CentraCare Foundation has locked in the date and theme for its 52nd Annual Holly Ball: Saturday, December 5, 2026, at the River's Edge Convention Center in downtown St. Cloud, with this year's gala built around the theme How Sweet It Is. Individual tickets go on sale in early October, and sponsorship opportunities are already open for anyone hoping to lock in a spot before then.
According to KNSI, the new theme was inspired by the joy, comfort and connection patients and families find during life's most challenging seasons, per CentraCare Foundation. It's a fitting follow-up to last year's Bridges of Life theme, which the 51st Annual Holly Ball used in 2025 to honor caregivers and the support networks that help patients through difficult medical journeys.
A Six-Figure Bar To Clear
Whatever CentraCare Foundation is hoping to raise this December, it has a steep recent benchmark to measure against. The 51st Annual Holly Ball drew more than 1,200 guests last year and raised more than $920,000, while also setting records in its silent and live auctions, the station's report notes. Larry Logeman chaired the 2025 event, with Dan Barth serving as vice chair, and the evening featured testimonials from family members, friends, and health care workers who supported local cancer patients.
That total still fell short of the milestone set the year before, when the gala's 50th anniversary in December 2024 pulled in more than $1,000,000 from nearly 1,300 guests at the same River's Edge ballroom, according to CentraCare Foundation. That milestone event included a $143,000 live appeal earmarked specifically for the Central Minnesota Child Advocacy Center, a sign of how much of the gala's money is directed at very specific local programs rather than a general fund.
Where The Money Actually Goes
Money raised at the Holly Ball flows into CentraCare's Greatest Needs Funds, which provide direct support to patients and families going through cancer treatment and hospice care, per the seed reporting. Those same funds also provide services to people who need Central Minnesota Child Advocacy Center resources, connecting a formal winter gala to some of the region's most sensitive social services.
The Central Minnesota Child Advocacy Center, established in 2016, co-locates law enforcement, child protection, mental health, and medical professionals in St. Cloud so abuse survivors can share their story in a single safe setting rather than repeating stressful interviews, according to the Minnesota House of Representatives. Through 2024, the center had assisted more than 1,400 children and vulnerable adults. Statewide, Minnesota's Child Advocacy Centers served roughly 2,800 children in 2023 alone, with over 2,000 of those referrals tied to sexual abuse and 63% involving children under age 13, per CentraCare, which also notes that in most cases the alleged offender was personally known to the victim.
Cancer Care Keeps Expanding
Proceeds also support the Coborn Cancer Center, which just this past March announced a new High-Risk Breast Clinic combining medical oncology, genetics, surgery, and radiology specialists under one roof, as reported by KVSC 88.1 FM. The clinic uses nurse navigators to walk patients through personalized surveillance and risk-reduction plans. Coborn Cancer Center holds accreditation as a comprehensive community cancer program from the Commission on Cancer and became the first member of the Mayo Clinic Cancer Care Network back in 2012, giving local patients access to Mayo-level expertise without leaving St. Cloud.
The adjacent Coborn Healing Center, opened in 2018, rounds out that care with donor-supported integrative services including art therapy, mind-body fitness classes, and grief support groups, according to the United Way of Central Minnesota. Certified art therapists there work directly with patients and caregivers during treatment, filling in the gaps that strictly clinical care can't reach.
Deep Roots In St. Cloud
The Holly Ball itself traces back to the volunteer auxiliary of St. Cloud Hospital, whose healthcare roots reach to the Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict in 1886, according to CentraCare. That same original auxiliary also established the hospital's gift shop and its junior volunteer program, long before the gala grew into the six- and seven-figure fundraiser it is today. By 2014, the annual event had already raised nearly $6 million cumulatively for CentraCare Health programs since its inception, illustrating just how much the tradition has compounded over five decades.
This year's gala will again fill the River's Edge Convention Center's 16,000-square-foot ballroom, part of a 150,000-square-foot facility along the Mississippi River that underwent a $22 million municipal expansion completed in 2012. CentraCare Health itself is headquartered in St. Cloud and operates eight hospitals and more than 30 clinics across Central Minnesota with a staff of more than 12,000, making it one of the state's largest non-profit healthcare providers.
Anyone interested in sponsoring the 52nd Annual Holly Ball can email [email protected] for details, while individual tickets are expected to go on sale in early October. Exact fundraising targets for this year's event have not been disclosed, and it remains unclear how ticket allocations for 2026 will compare with prior years' attendance limits.
