartland Area Historical Society (HAHS).

HAHS is hoping for 100 people to attend, Krueger said. The Mardi Gras event, which is HAHS' annual dinner, is a major fundraiser for the historical society. The music will include a pianist.

The annual dinner fundraiser began around four years ago, and has raised approximately $20,000 for HAHS through the years, she said. Proceeds from the annual dinner have paid for heating, air conditioning and a working bathroom for the historical society's Florence B. Dearing Museum.

In addition, it refinished the wooden floors and provided new electrical components for the building. New garage doors also have been added.

The museum closed in 2009 for refurbishing and reopened on Memorial Day in 2011.

More projects remain, the HAHS Winter 2012 newsletter reports. The walls and attic of the museum need insulation ($2,500), the front door and porch need restoration ($4,000), there needs to be exterior paint stripping and repainting ($4,000), installation of roof vents ($500), interior and exterior lighting ($400) and outdoor irrigation ($500).

The cost to attend the Mardi Gras fundraiser is $60 per person, and tickets are available at the Florence B. Dearing Museum, 3503 Avon, Hartland; IMC Products, 4141 Hartland Road; the Hartland Area Chamber of Commerce, 3508 Avon; from any HAHS Board member or by calling (810) 229-7621.

HAHS is taking donations for the silent auction and door prizes. Those who have a donation can contact 810-229-7621.

One year, architect Gary Cornillaud, 3508 Hartland Road, donated a drawing of someone's house, to be framed. "We won it," Krueger said. "He sketched our house."

One of the silent auction items this year is a teeth whitening coupon, donated by The Hartland Smilemakers, 11499 Highland Road.